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Observing, documenting, and assessing each child's development and learning are essential processes for educators and programs to plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of the experiences they provide to children. Assessment includes both formal and informal measures as tools for monitoring children's progress toward a program's desired goals. Educators can be intentional about helping children to progress when they know where each child is with respect to learning goals. Formative assessment (measuring progress toward goals) and summative assessment (measuring achievement at the end of a defined period or experience) are important. Both need to be conducted in ways that are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically responsive to authentically assess children's learning. This means that not only must the methods of assessment, both formal and informal, be developmentally, culturally, and linguistically sensitive, but also the assessor must be aware of and work against the possibility of implicit and explicit bias, for example through training, reflection, and regular reviews of collected data.

Effective assessment of young children is challenging. The complexity of children's development and learning-including the uneven nature of development and the likelihood of children fully demonstrating their knowledge and skills in different contexts-makes accurate and comprehensive assessment difficult. For example, authentic assessment takes into consideration such factors as a child's facility in each language they speak and uses assessors and settings that are familiar and comfortable for the child. When standardized assessments are used for screening or evaluative purposes, the measures should meet standards of reliability and validity based on the characteristics of the child being assessed. When these standards are not met, these limitations must be carefully considered before using the results. Using assessments in ways that do not support enhancing the child's education is not developmentally appropriate practice. Yet, decisions regarding assessment practices are often outside of the control of individual educators (also see Recommendations for research, page 31). When educators are aware of inappropriate assessment practices, they have a professional ethical responsibility to make their concerns known, to advocate for more appropriate practices, and, within their learning environment, to minimize the adverse impact of inappropriate assessments on young children and on instructional practices.

The following practices for observation, documentation, and assessment are developmentally appropriate for children from birth through the primary grades.

A. Observation, documentation, and assessment of young children's progress and achievements is ongoing, strategic, reflective, and purposeful. Educators embed assessment-related activities in the curriculum and in daily routines to facilitate authentic assessment and to make assessment an integral part of professional practice. They create and take advantage of unplanned opportunities to observe young children in play and in spontaneous conversations and interactions, in adult-structured assessment contexts as well as when children are participating in a group activity and doing an individual activity. Observations, documentations, and the results of other formal and informal assessments are used to inform the planning and implementing of daily curriculum and experiences, to communicate with the child's family, and to evaluate and improve educators' and the program's effectiveness. Especially in K-3 classrooms, care must be taken to avoid overuse of standardized assessments, which can cause stress for young children and interfere with time for learning. Educators limit the use of digitally-based assessments, especially for young children who (appropriately) should have limited exposure to screen media.

B. Assessment focuses on children's progress toward developmental and educational goals. Such goals should reflect families' input as well as children's background knowledge and experiences. They should be informed by developmental milestones including use of state early learning standards. Goals should be aspirational and achievable and should foster a sense of pride and accomplishment for educators, families, and children. Children, educators, and families should have opportunities to celebrate both small and large achievements, while recognizing that all children need time to build mastery on a current skill before progressing to the next challenge.

C. A system is in place to collect, make sense of, and use observations, documentation, and assessment information to guide what goes on in the early learning setting. Educators use this information in planning curriculum and learning experiences and in moment-to-moment interactions with children-that is, educators continually engage in assessment for the purpose of improving teaching and learning. Educators also encourage children to use observation and, beginning in the preschool years, documentation to reflect on their experiences and what they have learned.

D. The methods of assessment are responsive to the current developmental accomplishments, language(s), and experiences of young children. They recognize individual variation in learners and allow children to demonstrate their competencies in different ways. Methods appropriate to educators' assessment of young children, therefore, include results of their observations of children, clinical interviews, collections of children's work samples, and children's performance on authentic activities. For children who speak a language the educators do not know, native speakers of the child's language such as family or community members may need to be recruited to assist with the assessment process. A plan should be in place for employing volunteer and paid interpreters and translators as needed and providing them with information about appropriate interactions with young children and ethics and confidentiality, as well as about the features and purposes of the screening or assessment tool. Once collected, the results are explained to families and children (as appropriate) in order to extend the conversations around what is collected, analyzed, and reflected upon.

E. Assessments are used only for the populations and purposes for which they have been demonstrated to produce reliable, valid information. If required to use an assessment tool that has not been established as reliable or valid for the characteristics of a given child or for the intended use, educators recognize the limitations of the findings, strive to make sure they are not used in high-stakes decisions, and advocate for a different measure.

F. Decisions that have a major impact on children, such as enrollment or placement, are made in consultation with families. Such decisions should be based on multiple sources of relevant information, including that obtained from observations of and interactions with children by educators, family members, and specialists as needed.

G. When a screening assessment identifies a child who may have a disability or individualized learning or developmental needs, there is appropriate follow-up, evaluation, and, if needed, referral. Screening is used to identify issues needing more thorough examination by those qualified to do so; it is not used to diagnose or label children. Families are involved as essential sources of information.

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DAP: Observing, Documenting, and Assessing Children's Development and Learning

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Observing, documenting, and assessing each child's development and learning are essential processes for educators and programs to plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of the experiences they provide to children.

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6 Types of Assessment (and How to Use Them) (prodigygame.com)

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How do you use the different types of assessment in your classroom to promote student learning?

School closures and remote or hybrid learning environments have posed some challenges for educators, but motivating students to learn and grow remains a constant goal.

Some students have lost a portion of their academic progress. Assessing students in meaningful ways can help motivate and empower them to grow as they become agents of their own learning.

But testing can contribute to math anxiety for many students. Assessments can be difficult to structure properly and time-consuming to grade. And as a teacher, you know that student progress isn't just a number on a report card.

There's so much more to assessments than delivering an end-of-unit exam or prepping for a standardized test. Assessments help shape the learning process at all points, and give you insights into student learning. As John Hattie, a professor of education and the director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia puts it:

Six types of assessments are:

Diagnostic assessments

Formative assessments

Summative assessments

Ipsative assessments

Norm-referenced assessments

Criterion-referenced assessments

Let's find out how assessments can analyze, support and further learning.

What's the purpose of different types of assessment?

Different types of assessments can help you understand student progress in various ways. This understanding can inform the teaching strategies you use, and may lead to different adaptations.

In your classroom, assessments generally have one of three purposes:

Assessment of learning

Assessment for learning

Assessment as learning

Assessment of learning

You can use assessments to help identify if students are meeting grade-level standards.

Assessments of learning are usually grade-based, and can include:

Exams

Portfolios

Final projects

Standardized tests

They often have a concrete grade attached to them that communicates student achievement to teachers, parents, students, school-level administrators and district leaders.

Common types of assessment of learning include:

Summative assessments

Norm-referenced assessments

Criterion-referenced assessments

Assessment for learning

Assessments for learning provide you with a clear snapshot of student learning and understanding as you teach -- allowing you to adjust everything from your classroom management strategies to your lesson plans as you go.

Assessments for learning should always be ongoing and actionable. When you're creating assessments, keep these key questions in mind:

What do students still need to know?

What did students take away from the lesson?

Did students find this lesson too easy? Too difficult?

Did my teaching strategies reach students effectively?

What are students most commonly misunderstanding?

What did I most want students to learn from this lesson? Did I succeed?

There are lots of ways you can deliver assessments for learning, even in a busy classroom. We'll cover some of them soon!

For now, just remember these assessments aren't only for students -- they're to provide you with actionable feedback to improve your instruction.

Common types of assessment for learning include formative assessments and diagnostic assessments.

Assessment as learning

Assessment as learning actively involves students in the learning process. It teaches critical thinking skills, problem-solving and encourages students to set achievable goals for themselves and objectively measure their progress.

They can help engage students in the learning process, too! One study "showed that in most cases the students pointed out the target knowledge as the reason for a task to be interesting and engaging, followed by the way the content was dealt with in the classroom."

Another found:

Douglas B. McLeod

Some examples of assessment as learning include ipsative assessments, self-assessments and peer assessments.

6 Types of assessment to use in your classroom

There's a time and place for every type of assessment. Keep reading to find creative ways of delivering assessments and understanding your students' learning process!

1. Diagnostic assessment

Let's say you're starting a lesson on two-digit multiplication. To make sure the unit goes smoothly, you want to know if your students have mastered fact families, place value and one-digit multiplication before you move on to more complicated questions.

When you structure diagnostic assessments around your lesson, you'll get the information you need to understand student knowledge and engage your whole classroom.

Some examples to try include:

Short quizzes

Journal entries

Student interviews

Student reflections

Classroom discussions

Graphic organizers (e.g., mind maps, flow charts, KWL charts)

Diagnostic assessments can also help benchmark student progress. Consider giving the same assessment at the end of the unit so students can see how far they've come!

Using Prodigy for diagnostic assessments

One unique way of delivering diagnostic assessments is to use a game-based learning platform that engages your students.

Prodigy's assessments tool helps you align the math questions your students see in-game with the lessons you want to cover.

To set up a diagnostic assessment, use your assessments tool to create a Plan that guides students through a skill. This adaptive assessment will support students with pre-requisites when they need additional guidance.

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In other words, meaningful learning is like a puzzle - having the pieces is one thing, but knowing how to put it together becomes an engaging process that helps solidify learning.

Formative assessments help you track how student knowledge is growing and changing in your classroom in real-time. While it requires a bit of a time investment - especially at first - the gains are more than worth it.

A March 2020 study found that providing formal formative assessment evidence such as written feedback and quizzes within or between instructional units helped enhance the effectiveness of formative assessments.

Some examples of formative assessments include:

Portfolios

Group projects

Progress reports

Class discussions

Entry and exit tickets

Short, regular quizzes

Virtual classroom tools like Socrative or Kahoot!

When running formative assessments in your classroom, it's best to keep them short, easy to grade and consistent. Introducing students to formative assessments in a low-stakes way can help you benchmark their progress and reduce math anxiety.
Find more engaging formative assessment ideas here!
How Prodigy helps you deliver formative assessments

Prodigy makes it easy to create, deliver and grade formative assessments that help keep your students engaged with the learning process and provide you with actionable data to adjust your lesson plans.

Use your Prodigy teacher dashboard to create an Assignment and make formative assessments easy!

Assignments assess your students on a particular skill with a set number of questions and can be differentiated for individual students or groups of students.

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For more ideas on using Prodigy for formative assessments, read:

3. Summative assessment

Summative assessments measure student progress as an assessment of learning. Standardized tests are a type of summative assessment and provide data for you, school leaders and district leaders.

They can assist with communicating student progress, but they don't always give clear feedback on the learning process and can foster a "teach to the test" mindset if you're not careful.

Plus, they're stressful for teachers. One Harvard survey found 60% of teachers said "preparing students to pass mandated standardized tests" "dictates most of" or "substantially affects" their teaching.

Sound familiar?

But just because it's a summative assessment, doesn't mean it can't be engaging for students and useful for your teaching. Try creating assessments that deviate from the standard multiple-choice test, like:

Recording a podcast

Writing a script for a short play

Producing an independent study project

No matter what type of summative assessment you give your students, keep some best practices in mind:

Keep it real-world relevant where you can

Make questions clear and instructions easy to follow

Give a rubric so students know what's expected of them

Create your final test after, not before, teaching the lesson

Try blind grading: don't look at the name on the assignment before you mark it

Use these summative assessment examples to make them effective and fun for your students!
Preparing students for summative assessments with Prodigy

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4. Ipsative assessments

How many of your students get a bad grade on a test and get so discouraged they stop trying?

Ipsative assessments are one of the types of assessment as learning that compares previous results with a second try, motivating students to set goals and improve their skills.

When a student hands in a piece of creative writing, it's just the first draft. They practice athletic skills and musical talents to improve, but don't always get the same chance when it comes to other subjects like math.

A two-stage assessment framework helps students learn from their mistakes and motivates them to do better. Plus, it removes the instant gratification of goals and teaches students learning is a process.

You can incorporate ipsative assessments into your classroom with:

One study on ipsative learning techniques found that when it was used with higher education distance learners, it helped motivate students and encouraged them to act on feedback to improve their grades.

In Gwyneth Hughes' book, Ipsative Assessment: Motivation Through Marking Progress, she writes: "Not all learners can be top performers, but all learners can potentially make progress and achieve a personal best. Putting the focus onto learning rather than meeting standards and criteria can also be resource efficient."

While educators might use this type of assessment during pre- and post-test results, they can also use it in reading instruction. Depending on your school's policy, for example, you can record a student reading a book and discussing its contents. Then, at another point in the year, repeat this process. Next, listen to the recordings together and discuss their reading improvements.

What could it look like in your classroom?

5. Norm-referenced assessments

Norm-referenced assessments are tests designed to compare an individual to a group of their peers, usually based on national standards and occasionally adjusted for age, ethnicity or other demographics.

Unlike ipsative assessments, where the student is only competing against themselves, norm-referenced assessments draw from a wide range of data points to make conclusions about student achievement.

Types of norm-referenced assessments include:

IQ tests

Physical assessments

Standardized college admissions tests like the SAT and GRE

Proponents of norm-referenced assessments point out that they accentuate differences among test-takers and make it easy to analyze large-scale trends. Critics argue they don't encourage complex thinking and can inadvertently discriminate against low-income students and minorities.

Norm-referenced assessments are most useful when measuring student achievement to determine:

Language ability

Grade readiness

Physical development

College admission decisions

Need for additional learning support

While they're not usually the type of assessment you deliver in your classroom, chances are you have access to data from past tests that can give you valuable insights into student performance.

6. Criterion-referenced assessments

Criterion-referenced assessments compare the score of an individual student to a learning standard and performance level, independent of other students around them.

In the classroom, this means measuring student performance against grade-level standards and can include end-of-unit or final tests to assess student understanding.

Outside of the classroom, criterion-referenced assessments appear in professional licensing exams, high school exit exams and citizenship tests, where the student must answer a certain percentage of questions correctly to pass.

Criterion-referenced assessments are most often compared with norm-referenced assessments. While they're both considered types of assessments of learning, criterion-referenced assessments don't measure students against their peers. Instead, each student is graded to provide insight into their strengths and areas for improvement.

How to create effective assessments

You don't want to use a norm-referenced assessment to figure out where learning gaps in your classroom are, and ipsative assessments aren't the best for giving your principal a high-level overview of student achievement in your classroom.

When it comes to your teaching, here are some best practices to help you identify which type of assessment will work and how to structure it, so you and your students get the information you need.

Make a rubric

Students do their best work when they know what's expected of them and how they'll be marked. Whether you're assigning a cooperative learning project or an independent study unit, a rubric communicates clear success criteria to students and helps teachers maintain consistent grading.

Ideally, your rubric should have a detailed breakdown of all the project's individual parts, what's required of each group member and an explanation of what different levels of achievement look like.

A well-crafted rubric lets multiple teachers grade the same assignment and arrive at the same score. It's an important part of assessments for learning and assessments of learning, and teaches students to take responsibility for the quality of their work.

There are plenty of online rubric tools to help you get started -- try one today!

Ask yourself why you're giving the assessment

While student grades provide a useful picture of achievement and help you communicate progress to school leaders and parents, the ultimate goal of assessments is to improve student learning.

Ask yourself questions like:

What's my plan for the results?

Who's going to use the results, besides me?

What do I want to learn from this assessment?

What's the best way to present the assessment to my students, given what I know about their progress and learning styles?

This helps you effectively prepare students and create an assessment that moves learning forward.

Don't stick with the same types of assessment - mix it up!

End-of-unit assessments are a tried and tested (pun intended) staple in any classroom. But why stop there?

Let's say you're teaching a unit on multiplying fractions. To help you plan your lessons, deliver a diagnostic assessment to find out what students remember from last year. Once you're sure they understand all the prerequisites, you can start teaching your lessons more effectively.

After each math class, deliver short exit tickets to find out what students understand and where they still have questions. If you see students struggling, you can re-teach or deliver intervention in small groups during station rotations.

When you feel students are prepared, an assessment of learning can be given to them. If students do not meet the success criteria, additional support and scaffolding can be provided to help them improve their understanding of the topic. You can foster a growth mindset by reminding students that mistakes are an important part of learning!

Now your students are masters at multiplying fractions! And when standardized testing season rolls around, you know which of your students need additional support - and where.

Build your review based on the data you've collected through diagnostic, formative, summative and ipsative assessments so they perform well on their standardized tests.

Final thoughts about different types of assessment

Remember: learning extends well beyond a single score or assessment!

It's an ongoing process, with plenty of opportunities for students to build a growth mindset and develop new skills.

Prodigy is a fun, digital game-based learning platform used by over 100 million students and 2.5 million teachers. Join today to make delivering assessments and differentiating math learning easy with a free teacher account!

Sign up now!
The major purpose of assessment in schools should be to provide interpretative information to teachers and school leaders about their impact on students, so that these educators have the best information possible about what steps to take with instruction and how they need to change and adapt. So often we use assessment in schools to inform students of their progress and attainment. Of course this is important, but it is more critical to use this information to inform teachers about their impact on students. Using assessments as feedback for teachers is powerful. And this power is truly maximized when the assessments are timely, informative, and related to what teachers are actually teaching.

Six types of assessments are:

Another found:

"Students develop an interest in mathematical tasks that they understand, see as relevant to their own concerns, and can manage. Recent studies of students' emotional responses to mathematics suggest that both their positive and their negative responses diminish as tasks become familiar and increase when tasks are novel"
Douglas B. McLeod
Some examples to try include:
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"Current research indicates that acquired knowledge is not simply a collection of concepts and procedural skills filed in long-term memory. Rather, the knowledge is structured by individuals in meaningful ways, which grow and change over time."
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Sound familiar?
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Ask yourself questions like:

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6 Types of Assessment (and How to Use Them)

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How do you use the different types of assessment in your classroom to promote student learning? School closures and remote or hybrid learning environments have posed some challenges for educators, but motivating students to learn and grow remains a constant goal. Some students have lost a portion of their academic progress.

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NAEYC CODE OF ETHICAL CONDUCT AND STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT

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NAEYC CODE OF ETHICAL CONDUCT AND STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT

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NAEYCCode of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment | NAEYC

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An Introduction To Assessment For Learning | OUP

When selecting observation methods I was sure to use a method that was specific to the questions or skills at hand.

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Assessment for learning is a process where teachers seek and use evidence to decide where learners are in their learning, where they need to go, and how best to get there. The emphasis here is on using assessment practices to gather information, which can then be used to make judgements about teaching decisions and directly improve learning. The emphasis is on those assessments, which are used to directly help with learning. The term 'assessment' is being used in the general sense of 'gathering information to make a judgement'. Much of this evidence will come from the daily classroom activities - an unexpected answer to a question may alert the teacher to a misunderstanding, puzzled looks on students' faces may mean a need to clarify some instructions.

This approach to assessment is known as formative assessment, as it 'informs' learning. It can be contrasted with the summative assessment which 'sums up' where students have got to in their learning, the kind of information generated by end-of-unit tests for grading and certification.

How to get started with assessment for learning:

There are three key practices that will help teachers get started with assessment for learning:

Diagnostics (finding out where your students are in their learning journey)

Learning intentions & success criteria (being clear about where they need to go)

Giving effective feedback (showing them how to get there)

Together, these practices will help you use formative assessment to inform teaching and learning.

1) Good diagnostics - finding out where students are in their learning:

Assessment for learning begins with finding out where the student is in their learning. Classroom teachers gather evidence to help them understand what their students already know and what they need to learn. Building on what learners already know is the most effective way of learning - the psychologist David Ausubel observes: 'The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner knows already. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly'[i]. Learning Italian if you already know Spanish is going to be far easier than learning Mandarin Chinese, for which we may have little to build on and have to start from scratch - a very slow learning process.

Classroom dialogue is a powerful source of finding out what students know. What happens when a teacher asks the class a question and gets an unexpected answer from a student? The temptation is to move on to someone else, who may then give the correct answer. What if, instead, the teacher stays with this student and tries to find out how this answer was arrived at? Was it a different interpretation of the question, a misunderstanding of a word, or interference from a first language? This is the teacher using assessment to help the learning process, both the teacher's (who finds out more about the student's understanding), and the student's (who makes explicit the reasoning behind the answer). This, done respectfully, is Assessment for Learning in practice.

Good questions from the teacher are at the heart of classroom dialogue. However, the researcher John Hattie has shown that in a typical school classroom, teachers:

Talk for 70-80 per cent of the lesson;

Ask 200-300 questions a day, of which 60 per cent require recall of facts ('What is a noun?') and 20 per cent are procedural ('where's your book?').

Less than five per cent of the time is spent in a group or whole-class discussion of meaningful ideas;

70 per cent of answers take students less than five seconds to give and, on average, involve three words[ii].

While these percentages may be different for language classes, they should remind us that good diagnostics are based on giving students as many opportunities as possible to show what they know, understand, and can do. Our students should be talking more than we are.

Other classroom research has studied how much thinking time we give our students after we ask a question. The surprise finding was that teachers waited for less than one second before they took action. One assessment for learning practice is to introduce 'wait time' in which the teacher deliberately allows more time for thought. This will often be combined with 'pair and share' activities which invite students to talk to each other about the answer before the teacher chooses someone to answer. Wait time also encourages teachers to ask richer questions that encourage thought ('why does...?'; 'what if...?)

Are classroom tests and quizzes part of Assessment for Learning? Yes, but these assessments will only be formative if there is a follow-up to the responses - 'why did you choose this answer?'. Simply giving a mark or marking responses as right or wrong does not contribute to the learning process - unless students are asked to work out why an answer is wrong. Simply giving students the right answer will not be a learning experience if they don't know why it is correct.

Summative assessments (for example, published tests) can also be used formatively, if the responses are used to diagnose what students have understood so that further learning can take place. Where several items on a topic have been answered incorrectly, teachers learn that this topic needs more attention, and perhaps a different way of presenting it - it has become formative for the teachers.

2) Learning intentions & success criteria - being clear about where learners need to go:

Another important assessment for learning practice involves helping students understand what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how this new learning will contribute to their progress. This means that teachers themselves have to be clear about what is being learned, and how a lesson contributes to progress. This is more than knowing what the class will do in a particular lesson, it's about what students will learn from these activities. And it's not enough for the teacher to be clear, the students themselves need to be aware of the learning intention - what the lesson is seeking to achieve. A teacher may explain this at the beginning of a lesson or vary the pattern by asking the class part-way through the lesson: 'Why do you think we are doing this today?'.

Knowing the learning intention is only part of the story, students also need to know what successful learning will look like, the 'where they need to go' of assessment for learning. This involves making clear to the students the success criteria, what is involved in a successful performance. This can involve:

Negotiating with the students about what think a good performance looks like ('what would you expect to see?').

Exemplars. Teachers may also provide anonymous examples of other students' work, some successfully meeting the success criteria, some falling short. Groups may then be asked to use the criteria (no more than four) to judge 'which the better performance and why?'. In this way, students are developing an understanding of the quality of work required of them and the criteria by which they will be judged.

Modelling. Perhaps the most powerful way for language teachers of providing students with an understanding of 'where they need to go' is to model it, demonstrating how something is done - for example striking up a conversation or making a request.

3) Effective feedback - showing learners how to get where they're going:

Feedback becomes one of the most powerful forms of learning when it helps learners close the gap between their current and the desired performance. Feedback is a two-way process, it is not simply the teacher giving advice to students, our students are continuously giving us feedback - about what they understand, about misconceptions and about what engages them. While effective feedback has a powerful effect on learning, much of what we call feedback does not 'close the gap' - it may even have a negative effect on learning. Feedback can't simply be a formulaic process, it is part of a teacher's skill to judge what is appropriate for different learners; the same feedback may work for one student but not for another.

What makes feedback effective?

We can identify seven elements that will encourage more productive feedback.

It is specific and clear. When a 14-year-old Norwegian was given the feedback 'write more', he responded: 'If I knew more I would have written it - I don't know what more to write. Teachers should tell me what is missing'[iii]. He was right. To be effective feedback needs to provide specific advice on how to improve. ('What words could you use instead of 'nice' in your report?'). And it needs to be clear - both in terms of handwriting and the language used (that is why oral feedback is often more useful - the student can clarify the feedback if it isn't clear).

It is well-timed. Choosing the right moment to give feedback is a teaching skill. Often it will be best as the student is doing the work so as to move it in the right direction. With more fluent performers it may come afterwards - music teachers don't usually interrupt in the middle of a practice piece, they wait and then go back to the problem. Allowing time for students to work on the feedback is also important. The same Norwegian study also found: When students are given time to respond and the teacher follows up on the feedback, it is treated as positive. If they are not given time to act on the feedback, they see it as negative and critical. (p.160)

The feedback is clearly linked to the learning intention and success criteria. If the focus of the learning has been made clear to the student, then the feedback should be directly linked to this. As teachers, we are tempted to give feedback on other aspects of the work as well, particularly presentational features such as spelling, punctuation and grammar. This distracts from the main learning, and we may give so much feedback that the student does not recognise what is the most important. A helpful practice here is to think in terms of 'medals and mission'[iv] - recognition of one or two aspects of the work that meet the criteria (medals) and one instruction on what can be done to improve the work (mission). The teaching skill here is to select the one feedback activity that will best 'close the gap'.

The feedback focuses on the task, not the learner. When the focus is on the quality of the work, students can see what they need to do to improve further. 'This work hasn't progressed much from the last piece, what further improvements could you make?'. This allows the student to reflect and become a more resilient learner. When feedback is directed at the self ('you're a brilliant student'; 'you're a disappointment') students respond by protecting their reputation. With 'star' students this may mean, in order to preserve their reputation, never failing - so they look for the safe route and take no risks. This is not a recipe for effective learning.

It gives prompts in a way that moves the learning forward. Students will be at different stages in their learning: For beginners, we may need to provide concrete examples of what is needed ('here are two ways you could organise your report'); With progress, the feedback is aimed at giving the student more structure ('scaffolding') - 'can you see how to organise the points you make?'. As the learner becomes more proficient, the feedback reminds learners about what they already know, expecting them to use their skills: 'Remember that the conclusion should link back to the opening paragraph'. When learners have met the success criteria, they can be prompted to reflect on their work so as to provoke further thinking: 'What else could you do to make your argument more persuasive?'

Good feedback offers strategies rather than solutions. To be given the correct answers is not helpful if the students don't know why these are correct. Even when given time to respond to the teacher's comments, they may make the corrections mechanically and without understanding. It is more useful to give feedback on strategies for checking their answers - underlining an error ('check this'), rather than correcting it may be more productive.

Effective feedback challenges, requires action, and is achievable. If feedback does not encourage students to think and to act on their work, it will be unsuccessful, the is no closing of the gap. It also means the time the teacher has spent preparing it has been wasted. Students also need to see that what they are being asked to do is achievable and worth doing - the kind of practice that will move their learning forward.

The goal of Assessment for Learning practices is good diagnostics; clear learning intentions and success criteria; and effective feedback - is to produce more effective learners, learners who are able to actively regulate their own learning, to think for themselves.
Do you want to propel learners forward with Formative Assessment? You'll find everything you need to get started on our Assessment for Learning Homepage, including tools, training, and advice!
Gordon Stobart is Emeritus Professor of Education, Institute of Education, University College London and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment (OUCEA).
Before moving to the Institute of Education UCL, he spent twenty years as a senior researcher in policy-related environments, firstly as head of research at an examination board, then at government education agencies. Prior to that, he was a secondary school teacher and an educational psychologist.

Much of his recent assessment work has involved promoting formative assessment as part of improving teaching and learning. He was a founder member of the Assessment Reform Group which has promoted Assessment for Learning internationally.

He is a former editor of the international journal Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice and author of Testing times- the uses and abuses of assessment (Routledge, 2008). His current work is on how experts learn and the implications for classroom teaching and learning. His book on this is The Expert Learner - Challenging the myth of ability (2014, OUP/ McGraw-Hill).

References

[i] Ausubel, D. (1968), Educational Psychology: A cognitive view, New York: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, p.vi.

[ii] Hattie, J. (2012) Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximising Impact on Learning, London: Routledge.

[iii] Gamlem, S. & Smith, K. (2013) Student perceptions of classroom feedback, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 20, 2, 150-169.

[iv] Petty, G. (2009) Evidenced-based teaching, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

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An Introduction To Assessment For Learning | OUP

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Assessment for learning is a process where teachers seek and use evidence to decide where learners are in their learning, where they need...

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When sharing assessment information, I communicated effectively in a language that everyone understood. I also explained the data that was collected and how the results will benefit their child. I also practiced privacy.

# data[].attributes.body
When assessing, I was accurate when collecting data. This data will be the basis for future curriculum planning and for early intervention if needed. I also understood what I had observed. Remember to recognize and respect the unique differences between children.

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When observing, ethics plays a large role. By demonstrating ethnical practices, I have learned to observe in an unbiased way keeping an open mind. I also learned to understand one's cultural differences. I used instruments and strategies that were appropriate and will be used for their intended purposes. I was direct, objective, and complete. I also considered the environment and the child's temperament.

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When recording observations, I recorded specific information that will be best at determining how to support a child in the future.

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Environment Rating Scales® | Environment Rating Scales® (unc.edu)

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Environment Rating Scales® | Environment Rating Scales®

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Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale®, 3rd ed. -- A thorough revision of the ECERS-R™, designed to assess group programs for preschool-kindergarten aged children, from 3 through 5 years of age. Total scale consists of 35 items.

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Another topic that has impacted my way of thinking was about assessing the environment. I learned how important it is to have a classroom that offers multiple resources for the children to use. I also learned that everything matters, from the furniture in the room, to the lighting, and the qualified educators that are present.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A thorough revision of the original ITERS, designed to assess center-based child care programs for infants and toddlers up to 30 months of age.

Scale consists of 39 items organized into 7 subscales.

New curriculum and program items in the revised ITERS include: Helping children understand language; Nature/science; Use of TV, video and computer; Free play; and Group play activities. Items have been added to make the scale more inclusive and culturally sensitive, to address professional needs of staff, and to reflect the latest health and safety information.

Featuring a new spiral binding, the updated ITERS-R™ offers more practical assistance in the form of an Expanded Scoresheet (which contains a worksheet) and additional notes for clarification to improve accuracy in scoring. However the items and indicators remain the same as in the ITERS-R™.

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Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale®, Revised (ITERS-R™)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A thorough revision of the original ITERS, designed to assess center-based child care programs for infants and toddlers up to 30 months of age. Scale consists of 39 items organized into 7 subscales. New curriculum and program items in the revised ITERS include: Helping children understand language; Nature/science; Use of TV, video and computer; Free play; and Group play activities.

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I feel I progressed nicely in the area of observations. I started out unsure of what to do and completed my time in this class feeling confident that I can offer quality observations in the future. I enjoyed going out to the different daycares and schools to do my observations. I felt at home in the classroom.

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Teaching Strategies for Early Childhood Education

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Making meaningful observations in a preschool classroom

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One topic that has impacted my way of thinking was learning about teaching skills and strategies. My role as a future teacher is not only to teach, but to support children in their learning. The guidelines are very simple yet effective ways to teach our children and extend on their learning.

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To me professional growth means taking steps to further my education in a specific field. This is accomplished by learning about new experiences and participating in them. It also means learning new skills that I can use every day to fulfill my needs and wants in a professional way. I feel that opening my mind and retaining new information will prepare me for a successful future. When I first started in the ECE Program I was lacked knowledge in this area. A few months later I feel confident in what I did learn, and I know I will be able to use those and build on them to make them even greater. I am anxious to see what is next!

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When observing remember to...

* Be objective, not subjective. Write only what you see and hear.

* Be specific. Record details such as number of children, materials used, adults involved. Create a snapshot!

* Be direct. Use direct quotes from children and teachers.

* Describe the mood. Tone of voice, facial expressions, body language etc.

* Be complete. Make sure your observation has a beginning, a middle, and an ending.

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When observing children follow these guidelines:

1. Observe over time- children perform differently in different settings, with different peers, and at different times of the day.

2. Observe in various situations- children will behave differently depending on the circumstances that surround them.

3. Keep notes of what you see- observe quietly and notate, observe while interacting while notating, and observe then notate later.

4. Observe the same child more than one time over a period of time for more accurate observations.

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* Interviews-teacher asks questions

* Contracts-plan between teacher and child

* Directed Assignments-Teacher gives specific directions to complete a specific task

* Games-group activity that shows skills and concepts

* Work Samples-examples of child's work that shows progress and accomplishments

* Projects-ongoing group activity usually based on the unit of study

* Portfolios- a collection of child's work and accomplishments that is stored, evaluated and can be passed on

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* Can be time consuming

* Can be more complex; the teacher needs to watch for a specific behavior

* Teacher needs to be flexible with integrating new curriculum for the child

* Possibility that they are not completely valid or reliable due to bias

* Parents will need to be informed of how the assessments affect their child

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* Flexibility

* Children actively participate

* Provide direct observations of child's skills

* Provide true assessments of a child's abilities

* Provides useful information to parents

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The goal of performance-based assessments is to allow teachers to create a curriculum that interest and challenges children, check their knowledge of material, and measure the success of standards.

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A type of assessment that measures what a child knows and what they can do. It also shows how a child applies that knowledge.

# data[].attributes.body
This video gives a quick, informative description of the main points of standardized assessment.

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Standardized Test (Achievement Test) Part - 1

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* Developmental differences among children

* Cultural differences among children

* Lack of accuracy in results

# data[].attributes.body
* Demonstrates a student's progress

* Objective measurement of achievement

* Identifies the need for early intervention

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This is a typical standardized assessment answer sheet for school aged children.

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The goal of a standardized assessment is to understand the skill development of infants and young children. They are also used to determine special instruction for those exhibiting a disability.

# data[].attributes.body
An assessment tool which has specific guidelines to follow, specific ways to present the assessment, and uses a scoring system where scores are compared against other children's scores.

# data[].attributes.body
Observation has three components:

Observing-focusing on a child while watching and listening to them without adding your input.

Recording-gathering information in various ways and organizing it to present a clear picture of a child.

Interpreting-drawing conclusions form the evidence you have gathered about a child and coming to a conclusion about what you have recorded.

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event_time_sampling.pdf (kanopy.com)

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(45) Momentary Time Sampling: Free Play Data Collection - YouTube

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Momentary Time Sampling: Free Play Data Collection

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The goal of event sampling is to identify how often behaviors, triggers, and reactions are happening with a child.

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The goal of time sampling is to pinpoint specific aspects of a behavior (good or bad) that are being exhibited by a child.

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I see myself using event sampling in a classroom if there is a child exhibiting aggressive behavior. This would allow me to see reactions and triggers and allow me to track them. The observation would occur during an activity's entirety allowing for more opportunities to record it.

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I see myself using time sampling in a classroom if there is a child that may be exhibiting a certain behavior. I can observe their behavior and focus in on an aspect of that behavior. This may show how often the behavior is occurring. The observation would occur during a timed period.

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Pinterest

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Time Sampling Form | Speech therapy materials, Speech therapy, Student

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Dec 16, 2017 - This Pin was discovered by Nakeena Sykes. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest

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* The purpose of use is very clear
* Predetermined to focus on specific behavior or activity
* Allows the teacher to focus on exact behavior without distraction
* Shows the frequency of a behavior

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(1466) Time sampling - YouTube

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* Behavior may be hard to anticipate for observation
* Unpredictable behavior may lead to time being wasted that is needed somewhere else
* Needs time to prepare and cannot be used unplanned

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* Some behaviors may be missed outside the time frame
* May be difficult to do because of classroom schedule
* May underestimate a behavior

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* Clarifies what really happens; behavior, learning
* Able to observe when the behavior occurs
* Able understand and respond to a cause of a behavior

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Free Forms | ABC Event Sampling Record | Playvolution HQ

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Overview

Here's a free download and print ABC Event Sampling Record form designed to help early learning professionals collect information and better understand behaviors or situations.

What's An ABC Event Sampling Record?

An ABC Event Sampling Record is an anecdotal observation form designed for observing a targeted behavior or situation (Kim's biting, Clive's meltdowns, Sam's hair pulling). With this form, you can record the ABCs of the targeted activity and hopefully gain some insight into the situation.

ABC stand for

Antecedent (What happened before the targeted situation/behavior-what triggers it?)

Behavior (the targeted situation/behavior)

Consequences (what came directly after the targeted situation-what does the situation/behavior accomplish?)

This form helps users see patterns-which can be very useful in managing an early learning environment.

While this tool can be used to increase understanding of negative behavior, it can also be used to focus on positive situations. For example, Darin using his words instead of hitting when he's angry, Kim not biting, or Alex sharing her block building skills with younger kids. It can be used to collect data on staff activities as well as children's.

How To Use The ABC Event Sampling Record

Here's a quick rundown on how to use the ABC Event Sampling Record. First, select a target situation or behavior. For this example, we'll focus on Clive's meltdowns.

Then, wait for the targeted situation to occur and record what you observe (as well as the date and time). For example, You may record that Clive started yelling, flailing is arms, and crying (Behavior) immediately after Kim told him she didn't want to play ninjas (Antecedent). Then Clive self-calmed and Kim called him a baby and went back to the block tower she was building (Consequences).

When recording your observations, try to remain neutral and include as much detail as possible. To making recording easier, I suggest keeping the form nearby on a clipboard, so you can jot down your observations as soon as possible after the targeted behavior occurs.

front of form

back of form

Now, one sample record may not provide much insight, but if you record each of Clive's meltdowns over the course of a week (or more), patterns may emerge when you analyze your records.

Maybe the majority of his meltdowns happen on Mondays, and they taper off as the week goes on. Maybe most of them involve Kim. Maybe they involve him being told NO. Maybe they happen in the hour leading up to lunch.

The pattern(s) you observe can help you manage your environment. For example, pre-lunch meltdowns may mean Clive's tummy is rumbling and hunger is triggering his loss of control. What would happen if you started feeding him a bit earlier?

Here's The Free ABC Event Sampling Record Form

Download it, print it, and use it to help better understand what's happening in your early learning environment:

Conclusion

This form is a tool that can help you gain insight and understanding into situations in your early learning setting.

Related Posts

More posts related to early learning program operations at the links:

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Free Forms | ABC Event Sampling Record | Playvolution HQ

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Here's a free download and print ABC Event Sampling Record form designed to help early learning professionals collect information and better understand

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Child development - YouTube

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Child development - Event & Time Sampling observation technique

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An observation tool used to observe a specific behavior and what led up to that behavior. Not restricted to a specific time throughout the day.

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An observation tool in which a subject is observed within timed intervals recording data within that specific time period.

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Running Record Sheet (double sided) {FREE} by Mrs Sumens-Teaching Resources (teacherspayteachers.com)

RUNNING RECORD TEMPLATE

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Running Record Sheet (double sided) {FREE}

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This sheet is to be used for recording running records…

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Pinterest

ANECDOTAL RECORD TEMPLATE

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Aug 27, 2016 - This blog contains helpful resources for all grade levels in the Elementary Education. I am currently a junior in the Bachelors of Science in Education program and will be starting my Student Internship come January. I am super excited. In this blog I will accumulate a variety of up to date resources that I have found helpful to me and the students that I am working with in various subject.

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Quick and Easy Notes: Practical Strategies for Busy Teachers | NAEYC

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Chances are, if you teach the primary grades, you have to do running records. But what are running records, and how do they help you teach reading? Never fear, WeAreTeachers is here to explain it all.

What are running records?

Running records fall under the reading assessments portion of your readers' workshop. They're part read aloud assessment (think: fluency assessment) and part observation. The goal of a running record is, first, to see how the student is using the strategies you're teaching in class, and second, to find out if the student is ready to advance in a reading-level system if your school uses one (Reading A to Z, Fountas and Pinnell, and others). Thinking about instruction, when you combine a running record with some analysis, you can address student mistakes and plan their next steps.

When do I use running records?

Running records are used to collect information on young readers who are still reading aloud and working on basic skills (think: those who are at reading levels aa-J). A running record captures both how well a student reads (the number of words they read correctly) and their reading behaviors (what they say and do as they read). At the start of the year, or when you start working with a student, a running record can help match the student with books that are right for them. Then, you can use subsequent running records to track the student's progress.

Once you do the first running record, the time in between running records will depend on how well the child is progressing and what level they are reading. An emergent reader (using Reading A to Z levels aa-C, for example) will be assessed every two to four weeks, while a fluent reader (level Q-Z) should be assessed every eight to 10 weeks. Essentially, students who are learning the fundamentals are assessed more often than students who are working on fluency and higher-order comprehension.

Here's a sample running records assessment schedule from Learning A-Z.

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Why do I do running records?

Proficient readers use what is happening in the text (meaning), knowledge of language and grammar (structural), and visual cues (words and word parts) to read. Beginning readers are learning how to do this, so running records provide a way to observe how they are approaching text.

For any text that a child reads, running records help you answer these questions:

What is the child's word reading and fluency? Or, can they read smoothly and accurately? (Get our free fluency posters here.)

Are they able to self-monitor and correct their mistakes while reading?

Are they able to use meaning, structure, and visual cues to understand what they read?

What do they do when they come across a word they don't know? (Check out our list of vocabulary games.)

Are they using strategies that you taught in class?

How are they improving in their reading over time?

How do I do a running record?

Every running record follows the same procedure:

Sit next to the child so you can follow along with them as they read.

Choose a passage or book that is at the student's approximate reading level. (If you're wrong on the level, you can adjust up or down to get the right fit. If you're not focusing on level, choose something that the child is working on in class.)

Tell the child that they will read out loud as you listen and jot some notes about their reading.

As the child reads, keep a record by using a running record form (a typed paper of the same passage the student is reading). Mark the page by putting a checkmark above each word that is read correctly and marking errors. Here is an overview of how to mark miscues in a running record.

While the student is reading, intervene as little as possible.

Watch for how the student is using the strategies that you taught in class and pay attention to how the student is gathering meaning using structural, meaning, or visual cues.

If the student gets stuck on the word, wait five seconds then tell them the word. If the student is confused, explain the word and tell them to try again.

After the student reads the passage, ask them to retell what they read. Or, ask a few basic comprehension questions: Who was in the story? Where did the story take place? What happened?

After the running record, conference with the student to provide praise (for self-correcting or using reading strategies) and constructive feedback (review errors and have them reread portions correctly).

Okay, I did the running record, now what?

Yay! You have all the data! Now it's time to analyze it.

Calculate the accuracy: (number of words in the passage - number of uncorrected mistakes) x 100 / number of words in the passage. For example: (218 words - 9 errors) x 100 / 218 = 96%.

Use the student's accuracy rate to put them in a reading level. As a general rule of thumb, if a child can read 95-100 percent of the words in a text correctly, they can read independently. When they are reading 90-94 percent of words correctly, they are reading at instructional level and will need teacher support. If a child is reading less than 89 percent of the words correctly, it's likely they're not reading enough words to understand the text fully.

If students are reading at an independent level (95 percent accuracy and higher) and have strong comprehension (they have a strong retelling or answer 100 percent of the comprehension questions correctly), then they are ready to advance to another reading level.

Use this running records tip sheet for more information on how to use running record data to plan instruction.

This sounds like a lot of work. How do I keep it organized?

Create a schedule for assessing students. Assign each student a day of the week or month to make sure each student has a running record that is updated regularly.

Keep a data notebook with a section for each student that includes their running record. A running record should show that students are reading at a higher level, and with increased accuracy.

Set a goal with students. Set an annual goal around the reading behavior they want to strengthen, the level that they need to be reading on, or the number of levels they would like to advance. At each conference, talk about how they are progressing toward the goal and what they can do to improve between running records.

Get more resources on running records:
Ask questions and share your advice for running records in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

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What are running records and how do they help you teach reading? Never fear, WeAreTeachers is here to explain it all with this comprehensive guide.

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Quick and Easy Notes: Practical Strategies for Busy Teachers | NAEYC

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Quick and Easy Notes: Practical Strategies for Busy Teachers

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With so many required assessments, it’s understandable why the word itself may bring up negative feelings for teachers. But understanding the different types of assessment and how you can use them to support your reflection and planning is important.

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ETHICAL PRACTICE IN SELECTIVE ASSESSMENT

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ETHICAL PRACTICE IN SELECTIVE ASSESSMENT

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This video discusses the importance of choosing the correct tools for observation.

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(2023 February 17). Running record observations in early childhood education (mybrightwheel.com).

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Running Record Observations in Early Childhood Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A running record observation is one method that captures a child's behavior and helps you assess what they know and understand.

# data[].attributes.body
* Can be difficult to observe objectively, bias
* Puts a limit on the number of children to be accurately observed
* May miss information due to be done so quickly
* Incomplete information
* Information may be taken out of context

# data[].attributes.body
* Easy to use
* Can be quickly done
* Records quality feedback information
* Details a child's specific behavior or skill
* Can focus on one specific area or many at once

# data[].attributes.body
* Can be time consuming
* Can be inaccurate
* Have to write quickly in order to document every move
* Recorded behavior may change from day to day

# data[].attributes.body
* Contains detailed data
* Documents sequence of events as it occurs
* Provides objective evidence
* Tracks development over a long timeframe
* Less structured than other assessment tools

# data[].attributes.body
A tool used for ongoing assessment that can be done quickly. It is detailed and done in sequence.

# data[].attributes.body
An observation tool used in assessment giving a glimpse of a small time frame used to document a child's behaviors.

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Weiss, Kendra, (2021 July 18). Using rubrics in preschool assessment. Using Rubrics in Preschool Assessment - Preschool.org

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Rubrics are a form of authentic assessment used to track a child's progress in acquiring and mastering specific skills. They provide more information than a simple checklist and are based on specific criteria for each skill. Although rubrics are typically used to measure progress in academics, in preschool assessments they can also be used for tracking communication, fine and gross motor, and social-emotional skills. Here is how you can use rubrics to assess different areas of development.

1. COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Rubrics are great for tracking progress for specific skill sets. In preschool you can use a rubric to document how your preschoolers' communication skills are developing. This is particularly useful when you have concerns about a child's speech and language development. For example, you can create a rubric for how your preschoolers do during show and tell time. Assess whether they were able to stay on topic, spoke clearly, looked at the audience, and were able to keep their body still. Rubrics can also be used to assess more generalized communication skills, such as following multi-step directions.

2. FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Fine motor skills involve the coordination of small muscles in the hands and fingers. Building fine motor strength improves hand-eye coordination, focus and attention, and bilateral coordination. There are many fine motor skills that preschoolers need before they are ready for more complicated skills such as using scissors successfully, and writing. To make a rubric for pre-cutting skills start with crumpling paper, ripping paper, rolling and manipulating playdough, and continue through more advanced fine motor skills.

3. GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Gross motor skills are important for strength and confidence for every child. These skills are important to a healthy lifestyle, too. As with all areas of development, preschoolers cannot learn a new skill before mastering the preceding skills. For gross motor development rubrics it is important to start at the basics and move toward more challenging skills as your preschoolers progress. For a preschool gross motor skills rubric you would start with the most basic of skills that all of your preschoolers should be able to do, running and jumping. From there they will be able to move to walking on their tiptoes, balancing on one foot, climbing well, and attempting to skip.

4. SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS

Social and emotional skills are the heart of preschool learning. Children need to be able to play cooperatively and regulate their emotions in order to be able to successfully participate in group activities and form lasting, meaningful relationships throughout their lives.

It is important to assess your preschoolers social and emotional development so that you can plan intentionally for your preschoolers. When making a rubric for your preschoolers' social and emotional development, include skills like taking turns, displaying some problem solving skills, showing interest in being part of a group, and starting to develop friendships.

Assessments in preschool classrooms are essential to planning developmentally appropriate curriculum. Using rubrics in your preschool assessments allows you to focus on specific skills that your preschoolers need to master. Keep your rubrics simple to ensure that they are easy to use and understand. Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest have some great examples of rubrics for preschool teachers to use when assessing their students.

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Rubrics are a form of authentic assessment used to track a child's progress in acquiring and mastering specific skills. They provide more information than a simple checklist and are based on specific criteria for each

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Bing Videos YouTube

Institute of Education Sciences

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Using Formative Assessment to Reflect on Children’s Knowledge & Skills (REL Southwest)

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An observation tool used to track and monitor a child's development and behavior.

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Wright, V. (2023 May 6). Checklist and rating scale. Issuu.com. Checklist And Rating Scale by Veronica Wright - Issuu

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Checklists, rating scales and rubrics are tools that state specific criteria and allow teachers and students to gather information and to make judgements about.... These scales are most commonly used tools to carry out structured observations. They are generally developed to make quantitative judgem…

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Wortham, S.C., & Hardin, B.J. (2020). Assessment in early childhood. Boston: Pearson.

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Early Childhood Rubric and Assessment by Sarah Hansen |
TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)

SCORING CHART

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QRIS Measurement Tools Courses Regionally for ITERS ECERS (constantcontact.com)

ITERS AND ECERS ENVIRONMENTAL RATING SCALES

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* Does not display a child's full development
* Different observers may score differently- bias
* Not consistent to draw an educated conclusion

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* Uses standards to score
* Can be used to assess many activities in a short time
* Can be used throughout different time frames
* Shows growth or decline
* Older students can refer to this for setting goals

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Early Childhood Rubric and Assessment by Sarah Hansen | TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)

CATEGORIZED LEVELS

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An observation tool that provides feedback by describing a child's skills and behaviors in a specific area.

# data[].attributes.body
* Does not encourage a child's range of learning
* Does not include all the areas of learning
* Does not promote the learning process
* Can be time consuming

# data[].attributes.body
* States specific expectations from the child
* Expectation is predetermined
* Less subjective, less bias
* Defines areas that need help
Scores more fairly with multiple observers

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An observation tool that displays the quality of a child's work and is used to track levels of performance.

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* Only contains a small snippet of information
* Potential for bias
* Small glimpse of a child's basic skills
* Limited areas to assess
* Can be unreliable
* Limits information on ways to do better

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* Consistent assessment
* Can note more skills in a shorter time frame
* Uses specific criteria to assess
* Shareable with parents, other educators
* Shares strengths and weaknesses in individual children
* Easy to use; yes, no format

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Pin on observation (pinterest.com.mx)

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