Ece 203 - into to Curriculum & Instruction for the Early Childhood Classroom

Ongoing Assessment in developing Meaningful Curriculum

Marilyn Quintero

ECE203 Into to Curriculum & Instruction for the Early Childhood Classroom

Instructor: Susan Hoagland

March 7, 2011

Assessment in the early years is necessary to building a foundation to a solid curriculum. The stages of achievement can be followed and dealt with appropriately. Also, the style of assessment is based on how a teacher works best with the students. With these elements in place, a child is sure to succeed.

Child assessment brings value to a curriculum by researching a child's behavior and activity to establish their growth and ability. Through assessment one can also note if a child is learning at an appropriate pace, not only math and English but emotionally as well. The objectives to assessment are to keep track of how a child is progressing in a program. Keeping records is not only valuable to the teacher but to the student as well. A teacher will use the assessments and records to help a child in areas where it's needed and rewarded for his or her accomplishments. Also, the curriculum is important to a teacher's assessments, the information gathered in the assessments can be used to shape the curriculum. The curriculum will vary to some degree from teacher to teacher but would focus on the basic elements.

Assessing a child has many benefits and brings value to a teachers program. Young children do not understand what it means to be tested. "Instead, it is recommended that early educators use a combination of methods including observation, work sampling, and parent interviews in order to determine what a child can and cannot do." (Gronlund, G. 2006) Part of the assessing process, documenting is essential to keep good records. As you assess a child, by documenting you see how a child progresses or regresses when learning new things, children come and go from a program or things in the child's life changes. Through the documenting you can keep track of what triggers certain behaviors and also, you can see how quickly they learn certain subjects. Assessing and documenting are essential to a child's preschool program.

When preparing my curriculum I will leave room for appropriate changes. At times there maybe the need to adjust my plan for a particular child or group of children. In some cases not all children will progress at the same time, as an example, all the children may not learn an activity triggered towards sharing at the same speed, therefore, I would make an adjustment to my curriculum so the child who did not progress at the