Assessment

In my classroom, students are assessed according to the Objectives for Development & Learning from Birth Through Kindergarten used in the Teaching Strategies program. 

The objectives for literacy are listed below...
 15. Demonstrates phonological awareness
      a. Notices and discriminates rhyme
      b. Notices and discriminates alliteration
      c. Notices and discriminates smaller and smaller units of sound
16. Demonstrates knowledge of the alphabet
      a. Identifies and names letters
      b. Uses letter-sound knowledge
17. Demonstrates knowledge of print and its uses
      a. Uses and appreciates books
      b. Uses print concepts
18. Comprehends and responds to books and other texts
      a. Interacts during read alouds and book conversations
      b. Uses emergent reading skills
      c. Retells stories
19. Demonstrates emergent writing skills
      a. Writes name
      b. Writes to convey meaning

When children are assessed according to these objectives, there is a rating scale with indicators and examples of how a child may demonstrate the skills and the educator can select the level they assessed the child at. 

The following is an image of how the objectives look in assessment (for a language objective). A teacher would then select the level (1-9) on the chart according to the child's skill demonstration. The colored bands along the bottom are color coded to show the expectations of specific age/grade groups. 

 Red = birth to 1 year    Orange = 1 to 2 years   

Yellow = 2 to 3 years  Green = Preschool 3 class

Blue = Pre-K 4 class   Purple = Kindergarten

Below is a YouTube video of a Teaching Strategies Gold training

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFs7Ux5zyhw
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           Teaching Strategies emphasizes that research supports their comprehensive resources and it is a valid and reliable measure of child growth and development, (Teaching Strategies, 2002-2013). In the Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment System Technical Summary, the Center for Educational Measurement and Evaluation at the University of North Carolina provided evidence that, “the assessment instrument reliably measures those six factors of child development (social-emotional, physical, language, cognitive, literacy and math,” (2011). This is important because the assessment instrument has to have construct validity and measures what it is intended to measure. The research also provided evidence of high interrater reliability, which is important because, “if the tool is reliable, the results should be the same (or nearly the same) regardless of the user,” (Teaching Strategies, Inc, 2011). The research also confirmed validity in item difficulty, person and item reliabilities, internal consistency reliability, accuracy of scale scores and age bands, and validity and reliability with children with special needs and English language learners.

              Richard G. Lambert from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte conducted research on using the Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment System with the Creative Curriculum in order to demonstrate how child outcomes can be enhanced by assessment and curriculum. The study showed that when combining these two tools teachers can, “Teachers maintain the ability to link assessment opportunities with teachable moments embedded into the curriculum when the objectives of the curriculum are the same as the objectives of the assessment system,” (Lambert, 2012). This study discussed how assessment data can be used to inform instruction.