Reply to DCPCS Initiative: Test 3 and 4 year olds starting in 2013- meeting: August 19

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[quote=Anonymous]There are basically 2 types of assessments given to preschoolers.

One is a straight up test, where someone sits down with the child and asks them to answer questions or do tasks and then gives them a score.

Here's a link to videos of a preschooler taking the IGDI's which is an example of this type of test.  This test is given 3 times a year, and generally takes about 15 minutes for language/literacy and 15 minutes for math, if you include the time to settle the child in, praise them for doing a good job, let them take a little break.

http://www.myigdis.com/why-myigdis/tech-info-resources/demo-videos-igdis-el-2/

The other kind of assessment is based on observations and work samples taken from normal preschool activities.  For example, you might collect a drawing for each child, and ask them to add their name if they didn't, and then score how well they write their name on the rubric.  Or you might play a game like Simon Says and have someone watching and noting which kids can stand on one foot.

Each kind of test has pros and cons.

Adult directed pros: quick, easy to administer, score, and get back to teaching.  You get a better sense of what kids "can" do, rather than what they chose to do on that particular day.

Adult directed cons: some skills are really hard to test in this way, which can lead to programs that are slanted towards "testable" skills, can get a kid on a bad day and not get a lot of information.  Harder to translate into activities to develop skills, because the tests don't resemble teaching activities.

Observation pros: less intrusive to kids, can assess a wide range of skills which makes "teaching to the test" less of an issue (e.g. if you're assessing persistence and imaginative play, and their ability to climb all over the playground, you're less likely to end up with a full day of direct instruction on the carpet)

Observation cons: take up a large amount of teacher time, observational bias, you're testing what children choose to do, or what you happen to notice, rather than their best performance.

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