Performance Assessment Strategies. 1st Post Due by Day 3. Appropriate assessment strategies have the potential to support children’s individual learning needs, and they can help teachers see evidence of the effect of their teaching, while also providing a measure of program accountability. Additionally, it is also important to realize that assessment practices have the potential to do harm. Just as there are concerns about inappropriate curriculum content and teaching strategies, there are concerns about assessment. NAEYC has created guidelines that specifically address the early childhood professional’s ethical responsibilities to children around assessment. Here are the principles and ideals that focus on assessment in NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment (Links to an external site.).

To begin this assignment,

• Read the weekly assigned reading and carefully review methods of data collection including anecdotal records, running records, event sampling, time sampling, checklists, and rating scales. Next, select your three most preferred methods of authentic assessment.
• Review the following document which highlights the ideals and principles specifically referring to the responsible assessment of young children found within the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment.

Next, in your initial post,

• Discuss why you, as a program administrator, would promote these approaches to assessment in an early childhood program you were administering.
• Provide at least one example of the negative consequences for children when programs use inappropriate child assessment tools or strategies (such as using an assessment tool incorrectly or interpreting assessment data).
• Use the course text and/or one outside source to support your response.

Recommended Resources

Articles

Defending the Early Years. (n.d.). Six reasons to reject the CCSS for grades K-3 (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://deyproject.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/common-core-stand-alone-document-final-final-1.pdf

• This document provides guidance about how to respond to inappropriate standards, assessments, and classroom practices, and it may assist you in your discussion this week.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2004). NAEYC advocacy toolkit (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/policy/toolkit.pdf

• This comprehensive resource addresses many facets of effective advocacy and may assist you in your Commitment to Professionalism Statement assignment this week.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2005). NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf

• This position statement may assist you in your discussion this week.

Stremmel, A. J. (2007). The value of teacher research: Nurturing professional and personal growth through inquiry (Links to an external site.). Voices of Practitioners, 2(3). Retrieved from www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/vop/Voices-Stremmel.pdf

• This article explores using the early childhood workplace to conduct inquiry projects in order to contribute to research to the field. This article may help you with your Commitment to Professionalism Statement assignment this week.

Web Pages

Zero to Three (n.d.). Advocacy tools for action (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/series/advocacy-tools-for-action

• This web page has resources to support new advocates in the field of early childhood and may assist you in your Commitment to Professionalism Statement assignment this week.

Websites

FairTest (Links to an external site.). (http://www.fairtest.org)

• This organization addresses issues related to testing practices from kindergarten through college admission, stressing the importance of using tests appropriately and evaluating students and schools with data collected over time. It may assist you in your discussion this week.

Moms Rising (Links to an external site.). (https://www.momsrising.org)

• This website for a grassroots advocacy organization strives to raise the public’s awareness and build support for issues related to children and families. It may assist you in your Commitment to Professionalism Statement assignment this week.

This is the what the instructor is asking:

I’m going to take an extreme perspective of devil’s advocate to make a point:

• Can you tell me what happens to this ball when I place it underneath this scarf?
• Can you show me a pincer grasp?
• How many words do you have in your vocabulary?
• Show me what angry looks like.
• When you play are you aware of those around you?

As you can see from my parody of this situation, a big consideration of whether an assessment is appropriate is understanding under what situations and for which population.

So can you add some more details to your post in reference to your assessment choices?