When looking at assessing children I think we need to look at how developmentally appropriate and culturally appropriate the assessment is. When thinking about the assessments we need to ask ourselves does this assessment look at the "whole child" or is it just a part of the child.
From an administrative view I think that it is imporant for programs to have data so that programs can apply for funding (and additional funding) to support their programs.
I feel that if children are going to be assessed that they need to be assessed in all areas - social-emotional, physical - fine and gross motor, language, cognitive, literacy and mathematics. It is important that we understand how children are as a whole and not just a part of them.
In Alaska some of the pre kindergarten programs and grants have a lot of different assessments required for these programs. One of the school districts requires a pre and a post Early Screening Profile test, a pre and a post PPVT test and Teaching Strategies GOLD three times a year. That is A LOT of assessing/screening on three and four year old children. This same school district also does the same assessments on their kindergarten students.
I think that it is important for parents to understand what type of program they are enrolling their child into and that they understand they types of assessments that are being done on their children and that the information is shared with them.
I definitely agree that we need to get an all around picture of each individual child when performing an assessment. I myself am very familiar with Teaching Strategies GOLD which is part of my job responsibilities as an Early Childhood Educator. I think that we will start seeing a real change in our children if we gain and share the knowledge within the educational community.
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