THE ARTICLE’S SUMMARY
Early intervention, early childhood education, and early special education have received proliferation and have been supported by numerous research bodies. The bodies have provided support and funds to publicly (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006a). Although the successes experienced brought concerns that ECE programs were not adequate, it is believed that a maximized needs a rethought of the affair between intervention and assessment. An assessment is carried out to determine the effectiveness of the intervention.
Role of Assessment in ECE is to evaluate popular services thus enhancing service provision, quality, and utilization. About 42 states provide taxpayer funding ECE to the students who dully in huge risk. Also, tracking services quality, use and availability are associated with assessment.
First off, school districts, ECE programs, and teachers can be held accountable for providing proper intervention by assessments (Kagan, 2003; Rous, Lobianco, Moffett, & Lund,2005).Assessments also play another role within the ECE program of identifying children with the need for extraordinary intervention and educational services in critical issues thus having the impact on their abilities and developmental capabilities throughout the years they are in school. The participation of the children in ECE programs helps to anchor with assessment needs for ultimate intervention.
Assessments provide educators with intervention skills in making attributes to the youths. The curriculum maximizes learning in schools and even preschool therefore making children brighter not also considering their age, gender, and backgrounds. Modification of efforts and intervention takes the credit of early childhood assessment considering all the intended purposes in facilitating the child’s learning and development ability.
Assessment Methods used in ECE
Numerous methods are explained in layman’s language as standard testing, whereby work is rated and sampled. Then a review about the child’s high and low results follows. Teachers can alternatively rate the students by assigning rating tests and performance tests to measure their understanding and cognitive responses. For instance when the children can make up shapes and respond to specific verbal directions. The capability of solving problems can be assessed when a child scores in developmental domain fall to more standards deviations.
Standardized testing allows for comparison with some normative samples hence providing information on a particular child’s development. Therefore assessment is the gauge for the progression, but the disadvantages of it is that it undermines ways to intervene effectively (Bagnato, 2005; Macy et al., 2005; Neisworth &s Bagnato, 1992, 2004; Strand et al., in press).
When difficulty is experienced in the assessment process, a method called primary difficulty solution is employed whereby the design and expense are conducted a year thrice. With this method, a teacher can track the performance of a child in the three phases. The facts compound the difficulty that various theoretical standardized tests relate to the functionality of the child’s intervention.
The mastery of child can be assessed to an individual their familiarity stimulation without using the repeated direct performances that they undergo in the class assignments. The repeated execution enhance the child’s extended term memory hence the measurement of development growth. A formative assessment improves mastery skills of the child thus optimal intervention springs up out it. From this analogy, assessment is directly linked to intervention.
In a nutshell, assessment can be used to improve intervention in a great deal. I agree that in assessment measurements should be restricted to variables with a quick response. Also, assessment should always have the ability to instantaneous information and desired results at a time and all these crowns that early childhood assessment is vital in their development and over the response to matters in the future because they tend to grasp and apply the skills as adults.
References
United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.(2006a).Research and statistics: Head Start program fact sheet. Retrieved May 25, 2005, from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/research/2006.htm
Kagan, S. L. (2003). Children’s readiness for school: Issues in assessment.International Journal of Early Childhood, 35,114–120
Bagnato, S. J. (2005). The Authentic alternative for assessment in early intervention: An Emerging
evidence-based practice.Journal of Early Intervention,28,17–22
