Assessment in Early Childhood Education

Description

About our authors

Sue Clar Wortham is Professor Emerita of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Prior to beginning a teaching career in higher education in 1979, she taught prekindergarten through 2nd grade in public schools, worked as a school district administrator and was a consultant at an education service center. She has authored numerous texts, including Early Childhood Curriculum: Developmental Bases for Learning and Teaching (5th Ed., 2010), Pearson. She coauthored Play and Child Development (4th Ed., 2012) with Joe Frost and Stuart Reifel, also published by Pearson. Organizational publications include Childhood 1892 to 2002, published by the Association for Childhood Education International and Playgrounds for Young Children: National Survey and Perspectives, coauthored with Joe Frost, published by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). In 1992, she served as a Fulbright Scholar in Chile. She was president of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) from 1995 to 1997. Since retirement, she has been very active in the development of the Global Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care that resulted from an international symposium held in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, in 1999. Subsequently, she has a leadership role in the development, validation and implementation of the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment adapted from the original guidelines. She edited Common Characteristics and Unique Qualities in Preschool Programs: Global Perspectives in Early Childhood Education for Springer in 2013, which reported on the use of the Global Guidelines Assessment in countries around the world. Dr. Wortham served as volunteer director of educational programs for World Children’s Relief and Volunteer Organization, a small nongovernmental organization (NGO), from 2001 to 2011. She engaged in training teachers and principals in Haiti, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.

Belinda J. Hardin is an Associate Professor Emerita in the Department of Specialized Education Services at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Hardin completed her PhD in Early Childhood, Families and Literacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to entering higher education in 2004, she was a public school kindergarten and special education teacher, a Head Start director and the Director of the Special Projects Division at Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project. Her research includes cross-cultural studies investigating the effectiveness of services for young children with and without disabilities in the United States and other countries, particularly in Latin America. She is especially interested in measures of program quality with global applicability and how they are informed by sociocultural context. She served as the Co-Principal Investigator of 3 national studies in the United States that investigated the reliability and validity of Learning Accomplishment Profile assessment instruments, including a dual-language sample of 2,099 children (half English speakers and half Spanish speakers) to norm the Learning Accomplishment Profile-Diagnostic Edition. Additionally, Dr. Hardin completed studies investigating the referral, evaluation and placement of preschool children with disabilities who are English Language Learners and is currently developing a family report questionnaire on preschool language development in English and Spanish. Dr. Hardin has conducted research and professional development activities with professionals and Spanish-speaking families in North Carolina, Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. She was the Co-Principal Investigator of 3 international studies investigating the reliability and validity of the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment in multiple countries across the world. Dr. Hardin has served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Childhood Education International and participated in 2 initiatives spearheaded by UNICEF to improve services for young children in inclusive early childhood settings worldwide.

New and updated features of this title

• NEW: Search and Share activities in every chapter invite students to further explore topics, finding and incorporating information on the web into discussions.
• NEW: Information about Common Core State Standards and Early Learning Standards has been integrated throughout the text.
• NEW: Chapter 6, “Assessment and Data-Driven Decision Making,” a new chapter, shifts the emphasis from classroom assessments themselves to utilizing the data they generate to make sound instructional choices.
• UPDATED: Chapter 4, “How Standardized Tests Are Used, Designed, and Selected,” includes new information about current editions of screening and assessment instruments.
• UPDATED: Expanded Chapter 3, “Communicating with Families,” was relocated and expanded to increase information on the role of the family-professional relationship, emphasizing parents as equal partners with their child’s teacher.
• UPDATED: Expanded, Information on children with disabilities and English language learners (ELLs) has been updated in all chapters throughout the text.

Hallmark features of this title

An exploration of all aspects of the assessment process

• Anecdotal information about individual children gives a face to key assessment concepts.
• Teacher-designed assessments are thoroughly explained for all applicable grade levels.
• The relationship between federal law and assessment in public education is discussed in depth.
• The importance of technology to assessment, such as ways social media is used to share information about electronic portfolios, is covered in the text.

For courses in early childhood assessment.

Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of assessment of young children from birth through the third grade

Written from a developmental perspective, Assessment in Early Childhood Education provides current and future teachers alike with a comprehensive overview of all aspects of early childhood assessment, including the different possibilities available – far more than standardised tests – and how to use them most effectively for the benefit of the children in their classrooms. Both traditional and authentic assessments designed by teachers are explained for preschool children and for kindergarten and third grade children who are transitioning into literacy. The 8th Edition has been updated with new learning features, a new chapter about technology, Common Core and State Standards information, important organisational changes, and more.

Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of assessment of young children from birth through the third grade

Written from a developmental perspective, Assessment in Early Childhood Education provides current and future teachers alike with a comprehensive overview of all aspects of early childhood assessment, including the different possibilities available — far more than standardized tests — and how to use them most effectively for the benefit of the children in their classrooms. Both traditional and authentic assessments designed by teachers are explained for preschool children and for kindergarten and third grade children who are transitioning into literacy. The 8th Edition has been updated with new learning features, a new chapter about technology, Common Core and State Standards information, important organizational changes, and more.

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PART I: INTRODUCTION TO ASSESSMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

1. An Overview of Assessment in Early Childhood
2. How Infants and Young Children Should Be Assessed
3. Communicating with Families

PART II: STANDARDIZED TESTS

1. How Standardized Tests Are Used, Designed, and Selected
2. Using and Reporting Standardized Test Results

PART III: CLASSROOM ASSESSMENTS

1. Data-Driven Decision Making, Assessment, and Documentation
2. Observation
3. Checklists, Rating Scales, and Rubrics
4. Teacher-Designed Assessment Strategies
5. Performance-Based Assessment Strategies
6. Portfolio Assessment