GKIDS AssessmentPresented by Avery’s Kindergarten Teachers

Georgia

Kindergarten

Inventory of

Developing

Skills

Why Are Kindergarteners Assessed?

• Georgia Law 20-2-151 and 20-2-281

• Requires an instrument, procedures, and policies necessary to assess the first grade readiness of children enrolled in Georgia public school kindergarten programs.

• Requires development of guidelines for the utilization of the instrument in grade placement decisions.

• Requires an annual summary report.

Purpose of GKIDS

• Provides teachers with ongoing diagnostic information about kindergarten students’ developing skills in language arts, math, science, social studies, personal/social development, & approaches to learning. (Formative assessment)

• Provides a summary of individual student performance at the end of the kindergarten school year as an indicator of first grade readiness. (Summative assessment)

Range of Performance vs. True Performance

• A child’s performance on any one assessment should be seen as an indicator of that child’s range of functioning rather than as an indicator of true performance.

• In fact, it is not necessary –and usually is not possible-to identify a child’s level of functioning precisely.

• Thinking in terms of range makes sense in view of the difficulty in assessing young children and the variable nature of their development and learning.

Why assess Approaches to Learning?

• Teachers need to be aware that children differ in how they approach new and novel tasks, difficult problems or challenges, and teacher directed tasks.

• Students who do not value reading are not going to read outside of school even if they have reading skills.

• Students with positive dispositions toward reading will choose to read often.

-Early Childhood Research and Practices• An individual child’s approach to learning may have little

association with his or her level of knowledge or skill.• An individual child may have considerable knowledge

and skills, however, his inclination to use his skills may be influenced by temperament, the way he was raised, or cultural values.

• All children need to acquire positive approaches to learning, including children with significant disabilities or from diverse cultural backgrounds.

-Indiana University Early Childhood Center

Final Thoughts

• Even the most carefully designed assessment instrument cannot, by itself, capture the complexity of a child’s understanding.

-Edward Chittenden