NCEDL Spotlights
No. 3 September 1998
Assessing Readiness |
 |
| Excerpts from a paper presented during
a "Kindergarten Transitions" synthesis conference by the
National Center for Early Development & Learning (NCEDL) in early
1998 in Charlottesville, VA. Samuel J. Meisels of the University of
Michigan presented data and surveyed current literature for his paper,
"Assessing Readiness." His paper is expected to be part
of a book to be published later by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Inc. |
How should we define readiness?
Readiness is a process that occurs over time and in context. It
is not complete by the first day of kindergarten, nor is it something
that can be evaluated by a brief, simple test. It is much more than
a child's knowledge of a few skills that are displayed in the first
few weeks of kindergarten, or behavior patterns that are consistent
with those of compliant children who have unnaturally long attention
spans. Readiness is a context-dependent process that requires a
period of common schooling before it can be assessed meaningfully.
Pianta and Walsh (1996) say that children are ready for school
when, "for a period of several years, they have been exposed
to consistent, stable adults who are emotionally invested in them;
to a physical environment that is safe and predictable; to regular
routines and rhythms of activity; to competent peers, and to materials
that stimulate their explorations and enjoyment of the object world
and from which they derive a sense of mastery." |
The characteristics that equip children to be successful in school
are formed early in life. Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants,
Toddlers, and Families (1992) suggests that these characteristics
include confidence, curiosity, intentionality, self-control, relatedness,
and the capacity to communicate and be cooperative. These qualities
are consistent with an approach to rearing and caring for children
throughout their first years of life that reflect more than a preoccupation
with simply establishing a fund of general knowledge, the ability
to read or recite the alphabet, familiarity with shapes, numbers,
or colors, or the skills of hopping, balancing, or skipping. Such
skills and knowledge are very important for young children, but they
are largely made possible by the characteristics listed above. |
| Fundamental to the attainment of these
readiness skills is a sense of self that can only be developed
over time and in interaction with trustworthy and caring adults. |
|
Assessing a Child's Readiness for School
By defining readiness as a relational, interactional construct
that reflects a joint focus on the child's status and the characteristics
of the educational setting, three conditions become prominent for
assessing readiness. First, opportunities for interactions between
teachers and children must occur in classroom settings. Second,
these interactions must take place over time, rather than on a single
occasion. Third, assessments should not be used as blunt instruments,
in which one type of assessment is expected to perform the functions
of others.
Performance assessment is an approach to assessment that is consistent
with these conditions and that provides meaningful information about
children's learning and development at the outset of schooling.
Curriculum-embedded performance assessments assist teachers in helping
children reach their potential in early childhood and early elementary
classrooms (see Meisels, 1997). Performance assessments are founded
on the belief that learning and development can be assessed most
accurately over time and in interaction with materials, peers, and
other people. Teachers using performance assessments document children's
actual classroom experiences and evaluate children's achievements
in order to plan future educational interventions. |
The conception of readiness proposed here incorporates many of the
elements that contribute to a child's ability to learn, including
the setting, context, and the conditions under which the child acquires
skills and is encouraged to learn. Assessments of readiness must be
correspondingly broad, accounting for the context in which the child
learns, the opportunities the child has had to master information
and acquire skills, and the achievements the child demonstrates. All
children do not have equal access to experiences that enable them
to become successful learners before they enter school. Since most
young children respond quickly to positive changes in their environments,
assessments of readiness should occur once a child has entered a
school environment and begun to interact with teachers, materials,
and peers. These assessments should seek to take multiple factors
into account by systematically documenting the child's learning
over time and in context.
Four different measures of quality were gathered in each classroom
during children's next-to-last preschool year (3-year-old year),
including the classroom environment, teacher sensitivity, child-centeredness,
and teacher responsiveness. A second aspect of child care quality
was measured by teacher ratings of how close their relationship
was with each child. Child outcome measures were gathered in the
spring of each year, for the last two years in preschool and kindergarten.
Individual assessments of children's language, reading, and math
skills were conducted. Teachers rated children's classroom behavior,
including cognitive/attention skills, sociability, and problem behaviors.
In addition, parents provided demographic information, including
maternal education, ethnicity, and family income. |
Performance assessments
should…
- be integrative, bringing together various skills into visible
displays and demonstrations of behavior that occur during the
context of instruction. In this paradigm, we expect to see children
construct models, solve problems, and prepare reports that call
upon a range of skills, experiences, and knowledge.
- emphasize top-level competence. Performance assessments ask
children to show what they can do, and teachers are expected
to work with their students to help them achieve their best
possible work--work that reflects their special talents or interest.
- encourage meta-cognition and the capacity to articulate as
well as reflect on performance. Through performance assessments,
children evaluate their own work, and reflect on their own progress,
rather than being passive recipients of instruction or compliant
occupants of the classroom.
- be guided by developmental standards, embedded in the longitudinal
character of children's work and captured by the continuous
progress format of curriculum-embedded performance assessments.
The standards also emphasize the continuity of curricular development
between children at different ages, grades, and levels of functioning.
(see Calfee, 1992)
|
For more information
Meisels, S.J. (1997). Using work sampling in authentic performance
assessments. Educational Leadership, 54, 60-65.
Pianta, R.C. & Walsh, D.J. (1996). High-Risk children in
schools: Constructing sustaining relationships. New York: Routledge.
Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
. (1992). Heart Start: The emotional foundations of school readiness.
Washington, DC: author.
Calfee, R. (1992). Authentic assessment of reading and writing
in the elementary classroom. In M.J. Dreher & W. H. Slater (Eds.),
Elementary school literacy: Critical issues (pp. 211-226).
Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon. |
This CIERA report is part of the CIERRA Report Series (#3-002).
NCEDL is administratively housed at UNC-CH. This project is supported
under the Education Research and Development Centers Program, PR/award
number R307A60004, as administered by the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement, US Department of Education. Opinions expressed
in these reports do not necessarily represent the positions or policies
of the National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education,
the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, or the US Department
of Education. This may be reprinted; we ask that you give credit
to the author(s) and the National Center for Early Development &
Learning. |
Other articles in the Spotlights Series
include
For more information, or to request printed copies, contact
Lloyd Little
UNC-CH CB # 8185
Chapel Hill NC 27599-8185
919-966-0867
loyd_little@unc.edu |
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