Early Childhood Professionals Views of Assessment

Introduction:
We interviewed three individual early childhood professionals and asked them
questions on their views of assessment. The purpose of these interviews was to understand
how professionals use assessments to help in the classroom and in other child-related
settings. Each person in our group interviewed a different Early Childhood Professional
about assessments and compiled each individual answer to compare and contrast the
answers across the three early childhood professionals. With these answers we were able to
connect assessment types to the curriculums used and also connect our views on
assessment to the views of these early childhood professionals.
The Professionals:
Agnieszka interviewed Melissa Kramer, a kindergarten teacher at St. Thomas
Aquinas Parish School, who has been teaching (beyond the internship year) for 10 years.
Mrs. Kramer is a Child Development graduate from MSU, who is now teaching in a grade
school. I was curious to see which take-aways from the Child Development program, in
terms of assessment, she still uses in her practice. I feel that she has a unique perspective,
because her use of assessment has been shaped by a combination of her original degree,
her status as an elementary teacher, and the fact that she teaches at a private, parochial
school.
Ashley interviewed Jennifer Davis, the head teacher in the 24 month old room at the
Michigan State University Child Development who has been teaching professionally for
about six years. I chose Ms. Davis because I have done a great deal of teaching in infant
and toddler classrooms and working with children in this age group is definitely something I
want to continue doing into the future. I have worked with Ms. Davis before, but was never
really able to learn about what types of assessments she uses in her classroom and what
she does with these assessments. I feel that Ms. Davis has a teaching style that I relate to
very well and I wanted to learn more about the work she does with assessments to help
guide me in my use of assessments in the future, with my career.
Caitlin interviewed Sally Mowers, the head teacher in the 4 to 5 year old room at the
Michigan State Child Development Lab, also known as the CDL. Ms. Mowers has been
teaching professionally for more than 18 years. I chose to interview Ms. Mowers because I
have worked with her in the past and I like her teaching style. I also like how she sets up her
classroom and I tend to understand this age group better than others. I was hoping to learn
how she uses assessments with her teaching style and also better understand her use of
assessments in the classroom with this particular age group.
Summarize the interviews, in one of the following two formats:
1. What types of assessments do you use in your work with young children?

Mrs. Kramer says she uses a mix of informal observations, individual assessments,
small group assessments, and progress monitoring. She does not use any form of whole
group assessment or standardized testing.
Ms. Davis mainly uses anecdotal records, checklists, and the Ages and Stages
Questionnaire (ASQ). However, recently the CDL has begun using the COR assessment,
which is a part of the high scope curriculum. In this type of assessment she is able to focus
on different learning areas through the use of pictures and videos by putting them into
childrens portfolios to assess and track development.
Ms. Mowers uses the anecdotal records, Preschool Early Literacy Indicator, and
Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). Though recently, the CDL has begun using the COR
assessment. With this assessment Ms. Mowers is able to use checklists and observations
along with anecdotal records.
2. How often do you assess children?
Mrs. Kramer says she assesses children on a daily basis, in terms of informal
observation. She also does more formal assessments on a monthly basis, except for
strugglers, whose progress she assesses weekly or biweekly.
Ms. Davis assesses children everyday. Through anecdotes and observations as well
as through play and close relationships with the children, teachers in the classroom are able
to assess the children daily and experience first hand different milestones in their
development. After taking anecdotes by hand, they are written up on a system online for
easier access and organization.
Ms. Mowers literally only gave me one word when asked this question and that word
was ongoing. Meaning that she uses and assesses children each and everyday for any sign
of progress or sign of concern.
3. How do you use the assessment information that you collect?
Mrs. Kramer uses the information she gathers to drive her daily lesson plans. She
uses her assessments to plan large and small group activities, to determine how to group
children for small groups, and to set goals based on childrens progress. The information is
also provided on report cards and is communicated to parents.
Ms. Davis uses the information from an assessment by putting it into each childs
portfolio, which tells us what the children are doing while they are in the classroom. This can
also help to center curriculums around specific areas in a childs development and their
learning style as well.
Ms. Mowers uses information from the assessments that she has collected by
entering them into a computer. She then runs reports with said information and transfers that
into data. With this she is able to tell who is behind and who is ahead developmentally. She
is also able to use this information to help her create activities that can help children further
develop.
4. How do you share assessment information with parents?
Mrs. Kramer shares assessment results with parents through several modes of
communication. She emails parents to tell them about small good/bad things that occur, for
example when she notices that a child can only count to 13, but at this age should be
counting to a hundred. She also sends tips for how the child can meet these new goals. She

calls parents and arranges meetings when there are larger things that she needs to discuss
with parents (ie. significant behavior problems, significant delays, etc.). She sends home
Home-School Connections which let parents know how to support their children with
common misconceptions/concerns that she sees in the classroom (for example, if no
children could pronounce the letter K, she might send a note with ideas of activities to
support that skill). She also communicates with parents during conferences and through
report cards.
The way in which Ms. Davis and other teachers in the classroom share assessments
with parents is in portfolio form. Portfolios are shared at conferences towards the end of the
semester. Assessments can also be shared through the childrens daily logs, which the
parents take home everyday, if any milestones are reached during the day.
Ms. Mowers shared that when she is sharing assessments with parents she does so
at parent teacher conferences. The parent teacher conferences are held now 2 -3 times per
year whereas before they were held 1-2 times per year.
5. Do you use any technology in your assessment process? If so, how?
Mrs. Kramer does not use a lot of technology in her assessments. She does have
children take pictures of their work (addition, letter sorting, etc.) which she shares with
parents. The school uses the Accelerated Reader Program but Mrs. Kramer doesnt use it
with her kindergarteners.
Ms. Davis uses an iPad for video evidence to place into an online assessment
system and also uses a digital camera for pictures to go along with any anecdotal records.
She also uses a computer and internet to compile all of the data found for easier access and
more organization.
Ms. Mowers uses technology in assessing children with having the COR online. She
also uses various items to capture moments of developmental proof. The items that she
uses are the camera on her phone, and iPad. She also mentioned that she uses the voice
recorder on her phone to be able to catch moments better.
6. Are you ever assessed as a professional? If so, how and how often? What kind of
feedback do you get?
Mrs. Kramer is assessed through professional development assessments, conducted
by her principal. The principal comes in and observes her teaching and gives her feedback
through email, notecards, and direct conversation. She meets with the principal at the
beginning and end of the school year to discuss what goals she had for her teaching, what
goals the principal has for her, and how far shes come along in reaching those goals.
Ms. Davis is assessed once a year by the director of the Child Development Lab.
During this assessment both the director and Ms. Davis talk about how things in the
classroom are going and what changes, if any need to be made. They also discuss Ms.
Davis own professional goals for herself and what she can do to reach those goals. Ms.
Davis is also assessed by the director of the CDL through observation in the classroom. She
is evaluated on her teaching and teaching style as well as her interactions with the children
using PQA. These observational assessments also look at the setup of the classroom and
the appropriateness of the materials being used within the classroom.
Ms. Mowers is assessed as a professional. She, herself, is assessed annually as well
as her classroom using the PQA. She always gets positive feedback from the people

assessing her. This positive feedback tends to be based on the teacher-child interactions,
the classroom environment she has set up and the projects that she gets involved with
outside of the CDL.
7. What are the biggest challenges you have faced in using assessments?
The biggest challenge that Mrs. Kramer faces when using assessments is how to
form groups either for the assessment or based on the assessment. She struggles to
determine when to use heterogeneous vs. homogeneous groups (in terms of ability levels) to
best support her students and assess their individual learning.
The biggest challenge Ms. Davis faces when using assessment is actually finding the
time to do assessments. Because of the play-based curriculum in the classroom there is
always so much going on throughout the day and the interactions between the adults and
the children that recording each anecdote and observation becomes a difficult task. Ms.
Davis also said that getting to know the new COR assessment that is currently being
implemented and all of the details that lie within it has also been difficult.
The biggest challenge that Ms. Mowers faces in using assessment is that the
curriculum that the CDL is using does not have a form of assessment in it unlike other
curriculi. She has to use outside sources to assess the children in her classroom.
8. Do you prefer a specific type of assessment over other assessments?
Mrs. Kramer prefers individual assessments because she believes all children
develop/learn at their own pace and this way she can assess everyone where they are at a
given moment. She also likes to use observation to get an informal sense of the childrens
abilities. Lastly, she also thinks there is a time and a place for formal assessments, because
they can be helpful at times. She is completely against standardized testing and does not/will
not use any form of it in her classroom. Working at a private parochial school, she has the
choice to choose which assessments she uses and doesnt use, so she is free to not use
any assessment she doesnt agree with.
Ms. Davis prefers observations and anecdotal records because she likes the ability to
naturally observe the children through their play and other activities inside the classroom
rather than using formal assessments. These types of assessment help her and other
teachers in the room continue building their relationships with the children and also engage
in play to promote childrens development.
Ms. Mowers prefers, actually loves using the High Scope COR.
9. How accurately do you feel assessments show where a child is in their progress and
development?
Mrs. Kramer believes that most assessment is fairly accurate in showing students
progress/development when it is used at an individual or small group level. She says that the
accuracy of an assessment depends highly on the situation in which it is used as well. She
also states that her opinion is biased in that she doesnt have to use any assessments she
doesnt agree with. If she were to use assessments that were mandated by others that she
didnt agree with (ie. standardized tests), her response would be different. She believes
standardized tests are not accurate at representing childrens progress/development.
Ms. Davis said the assessments they use at the CDL and in her classroom are able
to give a fairly accurate idea of where a child is in their development. She said that the COR
assessment has been helpful by providing a more organized system to place anecdotes,

which can help tell where a child is in their development and how to plan for children
specifically.
Ms. Mowers likes that this type of assessment because it is very accurate. It also tells
the teachers what they are able to do at school compared to when they are home. She is
better able to distinguish whether skills are actually mastered when at school and not at
home.
10. Have assessments impacted your teaching style in anyway? (have you changed your
curriculum, interactions with children, etc)
Mrs. Kramers teaching style has been influenced by assessment. She always
assesses her children through observation and finds ways in which she needs to modify her
activities so that they will match the skills of her children. For example, she explains that
even though shes teaching kindergarten again, she could not use a lesson plan from last
year to teach the exact same content in the exact same way. Every group of children and
every child is different- they require specific modifications of lesson planning and teaching to
be successful.
Ms. Davis said that assessments have impacted her teaching in some ways. She
said she has looked at different ways to change her teaching, interactions, and environment
to help meet the requirements of the COR assessment. She also said that assessments help
her to be more interactive with the children through play. By using assessments where she is
able to observe through play and interactions she is creating her own unique teaching style.
She especially likes these types of assessments because she can be in the classroom
interacting rather than observing from outside of the classroom.
Ms. Mowers agrees that assessments have impacted her teaching style. Ever since
the CDL moved to the new type of assessment, her teaching style has been impacted. For
instance, she mentioned that with the current assessment needs to look for more specific
detail and more opportunities to assess. In simpler terms, she needs to add extra activities to
gather sufficient data.
Analyze the professionals responses:
Compare and contrast the similarities and differences in the professionals responses
Relate the similarities and differences to the professionals contexts, e.g. setting, child ages
All the teachers we spoke to said their assessment of children is done on an
everyday basis in a continuous and ongoing fashion. Since all these teachers have a
background in child development which emphasizes the different rates at which children
develop and the fact that they all develop in different ways, each of these teachers has
realized that assessment must be done continuously. In order to use the assessments to
learn more about the children in their classrooms and to adapt their curriculum and lesson
planning, these teachers need to be continuously assessing the progress of their children.
Although all three of the teachers we interviewed primarily rely on qualitative
assessment (observations, anecdotal records, etc.), both Ms. Davis and Ms. Mowers said
they also uses checklists, which allow them to quantify some of their assessment data. Ms.
Davis and Ms. Mowers both rely on the ASQ, the COR and Ms. Mowers also uses the PELI.
Ms. Kramer does not use any of these assessments, because they are not mandated at the
school where she teaches. Since she is at a private school, she has the opportunity to
choose to use the assessments she wants.

All of our teachers use assessments to drive their curriculum and lesson planning,
stating that they compile the information to see the developmental levels of their children
and to decide where they need more support and thus what activities they should plan.
Although all three teachers communicate with parents they do so in different ways.
Ms. Mowers relies primarily on parent teacher conferences. Ms. Davis relies on childrens
portfolios (which are shared at conferences) and childrens daily logs. Ms. Kramer uses
email, newsletters, the Home-School connection, conferences, phone calls and meetings to
communicate with parents about assessment results. These three teachers all took very
different ways of sharing their assessment results with parents. Whereas Ms. Kramer shares
a lot about childrens progress through simple, daily communication like emails and phone
calls, both Ms. Davis and Ms. Mowers share most of their information with parents during
conferences. These differences seem to be best explained by our professionals different
teaching styles and perhaps their settings as well. Being at a private catholic school, Ms.
Kramer and the families in her classroom have a very tight community feel. This may
influence the way in which she chooses to communicate with the parents.
All three of our teachers mentioned that they are assessed as professionals. Both
Ms. Davis and Ms. Mowers are assessed through the PQA, an assessment used to assess
the interactions in a preschool classroom. Ms. Kramer is not assessed in this way, because
the assessment is focused on preschool, not kindergarten. All three teachers also meet with
their administration (although Ms. Mowers did not mention this specifically) to discuss their
teaching, their goals and how everything is going in the classroom. This is a common way of
assessing educators.
Our three teachers struggle with different elements of assessment. Whereas Ms.
Davis struggles to find time to conduct assessments, Ms. Mowers struggles to figure out
what kind of assessments to use (since the CDLs curriculum does not rely on a specific
one). Ms. Kramer struggles with figuring out how to use the assessment data that she
collects to group her children for activities and how to group children in order to conduct the
assessment. These issues are primarily caused by the context in which each of these
teachers teaches. Ms. Davis works in a toddler classroom, where everything is going on at
once and there isnt a specific moment when time freezes and she can work on
assessments. Her assessments are all done on an individual level. The formal assessments
she uses are the standard ones to use with toddlers. Ms. Mowers, who works with 4 year
olds, has more freedom to choose a perfect assessment, however, this freedom is why she
struggles with finding an assessment. There are more options out there for her to choose
from. Since, like Ms. Davis, she does all her assessments on an individual level, grouping is
not one of her problems. Since Ms. Kramer uses a mixture of individual and small group
assessments and does many activities in small groups where the children need to be best
able to support one another- grouping is one of her biggest problems. However, since she
uses informal observation, it is much easier for her to fit it into her schedule. She can just
take a step back and observe her students.
Ms. Mowers loves the COR. Ms. Davis loves anecdotes and observations, much like
Ms. Kramer. They both prefer informal to formal assessments. All these teachers have
similar perspectives in their preferences due to their similar backgrounds in child
development.
All three of our teachers consider the assessments they use to be fairly or very
accurate. They believe informal observation and systems like the COR allow teachers to
accurately observe children in their natural environment. This similarity is also a result of the
teachers common background in child development which stresses the benefits of informal

assessments and has lead all three of these teachers to rely on them instead of formal or
standardized tests.
All of the professionals we interviewed felt that their teaching has been impacted by
assessments. All three teachers mentioned using assessment to modify their teaching,
whether it be over the course of a year or days. Assessments provide teachers with
immediate feedback about what and how theyre doing.

Reflect on what you learned:

Note anything that surprised you in the professionals responses
Communication with parents seemed to be very similar in all three of the
professionals interviewed. Ms. Davis, Ms. Mowers, and Ms. Kramer alle share their findings
through assessments with parents at conferences during the semester. Ms. Davis and Ms.
Kramer also send home some sort of daily logs that tell parents about their childs
development as well as any suggestions for parents to help with their childs development.
When it came to challenges these professionals faced in using assessment that answers
varied. Mr. Kramer struggled to determine what types of assessment to use for certain ability
levels within the children. Ms. Davis struggled to find time to actually do assessment
throughout a typical school day while also trying to learn a new form of assessment that is
being implemented. Ms. Mowers biggest challenge is finding outside sources for
assessment since the curriculum used at the CDL does not have a form of assessment
within it. Countless challenges can be faced when using assessments and one professional
may not have the same challenges as another, which can be seen based on the challenges
expressed by these three professionals. There were also similarities in the what was
expressed about the COR assessment by Ms. Davis and Ms. Mowers. They both expressed
their preference towards more interactive teaching styles where they can observe more
closely and record their findings. We also noticed that different experience levels affected the
answers of these professionals. The longer these professionals have been teaching
professionally the more they appeared to be able to incorporate different forms of
assessment into their teaching and curriculum.
We saw from all three of these professionals that informal assessments were favored
greatly over formal assessments. In our group we all feel that informal assessments provide
more information about a child over a formal assessment or standardized testing. We saw
that these professionals also expressed these same feelings in regards to prefering informal
assessments as well. We also saw how schools with a more private setting can shape ideas
and thoughts teachers have with assessments. When teachers are in a more private they
are better able to focus on each child in the room to assess them and meet their
developmental needs. In teaching settings such as a public school the teachers may not
have the same opportunities to assess children closely because of the different curriculum
they must follow.