Concept Paper: Supporting the Use of Child Assessment Systems in Preschool Settings

Concept Paper: Supporting the Use of Child Assessment Systems in Preschool Settings

Utilizing Readiness Centers and Targeted Professional Development to Enable Informed Program Practice and Individualized Instruction for Children

Context

In fiscal year 2009, the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) contracted with Abt Associates, Inc. to conduct an evaluation of the level of quality in a statewide sample of early childhood settings that serve at-risk preschool children. The study used the CLASS observation measure to evaluate provider/child interactions in three primary domains (emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support) for licensed center-based programs, Head Start centers, public school programs and family child care providers. Programs from Massachusetts’ Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) and non-UPK programs were included within each program type. A final report prepared by Abt Associates showed that there was no significant difference in program quality between UPK and non-UPK programs. Additionally, and most relevant to this concept paper, across program types programs scored high in emotional support and classroom organization, though performed significantly lower on instructional support. Given the low results on instructional support, EEC is considering ways to address this area of needs improvement, one of which includes supporting use of child assessment systems in preschool settings to help educators individualize instruction for children and improve program practice.

Proposal

EEC is considering allocating $800,000 to contract with Readiness Centers to support the implementation of assessment systems in settings serving preschool children across the Commonwealth. Readiness Centers will support the field through three primary means: providing information on the theory related tochild assessment practices;targeting specific strategies for assessment implementation and sophisticated use in programs; andproviding intentional professional development with hands-on guidance and ongoing technical support. Additionally, EEC will provide grants to programs to purchase one of the four EEC-approved child assessment systems. Services will be targeted to all program types serving three and four year olds with 50% or more subsidized children.

The information that follows is a summary of current assessment system use in theUPK grant program, evidence of the value of using assessment systems and a summary of next steps for EEC to enable implementation.

Current Use of Child Assessment Systems in UPK Programs

EEC currently requires all UPK grantees to be using one of four EEC-approved child assessment systems:

• Ages & Stages,
• Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum,
• High Scope Child Observation Record (COR), and
• Work Sampling System.

Grantees are strongly encouraged to use the online systems of these tools and are required to assess children at least two times per year. Additionally, programs must submit aggregate-level assessment information to EEC for monitoring purposes.

UPK grantees have benefitted from two Child Assessment Institutes held by EEC, where limited program administrators and educators had the opportunity to participate in trainings on a range of topics related to implementing an assessment system, observations and recording data, communicating with families and informing program practice. Grantees may also use their UPK funds for the purpose of professional development related to child assessment.

Use of Child Assessment to Enhance Instructional Support

Child assessment systems are used to capture information on children’s developmental progress through teacher observations of each child’s work and abilities. Results from the assessment can show an educator what children in their care know and need to learn, and where their own strengths and weaknesses as an educator lie. These tools, which are becoming increasingly regarded as a marker of high quality programming, can be used as a valuable method for educators to improve their instruction to meet the needs of individual children as well as inform their general program practice.[1]

• ImprovedIndividualized Instruction

As mentioned above, assessment systems allow educators to know more about the needs of their children. From this, they can provide activities designed to promote children’s development across developmental domains and grow their engagement in learning.[2] According to Pearson Education, publisher of the Work Sampling System, instruction and assessment are interdependent parts of teaching that must be used together for educators to be most responsive to the needs of students.[3]

Online assessment systems, such as Creative Curriculum, High Scope COR, and Work Sampling, allow educators to run individual child reports which facilitate tailoring instruction to children’s specific needs. Since these tools assess children across all developmental domains, educators havea comprehensive picture of each child’s development; without assessment this information would not be so easily learned and organized. Some systems, such as Creative Curriculum online, point educators directly to the sections of their complimentary curriculum that may need addressed with students.

• Informed Program Practice

Assessment systems can support program practice by linking assessment results to program activities. The way this is done varies by the range of tools and some may provide resource guides, such as High Scope COR, which publishes a “What’s Next” guide to help educators plan subsequent classroom activities based on what they have observed in their classroom. Based on observation item and children’s skill levels, it lists strategies to effectively support children at that level and help them progress.[4]

Additionally, Work Sampling, High Scope COR and Creative Curriculum’s online components provide classroom-level reports though their online systems, which direct educators to where there are gaps in their own instruction. Educators are able to see where their collective group of children is not progressing and with support can examine their instruction for holes. From this, program administrators and educators can more intentionally target professional development. If this information is fed to the system-level, assessment can provide opportunities to implement strategies to meet standards as well as an opportunity to invest resources and supports in the areas most needed by staff.[5]

• Communicating withand Engaging Families

Using assessment systems to impact instruction runs concurrent with programs communicating assessment purposes and results with all children’s families and working collaboratively with them throughout the process. Reports can be used to illustrate children’s progress and show families what they can do to support development in the classroom. Certain tools, such as Creative Curriculum, allow children’s work to be shared online with parents, along with progress reports, newsletters and supplementary resources.[6] Additionally, for certain populations, such as English language learners or children with special needs, the need for communication with families around assessment and instructional support is crucial. For instance, it is important to include parents of special needs children in order to gain a full picture of a child’s capabilities, as these children’s variability when being assessed may be more so than their peers. All families should be engaged in the process, as the benefits are the most favorable when parents voices are heard and included in planning.[7]

Next Steps: SupportsNeededfor Optimal Child Assessment System Implementation

There are significant benefits to using child assessment systems to inform instructional practice and individualize instruction for children. The assessment resource, Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What and How, notes that effective training and professional development must be integrated with the conducting of assessments in order for educators to understand the information they are gathering andto use the data reports for their intended purpose. The source additionally expresses that educators will need adequate time to review and reflect on data gathered from assessments to make it most useful.[8]

• Effective Training

It is necessary for programs to have effective training in order to gain the maximum benefit from using a child assessment system. Effective training will varydepending on the starting points, needs and capabilities of each participating program and may include:

• Selecting and organizing an aligned assessment system
• Basic through advanced training on how to use the assessment system
• Observation and recording data
• Assessing English language learners and children with special needs
• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Using assessment data to guide instruction and inform program practice
• Using assessment data to individualize instruction for children
• Using data to communicate with and engage families
• Basic through advanced computer and technology training

• Ongoing Support and Reflective Supervision

It is equally important in successful implementation that educators receive ongoing training and support when using child assessment systems. Educators need the skills to be able to understand and use the system and its reports and to analyze assessment data, while other higher-level supervisors require more expertise in data management and analysis to be able to support and instruct their staff. Ongoing support and professional development are vital to improving program quality.[9]

EEC’s Proposed Investment in Readiness Centers

EEC envisions that Readiness Centers will help programs implement or advance their use of child assessment systems through three primary means, listed below:

• providing information on the theory behind assessment practices;
• targeting specific strategies for assessment implementation and sophisticated use in programs; and
• providing intentional professional development with hands-on guidance and ongoing technical support.

Additionally, the department recognizes that programs may fall into one of two categories; those which have not yet implemented a tool or are in the beginning stages and those which have been using the tool to capture data but need more advanced training to gain maximum benefit from use of the tool. Readiness Centers will not only take into account point of entry into assessment system use, but also level of complexity and the capacity of staff.

The practice of child assessment is an ongoing process and can be visualized as the table presents below. At the core of assessment system use are appropriate material and technological supports, strong links to curriculum, and a focus on continuous program improvement and ongoing support for staff. The assessment cycle, illustrated by the text along the arrows, must be supported by targeted professional development and will includeworking relationships between administrators, educators and families.

Child Assessment System Implementation and Ongoing Development[10]

The department also recognizes that programs not currently using an assessment system will need financial support for start up costs. EEC plans to offer grants to programs to purchase assessment tools. The following is an outline of the basic start up costs for the EEC-approved assessment systems.

Assessment System / Toolkit Cost / Online License Cost
Ages & Stages (ASQ-3) / $249.95 / $0.50/screen (plus $150 start up cost)
Creative Curriculum / $114.95 / $11.75 (yearly, per child)
High Scope COR / $199.95 / $12.45 (yearly, per child)
Work Sampling System / $205.00 / $11.10 (yearly, per child)

The increased use of child assessment systems in preschool settings is an important consideration to make with the recent findings of low instructional support quality in programs across the Commonwealth, and as the department supports assessment as an integral piece of high quality programming. Investing in Readiness Centers to provide the appropriate training and professional development for this purpose will help enable assessment to become a sustainable practice in the early childhood field. EEC is currently researching how widespread and at what levels of sophistication assessment systems are being used outside of the UPK program, and is considering within the resources available how to target the $800,000 available to Readiness Centers.

Ongoing System Development and Program Evaluation

While recognizing the unique challenges of assessing preschool-aged children, EEC willcontinue to establish a comprehensive system for measuring the performance and effectiveness of programs providing early education and care and services.

The future system will measure the performance and effectiveness of programs and the extent to which every preschool-aged child receiving early education and care in the Commonwealth through access to universal pre-kindergarten has a fair and full opportunity to reach such child’s full developmental potential and shall maximize every child’s capacity and opportunity to enter kindergarten ready to learn.

1

[1] National Research Council. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What and How. Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, C.E. Snow and S.B. Van Hemel, Editors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

[2] National Research Council. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What and How. Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, C.E. Snow and S.B. Van Hemel, Editors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

[3]Dichtelmiller, Jablon, Dorfman, Marsden and Meisels. (2001). Work Sampling in the Classroom. Pearson Education.

[4] What’s Next, Planning Children’s Activities Around Preschool COR Observations. (2003) High Scope Foundation.

[5] National Research Council. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What and How. Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, C.E. Snow and S.B. Van Hemel, Editors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

[6]Assessment: CreativeCurriculum.net. October 2009.

[7] National Research Council. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What and How. Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, C.E. Snow and S.B. Van Hemel, Editors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

[8] National Research Council. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What and How. Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, C.E. Snow and S.B. Van Hemel, Editors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

[9] National Research Council. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What and How. Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, C.E. Snow and S.B. Van Hemel, Editors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

[10] This diagram was adapted from a diagram appearing in the Best Practices in Early Childhood Assessment guide prepared by Early Childhood Associates, Inc. for the Department of Early Education and Care.