This past Wednesday, I attended the last day of a three day workshop at the Central New York/Oswego County Teacher Center. The workshop was designed for pre-kindergarten teachers to discuss lesson development and assessment strategies that can be implemented specifically in the pre-kindergarten classroom. With the book, Common Formative Assessment: A Toolkit for Professional Learning Communities at Work by Kim Bailey and Chris Jakicic guiding our discussion, each pre-k teacher present at the workshop was given the opportunity to share and learn the similarities and differences among the types of assessments used in varying school districts and early childhood programs in the surrounding area.
Since I started my position as a pre-kindergarten teacher six years ago, I have questioned and continue to question the amount of time spent on formally assessing my three to five year old students, specifically when they are only in my classroom for two and a half hours at a time. It was reassuring for me to hear that many school districts and programs administer similar benchmark assessments throughout the school year, as well as conduct similar formative assessments throughout the school day and week. However, while I administer benchmark assessments with my students three times a year (beginning, middle, and end of year), I discovered that other school districts and programs only administer these assessments twice a year (beginning and end of year). I understand that each school district and program has their own plan established regarding the timeline of when assessments should be completed, and this often is based upon the schedule created by the publisher, which is the case for me.
I am interested in learning though if any research has been done regarding appropriate methods for assessing our youngest learners; common methods that could be implemented in every pre-kindergarten classroom, and methods that do not take away from the invaluable teacher-directed and student-directed instruction and learning time. I will post any information that I find on this topic, but I ask if you already know of any current research on this topic that you would like to share?
I am also interested in hearing how often and what types of assessments are administered across the country. How do you assess pre-kindergarten students in your school district or program?
Julie,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great question. Since alot of preschool classes are being incorporated into public school settings formal assessments are inevitable. 13 years ago my daughter went to a public preschool program housed in the local elementary school and they utilized the DIAL test for all the preschoolers. I was trying to do some research and found that there is DIAL- DIAL-R, and the new DIAL 3 assessment. Have you hear of any of these assessment tools?
Thank you for your comment, earlylearnerscorner!
DeleteI have heard of the DIAL assessments, but I am not familiar with them since my school district does not use them. I do recall hearing one of the teachers at the workshop stating that her district does use them, but unfortunately she did not go into detail about how they are administered or her opinion of them.
I agree that formal assessments are inevitable for pre-kindergarten students. I just hope that their implementation in the classroom will never begin to take away from the time that these young learners need to play, explore, build friendships, and develop a love for school and for learning.
What an interesting question to pose. I have always wondered in what ways are pre-kindergarten students tested. As well as the type of test administered. I think it is wonderful that your school district is investing in the knowledge of their teachers. I think it is fabulous that in pre-K, the students are assess 3 times throughout the year as far as benchmark test are concerned. This is new knowledge for my brain. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, April!
DeleteThank you for addressing this issue. This is a very difficult topic but one that must
ReplyDeletebe discussed. Many times teachers feel they can't even teach because of assessing so much!!!! In my system, the Pre-K teachers assess twice a year. It is a very in depth assessment which takes a while for each child. My personal opinion and problem with so much assessment is that it seems the teachers are being "judged" by the performance of the students on those assessments which makes a very stressful situation.
Thank you for your comment Leigh! I agree entirely. I do understand the importance of assessments, when the results are used appropriately and effectively. However, I struggle to understand why we have allowed these results to create an unnecessary pressure on our students and teachers. I believe that a teacher's performance should be evaluated just like any other professional, but using their student's results on one-time standardized assessments is not the most accurate way to accomplish this.
Delete