Assessment Plan

As early childhood educators, it is our job to ensure that students are learning and developing at an appropriate rate. As we have learned throughout this course, using developmentally appropriate assessment is one of the most efficient ways to be able to ensure that this happens. While it is our responsibility to understand the assessment process and the various strategies, tools, and procedures that are used with young children, the families of the children we work with may not always understand why we are doing what we are doing when it comes to assessment. As the director of an NAEYC-accredited preschool, you have decided to develop a comprehensive strengths-based and family-centered assessment plan where families are included each and every step of the way.

For this assignment you can choose to create your assessment plan in many formats. You could develop a handbook using Word, create a PowerPoint Presentation, or even create an assessment website using a tool such as Weebly. Regardless of which format you choose, your strengths-based and family-centered assessment plan must include the following sections:

Introduction:

• Describe your center or school’s philosophy of assessment. Your philosophy must be supported by scholarly or credible sources.

Goals, Benefits, and Uses of Assessment:

• Explain the purpose of assessment. Refer back to your first Week One discussion to assist with this.
• Discuss the assessment cycle. Refer back to your second Week One discussion to assist with this.
• Describe the principles of assessment that will guide the use of assessment in your center. Refer back to your second Week One discussion to assist with this.

Types of Assessments: For each of the types of assessment listed below, you will need to define the assessment, provide a rationale for using this type of assessment, share an example, and explain at least one way you use the information from this assessment to inform your instruction.

• Observations. (Refer back to your work from Week Three to assist with this.)
• Checklists, rating scales, rubrics. (Refer back to your Week Four discussion to assist with this.)
• Teacher-designed assessments. (Refer back to your Week Four assignment to assist with this.)
• Performance-based assessments. (Refer back to your Week Five discussion to assist with this.)
• Standardized assessments. (Refer back to your work in Week Two to assist with this.)
• Portfolios. (Refer back to your Week Five assignment to assist with this.)

Using Assessments to Inform Instruction:

• Analyze how the assessments you are using meet ethical standards
• Examine how you use these assessments to make decisions; include specific examples
• Discuss how you will use assessments to help ensure students are meeting their goals on their IEPs and/or IFSPs.

Assessment Partnerships with Families:

• Explain how your school will develop an assessment partnership with families. Include specific strategies for involving families and communities in their children’s learning and development. (Refer back to your Week Six discussion to assist with this.)
• Discuss, using specific examples, how you will use parent conferences to communicate about assessments. (Refer back to your Week Three assignment to assist with this.)
• Explain how diverse families and community characteristics will be taken into consideration when communicating about assessments.
• Share at least two professional organizations or assessment based resources you can provide families with to help them better understand the use of assessments.

Research and Resource Expectations:

• Source Requirement: 
  • At least two scholarly peer-reviewed or credible sources

Writing and Formatting Expectations:

• Title Page: Must include the following:
  • Title
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Academic Voice: Academic voice is used (avoids casual language, limited use of “I”, it is declarative).
• Purpose and Organization: Demonstrates logical progression of ideas.
• APA Formatting: Papers are formatted properly and all sources are cited and referenced in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Assignment Length: Your Assessment Plan Assignment should be eight to ten pages in length (not including title and reference pages).

Next Steps: Review and Submit the Assignment
Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to ensure you have achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion.  Next, submit the assignment for evaluation no later than Day 7.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.