Early Childhood Assessment: Look Beyond Grades

Kids start showing signs of learning and the skills they’ve acquired very early on, and parents and teachers must be observant to note the same. Early childhood assessment gathers and understands information about a child’s skills, abilities, and knowledge. What children learn in their early years stays with them for life and prepares them to face all future challenges.

Early childhood assessment aims to understand a child’s development and skills, such as cognitive, motor, language, and social-emotional. Though observation is one of the most common and crucial ways to assess a child’s behaviour, other helpful means are performance-based assessments, standardised tests, etc. By observing children, parents and teachers gain insights into the child’s behaviour, social and communication skills, etc. With performance-based assessments, a child’s skills and knowledge are tested with activity-based tests.

Early childhood assessments are needed to determine a child’s strengths and areas where additional help and support are needed.

Types of Early Childhood Assessments:

There are various types of early childhood assessments, each with a different approach, but the general goal remains to determine and support a child’s skill and development. Some common types of early childhood assessments are:

• Developmental Screenings

  It is a test to determine if the child is developing various motor, language, and socio-emotion skills. It is a quick check of a child’s development; they can identify if a child needs extra support and help to enhance a particular skill but cannot diagnose a developmental delay or any disabilities.

• Developmental Assessments:

  These assessments are taken by professional therapists and specialists to determine a child’s strengths and any disability or delay in development. For example, a speech therapist can assess and help a child who has a problem in speaking clearly.

• Functional Assessments:

  These assessments are used to know a child’s performance in specific areas. Functional assessments are often used for children who have any disability or delayed development to understand the cause of the delay or a particular behaviour and to tackle the same.

• Curriculum-Based Assessments

  These tests determine what the child is learning from the classroom curriculum. Progress in skills like reading, writing, and basic maths is assessed.

• Norm-Referenced Assessments:

  With norm-referenced assessments, a child’s progress is compared with that of a group of children of the same age group. This is done to identify a gifted child or also to know if a child has any disabilities or learning disorders.

• Formative Assessments:

  Formative assessments are ongoing assessments that continually monitor a child’s progress. Educators observe and document a child’s learning process, skills, and adaption to instructions, which helps educators give feedback and adjust their teaching methods to meet the child’s needs.

• Summative Assessments:

  Summative assessments are taken from time to time. For example, unit tests, end-of-the-year exams, etc. It shows a child’s overall development, progress, and readiness for the next grade.

• Competency-Based Assessments:

  Competency-based assessments evaluate how a child applies his learnings and skills to real-life situations. Children are given practical and application-based problems to solve.

Benefits of Early Childhood Assessment

Early childhood assessment is not about grades and scoring the highest marks. It is about observing a child’s development, getting to know what a child enjoys and how they are learning various skills. There are many benefits of early childhood assessment:

• Early Intervention:

  With early childhood assessments, children are observed from an early age. Parents and teachers determine how a child is learning and communicating with others and observe the overall behaviour of a child. This helps significantly in identifying if any child has special needs, developmental delays, or learning difficulties. By identifying such needs, correct action, support, and timely intervention help the child overcome difficulties or adapt better to them. Early intervention improves a child’s long-term outcomes and development.

• Strong Foundation:

  Early assessments focus on cognitive, motor, language, and social-emotional skills. These skills become the building blocks for all future academic and personal success. If the foundation is strong and well-nurtured, the child learns and absorbs information better and applies his skills and knowledge to real-life situations even better. So, early childhood assessments are vital in building a solid foundation for children and their learning.

• School Readiness:

  Parents, early childhood caregivers, and educators observe the child and their behaviour constantly. They track their child’s progress and identify areas where the child might need extra support and help. All these things help to prepare the child for big school or kindergarten. Children also develop communication and social-emotional skills, which help them navigate school better and understand instructions clearly.

• Creates Fun Learning Experience:

  Early childhood assessment and learning focuses on application-based and interactive teaching. So, children learn by doing various activities, playing games, drawing pictures, doing crafts, telling stories, watching movies, etc. This approach to teaching and learning makes the experience fun for children, unlike traditional rotting and written exam methods. Children learn hands-on and retain the learning for a long time. They also develop creative thinking skills and can show what they have learned in a fun way by telling stories or drawing pictures.

• Identification of Strengths and Weaknesses:

  With the help of early childhood assessments, parents and educators can identify a child’s strengths in various fields, such as language, cognitive skills, social and emotional development, etc. Early childhood assessment can also help to identify areas where they may need additional support. For example, by observing a kid for a few months, a teacher can know that he enjoys painting and singing but lacks enthusiasm for dancing activities or solving math problems.

• Personalized Learning:

  Every child is unique and has a way of learning. Early assessments help teachers and parents understand a child’s strengths, likes, dislikes, and weaknesses. With this knowledge, teachers and parents can customise and tailor educational experiences according to the child’s individual needs and learning styles.

• Communication and Collaboration:

  Parents, teachers, and specialists share their findings and observations to help the child better. This facilitates communication and collaboration between all caregivers. By supporting each other and the child, they create a comprehensive support system for the child.

Role of Parents in Early Childhood Assessment

Parents are the first people a child comes in contact with and spends the most time with. Kids learn most of their skills and habits in the early days from their parents. Parents play an invaluable role in a kid’s early days and early childhood assessment. They will have the most insights into their child’s interests, likes, dislikes, learning patterns, behaviour, etc.

Sharing these observations with educators and caregivers and collaborating closely with parents help create a comprehensive picture of a child’s development. They can also help tailor teaching and lessons to the child’s needs and make the connection between a school and home seamless for their child.

Role of Educators in Early Childhood Assessment

Educators are the second group of people children interact with the most, after parents. They influence a child’s learning, behaviour, and development. Educators observe and document a child’s growth and learning patterns. They use various tools and techniques to stay updated on best practices and better understand a child. They also develop fun and interactive learning sessions, assessments, tests, and activities that facilitate learning and enhance skills. These skills stay with children lifelong and significantly impact their personal and professional future.

Last Updated on November 7, 2024