September 29, 2014

The Nature of Reading Difficulties

The foundations of good reading are the same for all children. All readers, regardless of their age, gender, or aptitude, need to develop fluency, comprehension, and the motivation to read in order to become successful readers. Children who experience reading difficulties are no exception. They too must develop the basic foundations for reading, and they require the same types of learning experiences to do so.

Most young children with reading difficulties have problems developing fluency. For these children, identifying words takes a lot of effort. Their reading rate is slow, their word identification is hesitant, and they over rely on contextual cues for word identification. Because most of their cognitive or mental effort is spent trying to identify words, their comprehension suffers. The main prevention and early intervention strategies for these children are effective preparation for literacy and effective classroom instruction.

In order for children to become fluent readers they need to develop various decoding strategies.  Decoding is the ability to use knowledge of letter-sound relationships, words in context and prior knowledge to correctly pronounce written words.  Using these strategies gives children the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words they haven't seen before. Although children may sometimes figure out some of these relationships on their own, most children benefit from explicit instruction in this area. Have your children try this great resource.

Enjoy,

Ms. Nora Sierra

Grade 1 Teacher

Early Childhood Assistant Principal 

September 22, 2014

Why take standardized tests?

Standardized tests are nationally normed. This means that thousands of students take the test and are ranked based on their performance on this test. When your child takes the test, the results indicate where your child is in relation to the thousands of students who were in the norm group. If your child is in the 85th percentile, this means that your child scored higher than 84% of the students in the norm group. This score gives the parents an accurate picture of where their child is in relation to other children of the same age and grade group.

Standardized tests can also be used to track student growth. The MAP test utilizes a RIT score. When your child takes the test in the fall, he receives a RIT score. The goal then is to improve the RIT score by 5 points when taking the test in the spring. Parents who keep the achievement test scores and compare them from test to test will see a legitimate record of student progress.

The MAP results share specifically which concept in each subject area were mastered and shows the level of mastery. This allows the parent and the teacher to focus specifically on areas of weakness.

How should I have my child prepare for this test?

You should not have your child study for this test. This test is not a part of the child’s grades and should simply be used to indicate where the child is academically at a given point in time. Spending time in preparation may skew the results and prevent the parent and the school from seeing an accurate picture of the child’s academic progress. The student who over-studies in the fall but does not put forth the same effort in the spring may appear to lose ground by scoring lower on the second test. The most accurate picture of where your child ranks against the norm group is taken when the child does not study for the test. The best way to prepare your child for the test is to monitor their schoolwork year round and ensure that they are reaching out for help when their understanding is not certain.

You should also ensure that your child get a good night’s rest. The night(s) prior to taking the MAP test should be pleasant evenings for the child. They should eat a healthy meal, enjoy their evening, and go to bed early. It is essential that a student be fully rested in order to perform at a maximum level when taking the test. Students should eat a healthy breakfast on the day of the test. When taking the test, the student should take a minimum of a fifteen minute break between sections of the test.

Enjoy,

Ms. Nora Sierra

Early Childhood Assistant Principal

Grade 1 Teacher

Sept. 17-19, 2014

What is MAP?

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is a state-aligned computerized adaptive assessment program that provides  educators with the information they need to improve teaching and learning and make student-focused, data-driven decisions.

Students are tested twice or three times per year in math, reading, and language usage. Educators use the growth and achievement data from MAP to develop targeted instructional strategies and to plan school improvement.

Student MAP testing results are reported in RIT scores. A RIT score is an estimation of a student’s instructional level and also measures student progress or growth in school. You may have a chart in your home on which you mark your child’s height at certain times, such as on his or her birthday. This is a growth chart to show how much he or she has grown from one year to the next. MAP assessments do the same sort of thing, except they measure your student’s growth in mathematics, reading, and language usage. The RIT scale is an equal-interval scale much like feet and inches on a yardstick. It is used to chart your child’s academic growth from year to year. This type of score increases the value of the tests as a tool to improve student learning because it enables teachers to pinpoint what students have learned and what students are ready to learn.

Understanding the RIT Score

The charts on the inside of this brochure show national median RIT scores for grades 1-9 in a typical school district. You may use these charts to help determine if your student is performing at, above, or below grade level compared to students across the nation. It is important to understand that the MAP test is one test at one point in time. It does not measure intelligence or a student’s capacity for learning. When making important decisions about students, school staff will consider the MAP test results along with other data such as classroom performance, other test scores, and input from parents and teachers.

Growth Over Time

We expect RIT scores to increase over time. Typically, younger students show more growth in one year than older students. Students who test above grade level often show less growth. Sometimes RIT scores may decline from one test to the next. One low test score is not cause for immediate concern. Like adults, students have good and bad days and their test results do not always indicate what they know. Students’ attitudes toward the test can also affect their score. Therefore, growth over time is a better measure of student learning. Parents and guardians should become comfortable with the understanding that individuals will grow at different rates. Anticipated growth rates for each student are based on national norms and should be viewed as “typical” growth, not expected growth. Teachers and principals have participated in training to learn what the MAP test results mean and how to best utilize the results. Our goal is for teachers to use the data to differentiate and adjust instruction so that all students grow at levels appropriate for each individual.

Enjoy,

Nora Sierra

Grade 1 teacher

Early Childhood Assistant Principal

September 8, 2014

Four Block Framework

The Four Blocks—Guided Reading, Self-Selected Reading, Writing, and Working with Words—represent four different approaches to teaching children to read. Daily instruction in all Four Blocks provides numerous and varied opportunities for all children to learn to read and write. Doing all Four Blocks acknowledges that children do not all learn in the same way and provides substantial instruction to support whatever learning personality a child has.

Philosophy and Goals of the Four Block Framework:

The Four-Blocks® Literacy Model is a multilevel, balanced literacy framework that incorporates four different approaches each day to teach children how to become better readers, writers, and spellers. Developed by Drs. Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy Hall, this model acknowledges that not all children learn in the same way and provides substantial instruction to support the learning personalities of all students.

Program Components:

The program consists of four teaching models, each presented daily at a time scheduled by the teacher according to classroom needs:

*Guided Reading:  In Guided Reading, teachers choose material for children to read and a purpose for reading, and then guide them to use reading strategies needed for that material and that purpose. Teachers provide guidance in a variety of whole class, small group, and partner formats.

Guided Reading is always focused on comprehension. Children learn to predict what might happen or what they might learn. They learn about the story elements of characters, setting, and plot, and they learn how to organize and compare information learned from informational text.

*Working With Words:  The purpose of this block is to ensure that children read, spell, and use high-frequency words correctly, and that they learn the patterns necessary for decoding and spelling. Students are introduced to five new words each week.  Teachers can assess, monitor, and plan for the needs of the entire group, as well as the individual students. This ensures students learn the high-frequency words and engage in activities to learn how words work through strategies such as Making Words, Guess the Covered Word, Word Wall, and more.

*Self-Selected Reading:  This block usually begins with the teacher conducting a read-aloud.  After the read-aloud, students are sent to read to themselves from boxes full of familiar books.  Self-Selected Reading is that part of a balanced literacy program during which children get to choose what they want to read and to what parts of their reading they want to respond. Opportunities are provided for children to share and respond to what is read. Teachers hold individual conferences with children about their books.

*Writing:  The Writing Block includes a mini-lesson (called Writer's Workshop) that provides children with a model of what writers do. During the block, children engage in various writing activities from starting a new piece, finishing a piece, revising, editing, or illustrating. Another component includes conferences that lead to a final published piece.  During this time, students are introduced to writing folders and the Six Traits of Writing.   In the Author's Chair, children share their writing and respond to each other's writing at various stages in its development.

The Importance of Hands-on Manipulative in Math

Math manipulative range from simple counting blocks to geoboards and tangram puzzles. Manipulative work well to solve problems, as a way to introduce new math skills and during free play to explore math concepts. The use of manipulative varies based on the teacher's philosophy of math instruction, but these math materials offer several benefits to students.

Manipulative give the math students a concrete object to represent the concept they are learning. Instead of reading about a math concept or working out a problem on paper, students work with a physical object to better understand what they are learning. Diagrams in math textbooks often fall short because the student can't physically interact with them. The concrete representation is useful at all levels of math, from a preschooler using blocks to strengthen counting skills to an older student using fraction models to understand equivalent fractions.

A worksheet or textbook assignment is limited in the senses it engages. The student only moves slightly to use his pencil. Manipulative give student more freedom to move and get physically involved in solving the math problems. Manipulative reach a wider range of learners, such as those who don't perform well on paper-and-pencil tasks. Manipulative engage the sense of sight and touch. Discussions about manipulative -- either with the class or with a partner -- builds communication skills. You can also use these math tools to write about the concepts. Students can draw pictures and describe what they did with manipulative in a math journal.

Manipulative make math more enjoyable for most students. Completing paper-and-pencil assignments is often boring and tedious. Students lose interest quickly or struggle to get through the assignment. Manipulative feel more like playing than learning, particularly when the students are allowed to experiment and explore with the tools outside of assignments. Even when a worksheet or written assignment are required, manipulative can make the problems easier and more interesting to solve.

Enjoy and have a super week!

Ms. Nora Sierra

Assistant Principal

Grade 1-A teacher

Every Child a Reader

"Every child a reader" has been the goal of instruction, education research, for at least three decades. We now know more than ever about how to accomplish this goal.

Six Elements for Every Child

Here are  six elements of instruction that every child should experience every day

1. Every child reads something he or she chooses.

The research base on student-selected reading is robust and conclusive: Students read more, understand more, and are more likely to continue reading when they have the opportunity to choose what they read.

The experience of choosing in itself boosts motivation. In addition, offering choice makes it more likely that every reader will be matched to a text that he or she can read well.

2. Every child reads accurately.

Good readers read with accuracy almost all the time. Although the idea that students read better when they read more has been supported by studies for the last 70 years, policies that simply increase the amount of time allocated for students to read often find mixed results (National Reading Panel, 2000). The reason is simple: It's not just the time spent with a book in hand, but rather the intensity and volume of high-success reading, that determines a student's progress in learning to read (Allington, 2009; Kuhn et al., 2006).

3. Every child reads something he or she understands.

Understanding what you've read is the goal of reading. But too often, struggling readers get interventions that focus on basic skills in isolation, rather than on reading connected text for meaning. This common misuse of intervention time often arises from a grave misinterpretation of what we know about reading difficulties.

4. Every child writes about something personally meaningful.

The opportunity to compose continuous text about something meaningful is not just something nice to have when there's free time after a test or at the end of the school year. Writing provides a different modality within which to practice the skills and strategies of reading for an authentic purpose.

When students write about something they care about, they use conventions of spelling and grammar because it matters to them that their ideas are communicated the correct way.

5. Every child talks with peers about reading and writing.

Research has demonstrated that conversation with peers improves comprehension and engagement with texts in a variety of settings (Cazden, 1988). Such literary conversation does not focus on recalling or retelling what students read. Rather, it asks students to analyze, comment, and compare—in short, to think about what they've read.

6. Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud.

Listening to an adult model fluent reading increases students' own fluency and comprehension skills (Trelease, 2001), as well as expanding their vocabulary, background knowledge, sense of story, awareness of genre and text structure, and comprehension of the texts read (Wu & Samuels, 2004).

Enjoy,

Ms. Nora Sierra

EC Assistant Principal

Grade 1A Teacher

What is looping?

                                                                                Nowadays in many schools, looping has been integrated as a regular procedure. It has become normal for students to spend more than one year with the same teachers. This year to enhance learning in first grade, we decided to implement looping, or teaching our kids from last year.

Benefits of Looping

1) Relationships with students

Teachers and students can look back and laugh at shared experiences from previous years, and also look ahead to what things can be done this year. There is a level of trust that can only be built up over time. Students feel comfortable talking to the teacher as a trusted mentor, and will often even share stories that most students would not typically share with their new teacher.   A high level of caring and respect is developed in the classroom.

2) Relationships with parents and families

 Knowing the parents of my students very well makes it easier to work as a team. Parents know the way the teacher works, as well as what to generally expect during the year. They feel comfortable talking with the teacher or send him/her questions about assignments or grades, which can make things much less complicated than when parents need to adjust to completely different ways of working each year.

3) Understanding student needs

Knowing the students’ strengths and general weaknesses right from the first day of school changes expectations for the year. It is very easy for teachers to remember where students started from, the progressions they have made, and what goals he/she still need to work on. I can remember the skills that each student struggled with the year before, as well as what tasks they usually excel at. There are no wasted days at the beginning of the year – coming back from summer vacation is like coming back after a long holiday. We catch up on what everyone did, and then pick up where we left off, with new skills and projects to work on.

4) Promotes teacher innovation

You just can’t teach the same thing every year when you have the same students! Teachers need to use new skills and competencies to develop according to the education programs the school has and follows. Every year teachers need to think of new projects, new texts to read, new activities to do, and new units to cover. It really prevents them from reusing the same materials over and over for years on end. One of the biggest challenges as a teacher is being up to date with new technologies and ideas in education and be able to incorporate into the classroom.

5) Benefits classroom management

When you start teaching the students in your class, you establish routines and procedures for almost everything. There are rules to follow, and consequences for not following them.  Every year, teachers have a new class with new procedures to learn. In my class, the students come in September already aware of what I will tolerate, as well as what I expect from them. New students pick things up quickly as they integrate into our well-established group.

Enjoy,

Ms. Nora Sierra

1 A Teacher

Early Childhood Assistant Principal

WELCOME BACK!!

                                                                                                                          

 Dear Parents,

It's hard to believe but it's that time of the year again - the beginning of a new school year. Welcome back!  My name is Mrs. Nora Sierra and I will be your Early Childhood Assistant Principal.  There is so much excitement approaching us as we think about new teachers and students to meet, new books to read, new activities and concepts to master.  I look forward to sharing in all of these exciting times. 

 We need to work together as a team!  “It's a parents enthusiasm, support and involvement that inspire children to do their best; and a teacher's ability to teach what they need to learn. Together, as a community at Discovery School, we can achieve wonderful things.”  

Please contact me at any time if you have questions, comments, or concerns by e-mailing me at nsierra@discoveryschool.edu.hn .  You can take the time to visit my webpage throughout the year that can be found on our school’s website.  I will be posting important information, useful sites, and interesting things happening throughout the year.

Thank you for your commitment to your child's education and success at Discovery School.  I look forward to getting to know you and your child this year!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Nora Sierra

Early Childhood Assistant Principal

(504) 99850732/ (504) 95001720

Grade 1A Teacher

Discovery School Mission: 

Our mission is to prepare students for the challenges of life and future academic work by instilling in them Self-esteem, Academic Excellence, Critical Thinking, Celebration of Cultural Diversity, and Social and Environmental Responsibility.

This is accomplished through an internationally enriched U.S.-style curriculum with high academic standards, an internationally diverse student body, state-of-the-art facilities, and an inquiry-based approach to learning.

Well boys and girls, the end is here and we are ready for a great summer vacation.Wishing you all the best my beautiful babies!!! Take care and always remember that you have a friend in me!

Ms. Nora

SUMMER READING

                    

Summer shouldn't mean taking a break from learning,

especially reading. Studies show that most students

experience a loss of reading skills over the summer months, but children who continue to read actually gain skills. Efforts  should be made during the summer to help children sustain reading skills, practice reading and read for enjoyment.

Taking the time to read with your child can help you evaluate  your child's reading skills.

Educators consider summer reading very important in

developing life-long reading habits, in maintaining literacy skills and in promoting reading for pleasure. Studies have repeatedly shown that children who continue to read during the summer months perform better when school resumes in the fall.

Research has also shown that when parents are actively

involved in learning at home, their children become more successful in and out of school.

(Based on a feature article written for the May 2003 issue of Classroom

Connect Newsletter, The K-12 Educators' Guide to the Internet)

Why Do Summer Reading? It increases:

 Reading level

 Visualization skills

 Language skills

 Thinking skills

 Vocabulary

Some Tips for Summer Reading:

·       Have plenty of books, books on tape, magazines,

     and other reading material around for kids to read.

      Keep books in the car and make sure a good book gets

      tucked into sports bags and campers' backpacks.

·       Get your child his own library card. Take or allow him to go to the library often and browse for books and enjoy special activities.

·        Help your child select books on topics he is interested in and on his reading level. A simple rule of thumb for helping your child select books at his reading level is to have them choose a page in the book (not the first one) and read it. If he doesn't know five or more of the words, then the book is too hard for pleasure reading.

·       Connect reading with other summer activities.

       For example, read books about places you will go       over the summer or things you will be doing. Perhaps            you will visit the beach or go camping; there are 

       many good books about the beach and camping!

• Set goals and reward reading. Reward reading with more reading. If your child finishes one book, stop by the store and let him pick out another.

•    Let your kids see you read. Read the newspaper over your morning coffee, take a magazine from the rack in a doctor's office while you wait, and stuff a paperback into your purse, pocket, or briefcase. Your kids will catch on to the fact that reading is something you like to do in your spare time.
• Make reading together fun and memorable. Even if your child is a super reader, they still love to be    read too. You may want to use different voices for different characters when you read to your child. Reading together is a time for closeness and cuddling - another way to show your love as a caring adult. Children love to read letters and notes you write them.
•   Read it, then do it. Does your child want to learn magic tricks? Juggling? Computer games? There's sure to be a book that can help him. Have your child read the instructions and then give it a try.

 LEARNING WITH COMIC STRIPS

Comic strip characters can help your child become a better reader and writer and logical thinker.

 Once Upon a Time… Beginning readers will enjoy using the comic’s easy-to-follow story telling guides. Your child can tell about what’s happening in each panel, building a story as he or she goes

from scene to scene. In selecting a strip for this activity, try to find one where there is plenty of action and the pictures, not the dialogue, carry the story.

 Comics also make wonderful read-aloud material.

Occasionally, you may want to cover the last panel of a strip and have your child guess the conclusion. Encouraging your child to anticipate events provides practice in perhaps the most important of all reading skills. To make any predictions, your child must clearly and logically think through what just happened – and that is the key to reading comprehension.

Puzzles and Riddles…

To help develop logical skills, cut a comic strip apart into separate panels. While the panels are still in order, number them on the back in sequence. After you mix the order of panels, ask your child to reconstruct the original sequence. The numbers on the back can serve as an answer key, but any order your child presents that makes sense should be considered correct.

 Some comic strips use a play-on-words to get their laughs. A favorite is the rhyming riddle: What’s Garfield called when he’s put on too much weight? Answer: Fat Cat. These are fun to solve, but they’re even more fun (and worthwhile) to invent. The only rule is that the riddle must be answered with a two-word rhyme. It’s easiest to start with the answer (Bear

chair) and work back to the definition (What does a grizzly sit on?) Involve the whole family, and Sunday morning will never be the same again.

Enjoy,

Ms. Nora Sierra

Early Childhood Coordinator

Kinder Teacher

The Importance of Poetry in the Pre-School Years.

                                                       

Finger plays and rhymes come to life during circle and large group times as preschool children show word meaning through simple actions and finger movements.  Preschoolers develop memory and recall skills as they sing and recite the songs and poems in this curriculum resource collection.  Finger plays, action poems, nursery rhymes, and songs are grouped according to early childhood education themes. There's quite a lot of poetry for children around but it can be surprisingly hard to find really good poems to share with children.

For a start, what kind of poems is worth sharing? Does poetry even matter for kids and, if so, why?

But first, the short answer to the question of why it's important to expose babies and young children to poetry.

Believe it or not, hearing poems and rhymes from their earliest days helps children develop three really critical pre-reading and communication skills:

·       phonological awareness;

·       a rich vocabulary;

·       background knowledge;

It's tempting to think that poetry is simply a series of rhyming lines which describe a thing or an experience.

But if it was as simple as that, why would we need poetry at all? Encyclopedias, the internet and other kinds of writing can tell us about experiences, things, people and even complex ideas. What does poetry add that these other forms of writing don't? One explanation I like is that poetry communicates the essence or the soul of something, rather than just describing it.

For example, imagine describing a playground swing to someone: what it looks like and how it feels to swing backwards and forwards. The person you're talking to would probably understand but would he or she really get a sense of the excitement and freedom a child feels on a swing?

Now, take a moment to read Robert Louis Stevenson's short poem The Swing. The poem communicates so much more than any mere description could: the joy, the wonder, the fun a small child feels when he or she swings high up into the air.

Another way to explain it is to say that a poet uses language and linguistic techniques to create visual images that come alive in the mind of the reader or listener.

As the images come alive, the listener or reader becomes part of the experience being described: he is there, at least in his imagination. And because he is there, even for a very short time, his emotions are also engaged. He feels frightened or excited, filled with awe or sad.

Pretty amazing, really,

Ms. Nora Sierra

Kinder Teacher

Early Childhood Coordinator

Environmental tips for Kids

                                                                       
         

Kids can also do their bit in helping to save the environment. Read these environmental tips for children which you can ask your kids to follow. Kids are often made to feel that they are too small to be given responsibility. Kids when told about the importance of protecting the environment are often eager and keen to help save the environment. Environmental awareness is the need of the day. Everybody knows that protecting the environment today will prepare for a better tomorrow. Kids too can be taught to do their bit for helping the environment. Nowadays, kids also need to be trained to avoid wasting natural resources and many a times kids too are eager to do their bit. These are some Environmental tips for Kids Save Water Many people just let the water run when they are brushing their teeth or having a bath. Kids should be taught to turn off the tap when soaping or brushing. Parents of children should also practice this as it will show that you too are trying your best to make a difference. Do not let water run while showering and brushing teeth. Another thing your kid can do is take shorter showers. In the same way, kids must be taught to save water while using sinks and in the garden. Try to Carpool, Walk or take Public Transport Teach your kids to avoid going to school individually in their cars. The more the number of cars running the more there will be carbon emissions and smog in the air leading to pollution. Arrange for a group of kids living close by to go to school together in one car only. You can also encourage your child to take the bus, walk or cycle up to school. Walking as much as possible to nearby places rather than using a car or bike will help to keep the air in your neighborhood clean and unpolluted. Go easy on Video Games Video games consume a lot of energy. As you would have noticed, the computer and television feels hot after kids have finished playing video games. Encourage your kids to go out to play in the fresh air or complete their home work rather than playing these video games. Playing video games consumes a whole lot of energy and much more than regular TV or computer usage. Try to keep this activity to a minimum. In this way, kids can save energy! Also, teach your kids to turn off the computer monitor or switch off the screen when not in use, rather than leaving it switched on for long hours or all through the night. Switch off Lights when not in use Teach your kids to switch off lights, fans and other electronic devices when not in use. Many a times, kids leave the fans and lights switched on when they leave a room which results in a lot of wastage of electricity. Since, kids are not yet completely aware and informed about environmental problems they do not know the consequences. Teach your kids to not waste electricity. As a parent also try to buy fluorescent bulbs instead of normal light bulbs because they save three times more energy than the regular light bulbs. Plant Trees in your Community Your kids can find an organization that plants trees in your community. Participating in planting trees is a great way to help the environment. If you have a garden, teach your kids to participate in the gardening, by growing plants and watering them every day. If you do not have a garden, you can have small pot plants in the balcony of your home. Try to Save Paper Ask your kids to try to save paper. Try to avoid using paper cups and plates whenever possible. Ask your kids to use cloth towels and rags instead of paper towels and napkins. As a parent also, try to do more work online and store your data on the computer and emails rather than take print outs using paper. Print on both sides of the paper whenever possible. Cutting down on use of paper wherever possible will help to save more trees. Choose to receive printed statements rather than print outs on paper. Use recycled paper. Whenever possible ask your kids to use old magazines, phone books and old newspapers for craft and art work. Kids and environment Kids must be educated about saving the environment at a young age itself. In this way, the awareness is created early and they can also influence other kids to do the same. Global warming, pollution and other environmental concerns are on the rise which is greatly harming the environment. If kids can play a role in helping to save the earth, it will be great and we can together strive towards a cleaner and greener Earth. Enjoy, Ms. Nora Sierra Kindergarten Teacher “A” Early Childhood Coordinator Discovery School

Why is Assessment Important?

                                         

   Assessment is important because of all the decisions you will make about children when teaching them. The decisions facing our three teachers all involve how best to educate children. Like them, you will be called upon every day to make decisions before, during, and after your teaching. Whereas some of these decisions will seem small and inconsequential, others will be “high stakes,” influencing the life course of children. All of your assessment decisions taken as a whole will direct and alter children’s learning outcomes.  Below outlines for you some purposes of assessment and how assessment can enhance your teaching and student learning. All of these purposes are important; if you use assessment procedures appropriately, you will help all children learn well.

The following general principles should guide both policies and practices for the assessment of young children:

Assessment should bring about benefits for children. Gathering accurate information from young children is difficult and potentially stressful. Assessments must have a clear benefit—either in direct services to the child or in improved quality of educational programs.

Assessment should be tailored to a specific purpose and should be reliable, valid, and fair for that purpose. Assessments designed for one purpose are not necessarily valid if used for other purposes. In the past, many of the abuses of testing with young children have occurred because of misuse.

Assessment policies should be designed recognizing that reliability and validity of assessments increase with children’s age. The younger the child, the more difficult it is to obtain reliable and valid assessment data. It is particularly difficult to assess children’s cognitive abilities accurately before age six. Because of problems with reliability and validity, some types of assessment should be postponed until children are older, while other types of assessment can be pursued, but only with necessary safeguards.

Assessment should be age appropriate in both content and the method of data collection. Assessments of young children should address the full range of early learning and development, including physical well-being and motor development; social and emotional development; approaches toward learning; language development; and cognition and general knowledge. Methods of assessment should recognize that children need familiar contexts to be able to demonstrate their abilities. Abstract paper-and-pencil tasks may make it especially difficult for young children to show what they know.

Assessment should be linguistically appropriate, recognizing that to some extent all assessments are measures of language. Regardless of whether an assessment is intended to measure early reading skills, knowledge of color names, or learning potential, assessment results are easily confounded by language proficiency, especially for children who come from home backgrounds with limited exposure to English, for whom the assessment would essentially be an assessment of their English proficiency. Each child’s first- and second-language development should be taken into account when determining appropriate assessment methods and in interpreting the meaning of assessment results.

Parents should be a valued source of assessment information, as well as an audience for assessment. Because of the fallibility of direct measures of young children, assessments should include multiple sources of evidence, especially reports from parents and teachers. Assessment results should be shared with parents as part of an ongoing process that involves parents in their child’s education.⁴

Purposes of Assessment

Identify what children know

Identify children's special needs

Determine appropriate placement

Select appropriate curricula to meet children's individual needs

Enjoy,

Ms. Nora Sierra

Early Childhood Coordinator

Kindergarten Teacher

Discovery School