Question
What are the benefits of assessment?
Answer
There are many benefits of assessment. It's important that we reframe and make a new lens about how we view assessment. We need to take an interest in the art of studying young children and understanding how the whole child develops. Assessment in the early childhood environment is an essential ingredient in providing quality care.
Assessment Celebrates Growth
Assessment is an opportunity to celebrate the child's growth over time, developmental achievements, as well as skill acquisition.
Assessment Identifies the Child’s Strengths and Needs
Assessment identifies the child's strengths as well as their needs. Remember that assessment is supposed to point out what the child does well, and then pick up on anything that the child might need more help with. We're able to determine strengths and needs by observing individual children in multiple settings and situations. Likewise, we should observe children in areas where a child, or sometimes an entire class, needs extra help in developing a skill or a specific developmental area.
Assessment Provides the Child an Opportunity to Be Part of the Process
Preschool children are capable of choosing what they put in their portfolios. I've had children who were taking part in making a project, and I said, "Hey, can I put that in your portfolio?" They said, "No, I want to take it home." So, I said, "Okay, I can take a picture of it." I would put the picture in the portfolio instead of the item. When children are allowed to decide on the contents of the portfolio, they accept ownership of that and begin to develop an interest in adding to their portfolio and what it means.
Assessment Helps the Educator Get to Know the Child Better
As we observe and assess young children, we begin to understand their behavior, pick up on their individual interests, and get to know their abilities. This helps us plan activities and a learning environment to engage and support each individual child, as well as the whole group.
Assessment Helps the Educator Improve their Professional Practice
It helps us improve our professional practice and become better teachers. As we are assessing and paying attention to young children's developmental progress and learning, we can understand which activities and experiences were successful and which ones weren't. This helps us refine our knowledge about child development, individual children, and best practice. Then we can use the assessment data to improve our teaching over time.
Assessment Supports School and Family Partnerships
Assessment helps support school and family partnerships as educators communicate important milestones in children's development to families. It also provides opportunities for educators and parents to work together to support children as they grow.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Purposes and Benefits of Assessment, presented by Natasha Crosby Kile, MS.
