SCHOOL READINESS ASSESSMENT

1. SCHOOL READINESS ASSESSMENT Kelly L. Maxwell March 10, 2005 CCPRC meeting

2. Five Major Purposesof Early Childhood Assessments • Improve/support children’s learning • Identify special needs • Evaluate programs • Monitor trends • High-stakes accountability NEGP report, Principles & Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments

3. Purpose 1: Support Learning • Audience: teachers • Methods: observation, work samples • Timing: ongoing • Closely tied to curriculum • Lowest level of technical accuracy • Assess all children • “Low stakes”

4. Purpose 2: Identify Special Needs • Audience: parent, teachers, specialists • Methods: standardized, norm-referenced assessments • Two stages of data collection • brief screening for all • in-depth assessment

5. Purpose 2: Identify Special Needs • Timing: periodically • Not tied closely to curriculum • Higher level of technical adequacy

6. Purpose 3: Evaluate Programs • Audience: policymakers, public • Methods: mixture • “Low stakes”--consequences for programs • No decisions about individuals

7. Purpose 3: Evaluate Programs • Timing: beginning and end of program (usually) • High standards of technical accuracy • Assess sample of children • Child data just one part of evaluation

8. Purpose 4: Monitor Trends • Audience: policymakers, public • Timing: snapshot, repeated every few years • Methods: mixture • High standards of technical accuracy • Assess sample of children • Accountability in the large sense • How well is a state doing?

9. Purpose 4: High Stakes Accountability • Audience: policymakers, public • Data collection: standardized assessments • “High stakes”--consequences for individuals (children, teachers) • Assess all children, usually

10. Purpose 4: High Stakes Accountability • “Before age 8, standardized achievement measures are not sufficiently accurate to be used for high-stakes decisions about individual children and schools.” p. 29 of Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments, NEGP report

11. Purpose 4: High Stakes Accountability • Accountability  Testing • Require monitoring • Require an intervention plan

12. Agreements in the Field aboutEarly Childhood Assessment • Paper and pencil tests won’t work. • Assessing younger children is harder than assessing older children. • School readiness assessments should cover more than 1 area of development.

13. Agreements • We’re better at measuring some things (cognitive development) than others (social). • Our assessment tools are very limited for children who do not speak English.

14. Disagreements in the Field aboutEarly Childhood Assessments • Which type of assessment is better—naturalistic assessments vs. standardized assessments? • Is it OK to use assessments of young children for high-stakes purposes?

15. Disagreements • Should we use teacher-reported child assessment data to make decisions about programs and teachers? • Can we use one assessment tool for multiple purposes?

16. Resources • Principles & Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments, NEGP report • Available at http://www.negp.gov/Reports/prinrec.pdf • Assessing Kindergarten Children: What School Systems Need to Know, SERVE report • Available at http://www.serve.org/publications/rdakcg.pdf

17. Resources • Assessing Kindergarten Children: A Compendium of Assessment Instruments, SERVE report • Available at http://www.serve.org/publications/rdakcc.pdf • Readiness for School: A Survey of State Policies and Definitions (2000). Saluja, Scott-Little, & Clifford • Available at http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v2n2/saluja.html

18. Resources • Child and Program Assessment: Tools for Educators. January 2004 Issue of Young Children • Available at http://www.journal.naeyc.org/btj/200401/