early childhood assessment: what early educators need to ... · what early educators need to know...

Buffett Early Childhood Institute

Early Childhood Assessment:What Early EducatorsNeed to Know About Testingand AccountabilitySamuel J. MeiselsBuffett Early Childhood InstituteUniversity of Nebraska


• Are children learning?• Are public funds being used wisely?

What PolicymakersWant To Know


1. Early development isepisodic and uneven

2. Concept of “readiness”is relative

3. Test items often imply teaching

4. Validity of the tests is poor

The Problem


Predicting children’s competence from readiness assessmentsOn average, only 25% of variance in early academic/cognitive performance is predicted from preschool or kindergarten cognitive status.

Only 10% or less of the variance in K–2 social/ behavioral measures is predicted by social/behavioral assessments at preschool or kindergarten.

LoParo & Pianta, 2000


Predicting children’s competence from readiness assessments

“Instability or change may be the rule rather than the exception during this period.”

LoParo & Pianta, 2000


Testing andAccountabilityIn Early Childhood


Construct Underrepresentation

The extent to which a test fails to capture important aspects of the construct it is intended to measure.

AERA/APA/NCME, 1999


Point to “vase.”

Dunn et al., 1997


Point to “horrified.”

Dunn et al., 1997


Compared to the Head StartChild Outcomes Framework:

— 33% of the total —and none of the 54 indicators in the other five domains.

The NRS covers only 15 of 46 indicators in language, literacy, and mathematics


Construct-Irrelevant Variance

The extent to which test scores are influenced by factors that are irrelevant to the constructs the test is intended to measure.

AERA/APA/NCME, 1999


“Point to all the letters that you know and tell me the name of each one. Go slowly and show me which letter you’re naming.”

National Reporting System, 2004


“This graph shows how many children on Clark Street have each kind of pet: dogs, cats, or rabbits. Which kind do most of the children have? Which kind of pet is most popular?”

National Reporting System, 2004


The NRS Experience• Only 40% of the children wanted to go

with the tester in the spring

• Half the testers reported difficult behaviors persisting from the fall

• One-quarter of the testers said that test procedures were unnatural


General Accountability Office


High stakes testing for accountability doesn’t promote learning in early childhood.


ObservationalAssessment



Standards-based assessments that rely on teachers making systematic observations of children during the course of daily classroom experience.

Observational Assessment


The best way to evaluate a child’s performance is to study performance, not something else.


in a natural environment and in relationship to standards

Observational assessment consists of:

OBSERVING

RECORDING

EVALUATING


Pearson Assessments


Developmental Checklist (Kdg.)

Work Sampling System


Developmental Guidelines (Kdg.)

Work Sampling System


Can We TrustTeachers’ Judgments?


Principal Study Questions

• Is WSS a valid means of evaluating student achievement and progress?

• What is the impact of WSS on student learning?


Sample for the Validity Studies

• K – 3, cross-sectional• N = 345• 17 classrooms, 5 schools• 70% African-American, 80% low

income (free or reduced lunch), 49% male, 8% special needs

Meisels et al., 2001


Results of the WSS Validity Study (K - 3)

• WSS correlates very well with a standardized, individually administered psychoeducational battery (the Woodcock Johnson-Revised);

• WSS is a reliable predictor of achievement ratings in kindergarten – Grade 3;

• Data obtained from WSS accurately discriminate between children who are and are not at risk. Meisels et al., 2001; 2008


Mean change scores on ITBS for third - fourth graders

Meisels et al., 2003


Conclusions

• WSS is a valid and effective assessment of children’s learning.

• Students in WSS classrooms make significant achievement gains.

• Teachers and families are satisfied with the system and become more so as they have more experience with it.


The best way to improve a child’s performance is to teach the child, not test the child.

Four Conclusions About Testing and Early LearningBuffett Early Childhood Institute


Tests used for high-stakes change what is taught.

1.


Accountability should be concerned with what is taught and what is learned, not with rewards and punishments.

2.


Standards are best thought of as benchmarks, not thresholds.

3.


Understanding the child within context is key to understanding the child.

4.


Measure whatwe treasureBuffett Early Childhood Institute


Start early. Start well.

Samuel J. Meisels, Ed.D.Buffett Early Childhood InstituteUniversity of [email protected] www.buffettinstitute.nebraska.edu


early childhood assessment: what early educators need to ... · what early educators need to know...

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