Assessment & Curriculum Planning

        Early childhood education and its components has become, in recent years, a highly regarded subject with topics ranging from a wide array of subjects that include but aren’t limited to; nutrition, physical education, inclusion, special needs students/subjects, objective assessments, curriculum core standards, and even religion. While all of these topics are more or less independently important in their own way, together they comprise of many of the areas of education that may be insufficient with regards to an epidemic of problems students/educators are now plagued with. Assessment within the educational system is necessary for evaluation of students progressions or lack thereof, while many argue that within the realm of early childhood education assessment is  a ‘challenge’ there are still many resources that counter such arguments. It has been stated that the issue with regards to using assessments and common core standards to create a curriculum is that of teachers feeling as though it imposes on their flexibility to teach within a range of areas. It is my intent to illustrate throughout this paper the role ongoing role of assessment within early childhood education and what it attributes to developing a meaningful curriculum, the children, teachers, parents and its community.

       One aim of early learning standards and assessments is to galvanize internal improvements within early care and education institutions (Kagan & Scott-Little, 2004).  Appropriate assessment begins with a comprehensive understanding of what is to be assessed—in this case, the content and desired outcomes expressed in early learning standards. Assessments must be developmentally valid, including observations by knowledgeable adults in real-life early childhood contexts, with multiple, varied opportunities for assessment over time. It is also highly imperative when considering assessments and how they are used not to overlook the needs of culturally diverse children and children with disabilities. McKane (2004) reported that well-writ-ten learning objectives helped center the pre-assessment, remedial learning, and post-assessment of knowledge and skills of students engaged in a critical care orientation course. Relying on appropriate learning objectives further facilitated development of individualized learning plans and guided preceptors in their selection of appropriate learning activities and evaluation strategies (Menix, 2007). The information is intended to produce realistic outcomes yielded by these assessments to be used by practitioners and families alike.

     Within the curriculum planning process assessment has much merit. Early learning development requires an assessment tool that (a) Builds on the observational skills of early childhood educators (b) uses objective criteria to translate qualitative observations into early learning standards and (c) safeguards against teachers focusing exclusively on the criteria identified for assessment (Feldman, 2010). The current approach offers structure for curricular planning and assessment that examines group level activity across many diverse fields. Institutions that teach a higher level of learning, middle school etc., use a system of Standards without standardization, the current approach draws from this idea by utilizing a curricular planning and assessment tool that allows educators to select learning goals from a set of approved learning standards. Keeping standards and assessments on the same levels proves to aid/assist educators while planning and assessing activities for children across different domains. Approaches to curricular planning and assessment need to be (a) flexible enough to accommodate different approaches to curriculum, (b) provide and outlet for feedback about early learning standards and benchmarks (Feldman, 2010).

         Assessments best used in early childhood education settings are those practiced through observation and executed within a classroom. A number of experts agree that many assessment styles many of which could be accurate while others’ could be different and could serve to be defeating the same purpose. Many institutions use different practices with regards to theorized based education and practice based curriculum's; this diversity increases the degree of difficulty to curriculum assessment. Certain learning institutions don’t believe in the assessment of any child.   The preceding mentions and others are reasons why educators are now seeking new methodology that requires curricular assessment that will respect the vow/pledges and significance of different early learning institutions.

References

Strickland, D. S. (2012). Planning curriculum to meet the common core state standards. Reading Today, 29(4), 25-26. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/926994517?accountid=32521

Feldman, E. N. (2010). Benchmarks curricular planning and assessment framework: Utilizing standards without introducing standardization. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(3), 233-242. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10643-010-0398-9

Grisham-brown, J., Hallam, R., & Brookshire, R. (2006). Using authentic assessment to evidence children's progress toward early learning standards. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(1), 45-51. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10643-006-0106-y

Dodge, D. F., Heroman, C., Charles, J., & Maiorca, J. (2004). Beyond Outcomes: How Ongoing Assessment Supports Children's Learning and Leads to Meaningful Curriculum. Spotlight on Young Children and Assessment, 9-16.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialist in State Departments of Education. (2003). Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation: Building an Effective, Accountable System in Programs for Children Birth Through 8.