Appropriate Assessment Strategies

While standardized assessment provides valuable insight into a child’s academic strengths and needs, “in contrast, teacher-conducted classroom assessments allow the teacher to obtain more specific information about each student’s knowledge and skills relative to the instructional objectives of the class” (Wortham & Hardin, 2015, p. 111). As classroom assessments can be informal in nature, teachers have more choice in the strategies used. With more choice, it is important that teachers both understand their options, but also have a plan in place for how they will approach assessment in their classrooms. “By systematically observing children and using other appropriate strategies, educators create educational long-term and short-term plans centered around the interests and needs of individual children and groups, providing both scaffolding and challenges for future achievement” (p. 28). Not only is it important that you have a plan, but included in this plan should be how you will engage families in their child’s developmental progress. Remember, families provide a perspective of their child’s growth that is different from what we as educators might see. Therefore, families play an integral role in the assessment process. For this discussion, you will explore classroom assessment strategies and explain how your chosen strategies will meet the needs of Principle 4.1 of the Competent Educators of the 21st Century: Principles of Quality Pedagogy (Links to an external site.) (pages 28-31). You will also devise a plan for including families in the assessment process.

• Read the article Competent Educators of the 21st Century: Principles of Quality Pedagogy (Links to an external site.) (pages 28-31 specifically).
• Compare and contrast the differences between classroom assessment strategies and standardized assessments, including the advantages and disadvantages of classroom assessments.
• Choose one of the children from the Colorado Department of Education videos to observe. State explicitly which child you are using (name of child).
• Based on the observation of that child, you will create a family-friendly resource that highlights their child’s strengths and needs that can be shared at your upcoming family conference. Your resource should include information from each of the documentation options below and should be family-friendly:
• Narratives for parents
• Indicators of dispositions
• Developmental checklist
• Explain specifically how your resource meets each of the indicators of quality for Principle 4.1 of the Competent Educators of the 21st Century: Principles of Quality Pedagogy and why creating effective assessment partnerships is important for leaders in the field of early childhood education.

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