8083 MD4 Assign3 Info

To prepare:

• If you have not done so      already, examine carefully any feedback from your Instructor for each part      of the Learning Outcomes Project listed for this Assignment. Revise and      edit as needed and make sure each element required has been addressed. Use      the rubric for each assignment as a guide. Cite and reference using APA      guidelines, adding new resources as needed.

8083 Module 4:

Assignment 3: Learning Outcomes Project Components Revision and Organization

As you have moved through this course, you have been working on various sections of your Final Paper/Learning Outcomes Project for this program. Feedback from your Instructor and your peers should have been reviewed and sections revised as the course progressed. For this Assignment, you will organize Parts 2 through 4 for initial submission this week.

To prepare:

· If you have not done so already, examine carefully any feedback from your Instructor for each part of the Learning Outcomes Project listed for this Assignment. Revise and edit as needed and make sure each element required has been addressed. Use the rubric for each assignment as a guide. Cite and reference using APA guidelines, adding new resources as needed.

As you organize and review these parts into one document, reflect on the topics and themes of your research and work and how you might introduce the content covered in Parts 2 through 4 for your readers.

Note that the Introduction and Part 1 of the Final Paper/Learning Outcomes Project will be completed during Module 5 in Week 10, at which point you will submit the final MA for the course, including all assigned parts.

Collect and organize the previously assigned Parts of the Learning Outcomes Project into one document:

Part 2: Effective Selection and Planning for Assessment

· Assigned in: Module 2 Week 4, Assignment 1

Part 3: Developmentally Appropriate Assessment Practices

· Assigned in: Module 1, Discussion 1, Initial Discussion Post, Module 2 Week 3, Initial Discussion Post, Module 3 Week 5, Initial Discussion Post

Part 4: Assessments for Readiness Skills, Emerging Content Knowledge, and Intervention

· Assigned in: Module 3 Week 6, Assignment 2

Module 1 Discussion 1

Responsible Assessment

 

Responsible assessment can be defined as a form of evaluation that employs both formal and informal strategies to establish goals for each individual learner and develop plans aimed at reaching such goals (Freeney & Freeman, 2018). In so doing, it supports children rather than being employed to exclude them or deny them the learning services that they require. One of the benefits of responsible assessment practices is that it promotes an inclusive learning environment that allows people from different cultural groups an equal opportunity to gather and retain knowledge. Additionally, it promotes high-quality learning, which generates long-lasting benefits. As a consequence, local, state, and federal policymakers often seek mechanisms of teaching young children and ensure that determine how they develop learning capabilities.

 Two of NAEYC’s position statement elements that reflect the rationale for responsible assessment include advancing equity in early childhood education, and promoting

development

ally appropriate practices. The first element is founded on the idea that all children reserve the right ton access equitable learning opportunities that enable them to accomplish their full potentials as engaged learners and valued societal members (NAEYC, 20210. According to this statement, early childhood education instructors have the professional obligation to promote an equitable learning environment. This goal can be accomplished by seeking support from school administrators, parents, and community members to champion diversity and inclusivity and uphold basic principles of fairness and justice (NAEYC, 2021). In so doing, they can eradicate structural and systemic inequalities that limit fair access to learning opportunities. The second position statement is also founded on the idea that all children from birth to age 8, have the right to equitable learning opportunities.

 One of my experiences with authentic assessment occurred when I was required to complete an examination that does not require multiple choice answers. This process enlightened me about the importance of authentic assessment exercises in promoting knowledge retention and acquisition. More importantly, it encourages students to expand their intellectual capacity and master key academic concepts that can be used to improve their capabilities in future. Implementing formative and summative assessment exercises are two of the ways in which I plan to embrace authentic assessment processes in my future classroom environment. The former approach will be utilized to test the extent to which learners have gathered and been abreast with specific topics of the curriculum. This will be implemented by crafting continuous assessment tests, quizzes, and homework assignments. The latter will focus on solving real-world tasks and going through end of term examination exercises.

 The main assessment methods that can be appropriate for early childhood educational settings include child observation records and diagnostic assessment. The first method offers a mechanism for systematically observing a child’s activities in the continuous learning process through continuous interactions with the teacher and child. These interactions should take place over time on a single occasion for the teacher to gain optimal insights into the accurate performance and progress of the learner. The second method is aimed at determining conclusively whether a child has special needs, ascertain the nature and character of their problems, and propose the causes of such issues. This model should be undertaken in a team-based context that employs multiple sources of information and forms part of a system of special education services. There are various ways in which these two assessment criteria promote healthy development and positive learning outcomes. For instance, they focus on development of children’s sights, sounds, and sensation of the world to calm them down. They also improve students’ capacity to engage in relationships with other people. More importantly, these assessment methods promote cognitive development and capacity to engage in two-way communication.

 

References

Feeney, S., & Freeman, N. K. (2018). Ethics and the early childhood educator: Using the

NAEYC Code. National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1509 16th

Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-1426.

NAEYC. (2021). Position statements. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements

Module 2 Wk3 Discussion

When you are working with families how do you explain to them how you will assess, when you will assess and why it is important?

Engaging families as partners in their child’s assessment includes methods and strategies for gathering information from families and promoting their participation during the assessment. Gathering information from families is critical for identifying a child’s strengths and needs and for making informed decisions about the goals and objectives on intervention plans (Family Assessment, n.d.). Practitioners ensure that family members play an important role in their child’s assessment when they listen to family members, encourage them to share their knowledge, and clarify their concerns, priorities, and goals for their child (Family Assessment, n.d.).

 

What do you feel is the most important part of assessment as you begin working with families? 

The most important part of an assessment is to identify a child’s abilities in everyday activities, to make decisions about a child’s eligibility for intervention services, to develop an individual plan for the child and family, or to monitor child progress (Family Assessment, n.d.).  It is important as a teacher to share ways the family can be involved in the assessment process (e.g., interacting with the child, providing information about their child during or after the assessment). We as teachers should discuss the importance of family input about the child’s characteristics, abilities, and challenges (Family Assessment, n.d.).

 

Reference:

Family Assessment. (n.d.). Www.teachingei.org.

https://www.teachingei.org/families/09-family-assessment.php

Module 3 Week 5 Discussion

The individual assessment methods proposed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2012), Matafwali and Serpell (2014), and other educational leaders often focus on different aspects of childhood development, such as cognitive, linguistic, and content knowledge development. According to Matafwali and Serpell (2014), the process of assessing children in early phases of development is increasingly becoming a subject of focus among educational professionals. This pattern is brought by the growing recognition of the significance of early intervention in improving the children’s overall cognitive, psychological, and intellectual development, which in turn reflects in the form of educational attainment.

One of the goals of the assessment tests is to evaluate the children’s cognitive, physical, linguistic, and socioemotional growth and milestones. These models often embrace the theory of continuous, gradual developmental changes and the discontinuous progression over time. The assessment of children is then approached through such developmental lenses, in which the evaluators are attuned to where the child aligns or strays from a typical developmental trajectory, irrespective of whether they are in a time of continuous or discontinuous change, or a critical versus sensitive stages.

 There are various potential strengths and weaknesses of each assessment methodologies proposed. For instance, they can be employed to improve cognitive development goals to review student attainment with respect to a common body of knowledge. Additionally, they adopt standardized tests that are devised by professionals in the discipline, thus having strong validity and reliability. One of the potential weaknesses of these assessment tests is that they may not reflect the learning goals of a particular lesson or school (Ntuli et al., 2014). Additionally, they are faced with strong cultural biases since most of them are predominantly western in nature. The importation of assessment tools designed by the western cultural context may not, for instance, be fit for use among individuals from diverse cultural groups.

 The formal assessment tools are highly reliable since they give users the confidence that repeated or equivalent evaluations will grant consistent results. Some of the characteristics of the assessment methods that increase their validity include their length, suitability of the questions, phrasing of the terminologies, and consistency in the test administration. Since they are longer in nature, they generally produce more reliable outcomes than shorter, non-formal tools. The questions that are used to conduct the tests are also appropriate to the issues that they are attempting to evaluate. These questions are for instance, focused on assessing the distinct problems that affect each student group. Most importantly, the readiness of the students to take part in the assessment process boosts the validity and reliability of the formal assessment exercise.

 The formal assessment tools are also strongly valid in various dimensions. They meet face, content, construct, and criterion aspects of validity. The tools, for instance, comprise items that appear to be appropriate. The assessment contents also cover a wide range of issues that are specific and relevant to what should be assessed. The tests also effectively use important metrics for measuring what the instructor intends to evaluate.

 The information can be useful in promoting development in various ways. Indeed, they can be employed to monitor child development and learning process. This can, in turn be useful for guiding curriculum planning and decision-making. Additionally, the insights gained from this assessment can be shared by fostering student-parent-teacher collaboration, which facilitates sharing of information for the benefit of the students. The assessment criteria are developmentally appropriate (DAP) since they incorporate both formal and informal measures as tools for monitoring children’s progress towards the desired goals (naeyc, 2021). Educators can utilize them to help children to progress when they know where each child is with respect to learning goals.

 
References

Matafwali, B., & Serpell, R. (2014). Design and validation of assessment tests for young children

in Zambia. New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development 2014 (146), 77-96.

NAEYC. (2021). DAP: observing, documenting, and assessing children’s development and

Learning. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap/assessing-

development

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). (2012). Early childhood

generalist standards (3rd ed.). Retrieved from

http://boardcertifiedteachers.org/sites/default/files/EC-GEN

Ntuli, E., Nyarambi, A., & Traore, M. (2014). Assessment in early childhood education: Threats

and challenges to effective assessment of immigrant children. Journal of Research in

Special Education Needs, 14(4), 221-228.

5

“Effective Selection and Planning for Assessment”

Angel Winslow

EDD 8083- “Assessment Practices to Promote Healthy Development and Learning”

Module 2 Assignment

Research Paper: How to Assess Play

Date Due: March 28, 2022

Assessment in Kindergarten

Scholars, policymakers, and teachers in Early Childhood Development agree that play is an integral part of the early education learning process because of the many benefits of learning through play. According to Matas and Lopez (2018), learning through play is one of the best strategies for teaching children new concepts. It allows learners to gain new ideas in a fun-filled learning environment. This research paper shall focus on the kindergarten class and explain the benefits of play-based learning for this category of students. The study will also explain the best procedure for assessing the effectiveness of play-based learning and conclude by recommending the developmentally appropriate practices to evaluate play-based learning for kindergartens.

Play helps in keeping learners active and alert throughout the learning process. One aspect of play is that it engages learners fully and thus keep the learners alert and attentive during the entire exercise period. Play-based learning keeps learners involved, making the learning process interactive instead of being unidirectional where the teacher does a lot of talking. Another important benefit of play for kindergartens is that it boosts full development of various learning domains, thus leading to the full development of multiple parameters of learner development (Matas & Lopez, 2018. Different versions of play contribute to the development of specific domains. For instance, songs help promote cognitive development; construction boosts both mental and fine motor skills. Playing games like soccer promotes balance, control, and decision-making among the learners. Children who engage in physical activities also have improved health status and concentration.

Early childhood education teachers have to assess the effectiveness of games and physical activities to train children. According to studies by O’Grady and Dusing (2015), effective assessment criteria for early childhood games should encompass different aspects of learning such as cognition, psychomotor development, fine motor and affection skills. The assessment criterion should focus on and enhance the learner’s problem-solving skills as opposed to assessing different domains of development in isolation. Play assessment for kindergartens should encompass observation where the teacher watches over what the learners do in their respective groups. During such observations, teachers should interject and correct any activity not performed rightly. Children are generally curious and learn through exploration. The teacher’s role is to monitor where the kids go astray and bring them back to the right course. While assessing learners, teachers should motivate them. Using harsh language may demoralize children. Teachers, therefore, need to be friendly to children even when identifying and correcting mistakes. While assessing children’s progress, teachers need to employ a multivariate approach that factors in different developmental capabilities such as language, psychosocial, mental, and affectionate domains of development. Kelly-Vance and Ryalls (2015) recommend UDL because of its flexibility to match the different learner variability. Play-based assessment should incorporate relevant tools to assess the various skills acquired in the training session.

While designing play-based learning, some of the developmentally appropriate practices that teachers must envisage and infuse in the games include ensuring that play is full of fun. Teachers must allow kids to enjoy the game. Stressing so much on the game’s educational benefits withdraws the fun from the play and thus makes it dormant and boring. Play should allow children to enjoy the fun and demonstrate their creativity without being restricted by other requirements. O’Grady and Dusing (2015) mentioned that learning moments should come spontaneously without being forced. Secondly, teachers should ensure that learners engage in interactive games and plays. Effective plays should bring children together in a fun-filled environment. Palys should introduce children to teamwork and guide them to learn different skills together. Teachers should ensure that plays are organized to foster and promote social interaction between learners. Through such organizations, children learn to appreciate the worth of a social network and friends.

When used appropriately, play-based learning is an effective way of teaching children. It allows children to rehearse on different aspects of human development, promoting a wholesome developmental approach to learning. Teachers need to apply a multivariate approach in assessing play-based learning.

References

Dalton, E. M. & Brand, S.T. (2012). The assessment of young children through the lens of universal design for learning (UDL). Forum on Public Policy Online, Vol. 12 (1), 1-18

Kelly-Vance, L. & Ryalls, B. O. (2015). A systematic, reliable, approach to play assessment in preschoolers. School Psychology International, 26, 398-412

O’Grady, M. G., & Dusing, S. C. (2015). Reliability and validity of play-based assessments of motor and cognitive skills for infants and young children: a systematic review. Physical therapy, 95(1), 25–38. https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20140111

Matas, J.& Lopez, P. (October 2018). Learning through play. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Retrieved from

https://www.unicef.org/sites/default/files/2018-12/UNICEF-

Lego-Foundation-Learning-through-Play

5

Angel Winslow
EDD 8083- “Assessment Practices to Promote Healthy Development and Learning”
Module 3 Assignment 2

“

Assessments for Readiness Skills, Emerging Content Knowledge, and Intervention

”

Date Due: April 11, 2022

Assessments for Readiness Skills, Emerging Content Knowledge, and Intervention

Assessments for Readiness Skills, Emerging Content Knowledge, and Intervention

Learner assessment is the application of different tools to find out whether learning has taken place. It involves examining the extent to which the learning objectives have been met by the teaching methodology applied by the teacher in disseminating new information to the learners. Assessment assists the teachers in ascertaining if the learners have acquired the right skills, knowledge, understanding, and attitude/behavior needed at any given point of development. It also enables learners to showcase what they have gathered by demonstrating their knowledge and progress. According to the Center for Early Childhood Education, teachers in the ECD observe children for different purposes. For instance, to ascertain readiness for learning, demonstration of emerging content knowledge, and intervention in weird behavior before they may become serious impediments to effective learning. The following are some of the assessment criteria that educators can employ while assessing the three areas:

Learner Readiness

Learner readiness is the wiliness of the learner to participate in the learning process or acquire new knowledge. Before proceeding to the learning content, teachers have the mandate and responsibility of assessing whether the learners are posed for the class. Assessment for readiness can be conducted by administering survey questions to the learners to gather information about how charged for learning they are. Under the survey method, the teacher employs a survey to collect information about their students. With the aid of survey questions that are specially designed for this purpose, teachers can gather vital information about their learners as a group and individually (Ntuli, Nyarambi & Traore, 2014). Such surveys can help the teachers know how prepared the students are by assessing their enthusiasm to learn, their interests, preferences, and perceptions of the learning process. For the survey to be developmentally appropriate, it should be tied to specific objectives and learning outcomes. For instance, the teacher can administer survey questions that assess the level of curiosity to learn. Teachers can use such data to reflect on ways to motivate learners to be ready for understanding using the various motivational theories (Protheroe, 2001).

The second method teachers employ to assess learner readiness is by creating interactive learning sessions with learners in disseminating the learning content. Creating an interactive learning environment that allows teachers to engage their learners on a one-to-one helps teachers establish how ready learners are to learn. Besides, creating an interactive session between and among students also motivates learners by allowing them to share their views and opinions about a given concept. Before delving into the main points or the content of the day, teachers should encourage students to work in groups and share their views on phenomena parallel to the topic of the day. In this way, the teacher will be able to gather the views and opinions of the learners about the various concepts they are about to cover. The data will help the teachers understand how ready their learners are for the topic. During such sessions, teachers should pay close attention to how and whether the students can make self-reflections and assessments (Ntuli, Nyarambi & Traore, 2014). At the end of the lesson, teachers may use feedback to assess readiness for learning. This would involve getting the opinions of the learners on the content of the day and their views regarding subsequent lessons, done posthumously.

Assessing For Emerging Content Knowledge

Teachers are entitled to the responsibility of assessing the development of new knowledge capabilities in their learners. At the same time, teachers also need to ascertain the ability of their learners to demonstrate the development of new knowledge capabilities. To determine if learners are developing new knowledge content, teachers can apply evaluation of student ideas as one assessment method or administer thought-provoking exams and quizzes. By evaluating student ideas, evident in the way they respond to an assigned task, or activities and interactions, teachers can establish if learners have developed new content knowledge. In subjects like English, teachers can ask learners to apply a given the word in different contexts to see how they have integrated the knowledge learned in class into other domains. In mathematics, teachers may ask learners to apply different formulae to solve a given problem (Ntuli, Nyarambi & Traore, 2014). Another common strategy for assessing learners to establish any signs of new content knowledge development involves administering thought-provoking quizzes that pressure learners to think critically and creatively. By challenging learners to be creative, teachers can assess and see which learners have the ability to be creative and innovative.

Assessment Methods for Intervention

It is a common understanding that students may sometimes develop anterior behaviors and motives that are unacceptable and may limit the effectiveness of learning. In some other instances, intrinsic personal health conditions in the learners may be the grounds for the limitation of effective learning. In this sense, teachers and school administrations should conduct an assessment to evaluate the nature and conditions of their learners with the view of getting the best intervention strategies for the negative behavior patterns. One of the common methods of assessing learners for intervention purposes is screening. Screening assessment involves administering tests to determine the standards of learners. Teachers focus on the learners’ performance to their previous scores. The assessment results are ranked as either falling on, below or above the expected grade level. Depending on the evaluation outcomes, the teachers can reflect on the right intervention (Guss, Horn, Lang, Krehbiel, et al., 2013). For instance, when the student results indicate that their performance is below the expected standard levels, one of the interventions that can be employed is extensive teaching to increase knowledge acquisition.

Another assessment for intervention is syllabus coverage and content mastery. Once the teacher is done with the syllabus, they can administer evaluation tests to assess the extent to which the learners have grasped the content of the syllabus. The assessment can be administered in the form of quizzes, tests, and exams: the assessment experts to establish if the content of the syllabus was well covered. The aim is to identify areas where there are signs of misconception from the learners. Such areas are flagged out and given priority for revision to help the teachers boost the understanding and mastery of the content. Through evidence-based approaches, the student should be examined for their behavioral, motor, language, social, cognitive, and emotional skills (Guss, Horn, Lang, Krehbiel, et al., 2013). The assessment helps develop a better understanding of the learner’s capabilities, thus giving teachers an easy time identifying any special arrangements to help the learner when needed.

References

Guss, S. S., Horn, D. M., Lang, E., Krehbiel, S. M. et al. (2013). Using classroom assessment to inform teacher decisions. Young Children, 68(3), 16-20

Ntuli, E., Nyarambi, A., & Traore, M. (2014). Assessment in early childhood education: Threats and challenges to effective assessment of immigrant children. Journal of Research in Special Education Needs, 14(4), 221-228.

Protheroe, N. (2001). Improving teaching and learning with data-based decisions: Asking the right questions and acting on the answers. Retrieved from http://www.rogersschools.net/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=3497164