Curriculum-Linked Assessment

In the discussion forums this week we learned about the use of screening assessments as a tool to indicate a potential concern about a child's learning and development.

After administering screening assessments, a typical next step is to evaluate any areas of concern that were indicated on the screener. One way in which this is accomplished is through creating learning activities and curriculum linked assessments.

"If every intentional activity that goes on in education is part of the curriculum, then these activities should be assessed to determine if children are making progress in the curriculum" (text, section 7.1) Doing this allows for opportunities to assess and evaluate the child's performance to see where his/her true areas of need are and to determine what further steps might need to be taken.

Your assignment this week will give you the opportunity to put the process we just discussed into action. There are four steps to your assignment.

Step 1 : Choose one child from the example document, "Developmental Checklist Birth to FivePreview the document." After choosing a child, write an analysis of the child. Your analysis should include the following:

Which checklist you are using

The age of the child

The information that you have learned from the checklist about the child's strengths and developmental concerns you would have about this child that includes at least three different developmental areas from the checklist.

Step 2 : Create a learning objective from the child. Using this child and the domain of your choice from The Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework domains, choose a learning standard that relates to an area of need for the child you choose based on their checklist. Create a clear learning objective that aligns with this standard, which you can use to measure the child's performance on the assessment you will create in Step 3.

For example, if the screener indicated that the child struggles with identifying shapes, you would choose to focus on a shape skill from the Mathematics Knowledge and Skills Domain. Your objective might be the child will be able to identify shapes correctly at least 80% of the time.

Another example would be if the screener indicates that the child struggles to cooperate with others, you would choose a cooperation skill from the Social and Emotional Development Domain. Your objective for this might be the child will be cooperating when playing with a partner at least 90% of the time.

If you need assistance with how to create effective learning objectives, please view the Objectives section of the ECE/CD Lesson Planning Handbook that is available with your Constellation materials for the course or review section 7.1 of the course text. In your assignment include the following:

The learning standard you chose from the The Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework

A clear and measurable learning objective

A rationale that explains why you developed the learning objective you did and how it aligns with your learning standard. Make sure to include evidence from the checklist to support your choice.

Step 3 : Develop a curriculum linked developmentally appropriate assessment that assesses your learning objective. You will find helpful guidelines for creating your assessment in Chapter 7 of the text.

Also, remember as is stated in section 7.3 of your text, not all assessments are paper and pencil tests so feel free to be creative with your assessment. For example, if you are creating an assessment on shapes you might have the children draw the names of the shapes you say, identify examples of the shapes in the room, or match a picture of the shape to its name. In your assignment include the following:

An example of or a detailed description of your assessment, along with specifically how you will document the child's progress. For a more detailed explanation, please review the week three guidance.

Step 4 : Provide a rationale for your curriculum linked assessment. In your rationale, including the following:

Explain how you your curriculum linked assessment aligns with the guidelines for teacher developed assessments shared in section 7.3 of the course text.

Discuss how the level of learning in your objective matches the level of learning on the assessment

Explain how you will use the results from this assessment to differentiate, accommodate or modify, instruction and intervention. Utilize information from section 7.1- Curriculum Linked to Individual Learning from your course text to support your explanation.