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Director, Southern Region Early Childhood Programs
Introduction to the Topic
The Illinois Early Learning Standards represent benchmarks for all children. To quote Barbara Bowman from the introduction to the standards document, "Standards are an essential first step for designing effective preschool curricula since they represent an agreed upon agenda for teaching and learning. The Illinois Early Learning Standards are excellent because they recognize the interconnectedness of emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development and learning - the whole child. Like all good standards, they should be used as the base for reflective teachers as they create learning experiences that build on what children already know and capture their interest in learning." Areas of learning included in the standards are Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Physical Development and Health, Fine Arts, Foreign Language, and Social/Emotional Development.
Created by the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Early Learning Standards were introduced in draft form in June of 2000. The standards were field tested throughout the State of Illinois in hundreds of early childhood programs, including Head Start, Pre-kindergarten, Community-Based Preschool, and Early Childhood Special Education. The standards were developed to offer common language across early childhood programs, to encourage developmental targets, to encourage developmentally appropriate practices, and to offer continuity with K to 12 learning standards.
Performance assessment is an approach to assessment that is being widely used in early childhood classrooms throughout the country. The process of performance assessment is curriculum embedded and takes into account the whole child. According to Sam Meisels, performance assessment puts "responsibility for monitoring what children are learning - and what teachers are teaching - in the hands of teachers, where it belongs" (Meisels, 1994).
Authentic performance assessment includes three components - developmental checklists, portfolios, and reports to parents. Developmental checklists help teachers and caregivers monitor the development of children in all areas of learning to support curriculum development. Portfolio collections, which include children's work samples, reflect the growth of children over time. Reports to parents reflect a narrative summary of each child's growth and performance. The developmental checklists and portfolios inform the reports to parents. These key components constitute a comprehensive system of performance assessment.
Resources on the Illinois Early Learning Standards
- Illinois Early Learning Standards
http://illinoisearlylearning.org/standards/index.htm
ERIC Digests
- The Portfolio and Its Use: Developmentally
Appropriate Assessment of Young Children
Appropriate assessment of young children should involve the children themselves, parents, and teachers. Portfolios in assessment can include work samples, records of various forms of systematic observation, and screening tests. Engel (1990) emphasizes that "work samples meet the need for accountability while recognizing and supporting individual progress."
http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/1992/grace92.html - A Developmental Approach to Assessment
of Young Children
The concept of developmental appropriateness can be extended to issues related to the assessment of children during the early years.
http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/1997/katz97.html
Internet resources
- Linking Standards and Engaged Learning
in the Early Years
This article recommends a decision-making process for documenting children's performance as it relates to standards in a way that is consistent with how young children demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v2n1/helm.html - Critical Issue: Assessing Young Children's
Progress Appropriately
Teachers and administrators recognize the problems unique to assessing young children. These arise from a combination of the developmental characteristics of young children and the kind of curriculum that is appropriate in early childhood programs. The purposes for assessment include: instructional planning and communicating with parents, identification of children with special needs, and program evaluation and accountability (Hills, 1992). Assessment procedures should frequently sample a broad range of their performance in many learning contexts.
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/earlycld/ea500.htm - Strategies for Collecting, Recording,
and Interpreting Assessment Information
This table associates purposes with both formal and informal
types of assessment.
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/earlycld/ea5lk14.htm - Handbook
of Kindergarten-Primary Assessment Tools: Consultation Draft
2000 | Chicago Public Schools
This handbook is an example of record-keeping for assessment in language and math skills for kindergarten through third grade.
http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments/KgPrimaryTools/kg-primarytools.html - Guidelines for the Development and Management
of Performance
Assessments.
Though not specifically for early childhood educators, this paper relates the process for the use of performance assessment.
http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=5&n=7
ERIC Database: Selected records
How to Obtain ERIC Documents and Journal Articles:
References identified with an ED (ERIC document)or EJ (ERIC journal) are cited in the ERIC database. ERIC Documents (citations identified by an ED number) may be available in full text from ERIC at no cost at the ERIC Web site: http://www.eric.ed.gov. Journal articles are available from the original journal, interlibrary loan services, or article reproduction clearinghouses.
If you would like to conduct your own free ERIC database searches via the Internet, go directly to http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=advanced
Search through December 2001: Selected records
Illinois Learning Standards- The Project Approach: Meeting the State Standards.
Author(s) Schuler, Dot
Source: Early Childhood Research & Practice, v2 n1 Spr 2000
This paper suggests that when engaged in project work, children apply most of the skills identified in the age-appropriate state learning standards. To illustrate how good-quality project work addresses the Illinois state learning standards, this paper describes a project conducted by a second-grade class on their community--Grafton, Illinois. The paper focuses on two children who, as part of the Grafton project, studied churches in the community. The paper describes the project's three phases and discusses how, through the process of investigating a topic of interest to them, representing their new knowledge, and sharing their work with others, the children applied the skills identified by the Illinois state learning standards as necessary for early elementary school students. Appended are selected Illinois Learning Standards for Early Elementary Grades, adopted July 1997 by the Illinois State Board of Education. - Illinois Learning Standards. First Edition.
Author Affiliation: Illinois State Board of Education, Springfield. (BBB17331)
Pages: 126
Publication Date: July 25, 1997
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.
The Illinois Learning Standards are required learning targets for Illinois students and schools. This guidebook includes the Illinois State Goals for Learning in seven learning areas (as updated from the 1985 Learning Goals), Learning Standards for each of the State Goals, and Learning Benchmarks that define progress at five developmental levels for each standard. The seven learning areas include English language arts, mathematics, science, social science, physical development and health, fine arts, and foreign languages (advisory standards). The guidebook also describes the historical and philosophical background of standards-based education and the standards-development process in Illinois. Appendices contain a glossary, a chart that compares the 1985 State Goals with the 1997 Learning Standards, and a list of participants in the standards-development process. (Contains 131 references.)
- Making Assessment Count...What Matters?
Author(s) Kagan, Sharon L.
Source: Young Children, v55 n2 p4-5 Mar 2000
Early childhood educators should take advantage of attention on assessment to design appropriate systems. Proper assessments should enable more reflective teaching, honor children's full range of development, and provide safeguards to children from unnecessary assessment or misuse of assessment data. Issues include what standards to measure, what type of assessments to develop, and why assessments should be utilized. (LBT) - Accountability Systems for Children between Birth and Age Eight. Technical Report #1.
Author(s) McConnell, Scott; McEvoy, Mary; Carta, Judith J.; Greenwood, Charles R.; Kaminski, Ruth; Good, Roland H., III; Shinn, Mark
Author Affiliation: Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis. Early Childhood Research Inst. on Measuring Growth and Development.(BBB36599)
Pages: 20
Publication Date: April 1998
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
Availability: Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development, University of Minnesota, 202 Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Dr., S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455. Tel: 612-624-8020; Fax: 612-625-2093; e-mail: pries005@umn.edu.
This technical report presents issues related to defining and applying accountability systems for young children, including those with disabilities. It notes that reaching shared perspectives on definitions of accountability systems and their constituents remains complicated by the number of levels to which such systems can apply (e.g., child-, family-, state-, or nation-focused) and multiple meanings stakeholders place on frequently used terms (e.g., "outcomes," "indicators," and "benchmarks"). The report addresses limitations imposed by four major issues: (1) the relative novelty of applying such systems to young children; (2) the emphasis on nomothetic and consensus-based approaches; (3) the still-growing state of knowledge on links between early functioning and later competency; and (4) the exclusion of children with disabilities. The report proposes a set of standards to guide development of accountability systems for young children focusing on children's growth and development, feasibility, application to multiple levels of analysis, and generation of important information to all stakeholders. These standards are the foundation of the Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development, a 5-year collaborative project to create a comprehensive assessment system, aggregate individualized data to describe group-level outcomes, and generate interventions. (Contains 43 references.) (DB) - Early Childhood Standards for Programs for Three- and Four-Year Olds.
Author Affiliation: Massachusetts State Dept. of Education, Malden. Early Learning Services. (BBB33468)
Pages: 30
Publication Date: January 1998
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC02 Plus Postage.
The Massachusetts Board of Education is required to establish standards for prekindergarten programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds in whole- or half-day programs. This document presents the standards to be used by programs receiving Chapter 188 Early Childhood funds. The program standards are intended to guide ongoing development, evaluation, and improvement of Chapter 188-funded early childhood programs. Following introductory remarks and definitions of relevant terms, the state standards are presented in 11 areas: (1) curriculum;… (KB) - Developmentally Appropriate Evaluation: Convincing Students and Teachers of the Importance of Observation as Appropriate Evaluation of Children.
Author(s) Martin, Sue
Pages: 9
Publication Date: April 1996
Notes: Paper presented at the Association for Childhood Education International Conference (Minneapolis, MN, April 10-13, 1996).
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
Developmentally appropriate evaluation (DAE) and developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) are clearly allied. The concept of DAP has expanded to include cultural, economic, ethnic, religious, and familial appropriateness. These same concepts are equally applicable to appropriate evaluation. Factors to consider for appropriate evaluation include: (1) the importance of naturalistic observation; (2) evaluation effectiveness; (3) the context of the child, including the child's social environment; (4) biological maturation; (5) measuring quality of care; (6) parents as partners, including improving parent-teacher communication; and (7) professional observation. Key components of DAE include: (1) objective recording of the child's behavior; (2) selection of appropriate methodologies for recording; (3) recognition of biases; (4) emphasis on process of individual development; (5) basing of evaluations on objective data; (6) validation of inferences drawn from observations; and (7) careful use of theoretic models. (Contains 13 references.) (BGC) - Matching State Goals to a Model of Outcomes and Indicators for Age 3. Technical Report 13.
Author(s) Seppanen, Patricia; And Others
Author Affiliation: National Center on Educational Outcomes, Minneapolis, MN.(BBB30055)
Pages: 37
Publication Date: August 1995
Notes: For related documents, see EC 304 858-862.
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC02 Plus Postage.
Availability: National Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota, 350 Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455 ($10).
A national survey of state-articulated student goals and outcomes led to the analysis of documents from four states for correspondence with the outcomes specified for age 3 in the conceptual model of the National Center on Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (NCEO). In the survey, 36 states (including the District of Columbia) provided information about outcomes-related goals. Analysis of submitted documents addressing learner goals, objectives or standards found only four states (Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, and Washington) that included documents which addressed the age 3 level. Overall, the study found a moderate correspondence at the domain and outcome levels but an apparent lack of correspondence at the indicator level though this may have been more due to the degree of specificity used by states than a lack of conceptual congruence with the NCEO model. Charts and graphs compare the congruence at the levels of domains, outcomes, and indicators for Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, and Washington. Reports of the document analysis done for each of these states are provided. (DB) - The Applicability of Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Children with Diverse Abilities.
Author(s) Johnson, James E.; Johnson, Karen McChesney
Source: Journal of Early Intervention, v18 n4 p343-46 Fall 1994
This response to a previous article comparing guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice in the fields of early childhood education and early intervention/special education stresses the importance of individualizing application of principles and the need to look beyond effectiveness and efficiency as dimensions for evaluating practice. (DB) - Developmentally Appropriate Practices: Shifting the Emphasis to Individual Appropriateness.
Author(s) Carta, Judith J.
Source: Journal of Early Intervention, v18 n4 p342-43 Fall 1994
This brief article responds to a previous article on guidelines developed by professional associations for developmentally appropriate early childhood special education practices. The importance of individualization in the application of practices is emphasized, and sample criteria are offered for evaluating the practices. (DB)
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