COMPONENTS OF ASSESSMENT

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Development refers to how a person (child) is able to do a more complex things (skills) as they get older. • A process of how children acquire skills in

the areas of social, emotional, intellectual, speech and language, and physical development (gross & fine motor skills).

• Developmental stages - the expected, sequential order of acquiring skills taht children typically go through. - eg: before a child can walk, they must crawl &

stand2

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Interrelated throughout

development

Physical Dvelopment (growth & movement) -- body size, body proportions, appearance, brain development, motor development, perception capacities, physical health. - Fine Motor Skill Development - This is the child's ability to

use small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw.- Gross Motor Skill Development - This is the child's ability to use large muscles. For example, a six-month-old baby learns how to sit up with some support, a 12-month-old baby learns to pull up to a stand holding onto furniture, and a five-year-old learns to skip.

Cognitive Development – Child's ability to learn & solve problems thought intellectual abilities including attention, memory, problem solving, imagination, creativity, academic and everyday knowledge, metacognition, and language.• E.g.: includes a 2 mth old baby learning to explore

the environment with hands/eyes or a five-year-old learning how to do simple math problems.

Speech and Language Development - Child's ability to both understand and use language.• E.g. includes a 12-month-old baby saying his first

words, a two-year-old naming parts of her body, or a five-year-old learning to say "feet" instead of "foots“.

Social and Emotional Development - Child's ability to interact with others, having relationship with family, friends, and teachers, social skills, helping themselves, self-control, cooperating, responding to other people feelings, etc.

• E.g.: includes a 6 weeks old baby smiling, a 10 month-old baby waving bye-bye, or a 5 year-old boy knowing how to take turns in games at school.

When we talk about normal development, we are talking about developing skills like:• Gross motor:  using large groups of muscles to sit, stand,

walk, run, etc., keeping balance, and changing positions.• Fine motor:  using hands to be able to eat, draw, dress,

play, write, and do many other things.• Language:  speaking, using body language and gestures,

communicating, and understanding what others say.• Cognitive:  Thinking skills:  include learning,

understanding, problem-solving, reasoning, & remembering.

• Social:  Interacting with others, having relationships with family, friends, and teachers, cooperating, and responding to the feelings of others.

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Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range. 

Although each milestone has an age level, the actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can vary quite a bit. 

Every child is unique!  8

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Children acquire new skills and behavior pattern from birth to their teens and onwards through life.

Child development specialist assess the stages of development reached in each of the areas:1. Motor development –growth & limb coordination2. Social & emotional development – interaction with

others, social behavior 3. Hearing & language – verbal communication, language

acquisition.4. Eye-hand coordination –eye & hand ability to conduct

precise movemnts required for daily task & handwritting

5. Practical reasoning - ability to use intelligence for task -eg counting & puzzles, compare & understand words.

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Screening is a brief assessment procedure designed to identify children who should receive more intensive assessment.

It is design to identify children who are at risk for health problems, developmental problems, and/or disabling condition who may need to receive helpful intervention services as early as possible.

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Diagnosis is a term used to describe the critical analysis of child’s development in all the developmental domains, after reviewing all the assessment results, and the conclusion reached by such analysis.

From this diagnosis, professional should offer parents a precise and detailed description of the characteristics of a child’s development, including strengths and the ways in which a child learns. 12

Evaluation is a term used interchangeably with “assessment”.

But, in the context of services supported by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – evaluation refers to a procedure that is used to determine a child’s eligibility for early intervention services.

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A pattern or average regarded as typical for a specific group.

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The failure to meet certain developmental milestones, such as sitting, walking, and talking, at the average age.

Delay can be in any areas – physical, social, emotional, intellectual, speech or self-help skills.

Developmental delay may indicate a problem in development of the central nervous system.

Thus… child need early intervention services

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Cognitive development Language development &

communication Motor Development Psychosocial & adaptive

development

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Battelle Developmental Inventory - It is designed for children 0-8yrs old. It tests in several different developmental domains such as cognition, motor, self-help, language, and social skills.

Bayley Scales of Infant Development – For children ages 1-42 months. The test assesses areas of mental, motor and behavior development.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale -Tests individuals ages 2-23. The test measures general intelligence. It focuses on the areas of verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, abstract/visual reasoning, and short term memory.

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Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence- Revised (WPPSI-R)- A standardized test for children ages 41/2 to 6. It assesses areas of language and perception.

McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities -Tests children ages 2 1/2-8 1/2. The purpose of the test is to evaluate the general intelligence level of children. It also identifies strengths and weaknesses in several ability areas. These areas include: verbal, perceptual-performance, quantitative, memory, motor, and general cognitive skills.

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Sequenced Inventory for Communication Development- Rev (SICD) - Assess children ages 4 mth-4 yrs. The test assesses areas of expressive and receptive language skills.

Preschool Language Scale - 3 (PLS-3) - Designed for children ages 0-6yrs. The test assesses areas of language including auditory comprehension and expressive communication.

Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamental- Preschool - The assessment identifies nature and degree of language disabilities in the language areas of processing, production, and speech sounds.

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Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-R) - The Peabody tests ages 2 1/2 to age 40. The purpose of the test is to measure vocabulary in English and non-verbal receptive (hearing). The test uses picture recognition for single word vocabulary.

Test of Early Language Development (TELD): - The TELD assesses children ages three through seven on language development.

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Peabody Developmental Motor Scales: The Riverside Publishing Company. •The Peabody assesses children ages

birth to seven years. The test measures gross-motor and fine-motor development skills.

Bayley Scales of Infant Development: The Psychological Corporation. •The Bayley is designed for children ages

one month through 42 months. The test assesses areas of mental, motor and behavior development. 22

Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) - This behavior rating scale assesses behaviors associated with learning disabilities. The checklist is designed for children ages 2 -18 yrs. It contains a parent and a teacher checklist.

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS) –The purpose of the test is to assess social competence of children aged from birth to 19 yrs old. The areas of assessment include: communication, daily living, socialization, and motor skills. 23

California Preschool Social Competency Scale: This test assesses children ages 3-6 on self-help and social development.

Burks' Behavior Rating Scales: The rating scale is designed for children ages 3-6, which assesses the social area of development.

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Battelle Developmental Inventory- For children 0-8 yrs. It tests in several different developmental domains such as self-help, motor, cognition, language, and social skills.

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS)- For ages birth to 19. The purpose is to assess social competence. The areas of assessment include: communication, daily living, socialization, and motor skills.

Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP) - This test is for children ages birth- age 3yrs. The HELP is a criterion-referenced tests which assesses children in the developmental areas of self-help, motor, cognition, language, speech, and social development. 25

A group administered tests are responsive to the wide range of growth rates and abilities inherent in every age group of children, that is independent of predetermined curricula and attainment goals.

A group administered tests are responsive to the attributes and needs of children with disabilities or the wide range of sociocultural and language diversity characteristics represented in the child population.

Too many formal testing practices require rote memorization activities, paper and-pencil tasks, and skill-and-drill reviews, activities that differs about how young children learn, sustain curiosity and interest, & retain information.

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Some standardized tests did not take into consideration the young child’s limited test-taking ability, eg. In handling test booklets, pencils and other test, following verbal directions, ignoring distractions, adhering to time constraints, making acute visual discriminations, using language efficiently and effectively, or sitting for extended periods of time.

Parents can easily be misled about the developmental progress of their children when assessment practices are not sufficiently comprehensive to include well designed observation and performance based assessments to augment formal

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Test scores Children compared to a normative group who fall below the norm on a standardized test are at risk of being misdiagnosed & assigned to inappropriate/ ineffective “interventions” or “remediation” when assessment is limited to group score comparisons.

Children are subjected to a excess tests throughout their schooling years.

Time spent on preparing children for tests, testing, retesting, and remediation reduces schooling to curriculum starved educational practices and knowledge deprived learners.

The limited content of the test becomes the limited content of the curriculum. 28

The results of standardized, group-administered tests are provided to teachers too late to be used in a timely manner to inform intervention, remediation, instruction, or curriculum.

Contemporary standards-based curricula, while providing a framework for setting learning goals, has led to over-reliance on standardized tests to measure group attainment and exact accountability, often with high stakes consequences for individual children.

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Tests are not adequate tools for accountability. • Achievement tests do not measure what children are

learning and do not provide accurate information about the education of children. Therefore, test data should not be used as proof of the quality of the education that children receive.

The public & professionals alike share a common misconception that test scores are objective & scientific. • This faulty assumption leads to an unjustified

confidence in and reliance on test scores for decision-making. This means that judgments about children are based on faulty data rather than data which reflect each child’s personal course of development.

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People outside the profession often misuse tests for their own purposes. •Politicians frequently use test scores to show

that a vote for them will be a vote for better education.

•Test scores are frequently misused to justify budget requests, to judge teachers, and to determine merit pay.

•Schools frequently misuse tests to compare classrooms of children and to screen out the “undesirable” or those children who supposedly cannot benefit from their program. 31

Appropriate/effective assessment of young children must;•Emphasizes emerging development in all

developmental domains: physical/motor, psychosocial, cognitive, language, and literacy development.

•Focus on individual strengths and uniqueness. •Based on sound principles of child growth and

development.•Emanates from authentic (logical, meaningful,

relevant, and applicable) curriculum.32

Effective assessment of young children must;• Have adequate/intertwined with instruction.• Be of performance, process, and product based• Be ongoing and occurs in many contexts• Recognizes and supports different intelligences

and learning styles• Minimizes or alleviates child stress to ensure best

(or most successful) outcomes.• Be reflective & analytic, honest & accurate,

instructive & useful. • Be collaborative with learners, parents, teachers,

and professional specialists as needed. 33

Gathering data about children to make judgments about their learning and development is a central part of the teacher’s role. •Teachers must make daily decisions about

children that should be based on accurate and appropriate information.

• Portfolios, work samples, and teacher observation across time can provide the tools necessary to identify individual strengths and weaknesses.

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Information collected should be placed in an assessment portfolio. • A portfolio is a record of the teacher’s

observations and comments as well as a wide selection of the representative work that has been selected by the child and teacher together. Each child should have an assessment portfolio.

• The portfolio should include, but not be limited to: - a collection of informal and formal work, academic and non-academic, that can include samples of writing; processes and results of investigations, problem solving & experiments, photographs or products; art work; audiotapes; interviews; lists of books read. 35

Teacher observations • These can be informal notes on the child’s classroom, social and academic interactions, as well

as more formal observation records of activities and progress. Parent and other sources of information should be included.

Checklists and inventories • A checklist can indicate activities across a range of developmentally appropriate tasks, abilities

and competencies in social, physical, intellectual, emotional and language areas. Parent conferences Information should be gathered from the parent’s perspective about developmental relationships

within the family. This may include the parent’s perspective of the social and emotional climate at home.

Teacher constructed tests or projects These are specially designed activities to provide specific feedback on teacher-initiated or child-

chosen learning tasks and to complement work samples and teacher observations with more structured or formal work.

Referral decisions Comprehensive assessments can include as needed, health and wellness examinations, screening

for vision, hearing or speech impairments or psychological or other specialized testing. Accurate records of all referrals for additional professional assessment are maintained and all assessment data are treated confidentially and utilized only by those individuals who have a legitimate use for the information.

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Teacher observations •Can be informal notes on the child’s

classroom, social and academic interactions, on formal observation records of activities and progress. Parent and other sources of information should be included.

Checklists and inventories •A checklist can indicate activities across a

range of developmentally appropriate tasks, abilities and competencies in social, physical, intellectual, emotional and language areas.

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Parent conferences • Information should be gathered from the

parent’s perspective about developmental relationships within the family.

•This may include the parent’s perspective of the social and emotional climate at home.

Teacher constructed tests or projects •These are specially designed activities to

provide specific feedback on teacher-initiated or child-chosen learning tasks and to complement work samples and teacher observations with more structured or formal work.

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Referral decisions •Comprehensive assessments can include as

needed, health and wellness examinations, screening for vision, hearing or speech impairments or psychological or other specialized testing.

•Accurate records of all referrals for additional professional assessment are maintained and all assessment data are treated confidentially and utilized only by those individuals who have a legitimate use for the information. 39