What is assessment and what are its characteristics? Assessment in educational settings is “the systematic collection, synthesis, and use of data to make educational decisions about a child or a group of children” (Stone-MacDonald et al., 2018, p. 2). This definition implies a process that includes collecting and interpreting information to plan and guide educational experiences for children. This definition is helpful because it identifies a few characteristics of assessment that are especially important in early childhood. Following is a list of these characteristics.

• Assessment is ongoing. Assessment is not a test that happens at a single point in time, providing one snapshot of a child’s development. Thus, test and assessment are not synonymous terms. A test can be a part of an assessment, but a single test differs from an assessment that is broader and lengthier than a single test.
• Assessment requires revisiting the collected information. The educator does not just collect numerous observations, never to return to them. Instead, the educator reviews the information gained through observation and other methods to create a summary or to synthesize an understanding of the child. The process of collecting information, reviewing it, and then using that synthesized result will be discussed later in the chapter.
• Assessment has a purpose. An educator uses the synthesized information to make decisions (for example, how to guide behavior, what curriculum to plan next, how to facilitate a child’s learning). Sometimes, those decisions are made long after the child has been observed, as in the case of planning future curricula. In other cases, the assessment may happen at the moment, as when the educator, while observing a child, chooses to insert themselves or some material or equipment into the child’s play for learning or development purposes. Nevertheless, whether one makes the decision immediately or in the future, assessment should always serve a specific purpose.

Gathering assessment information or data can happen in a few ways. In early childhood education, observation will be the primary method. Observation is a critical tool in the early childhood educator’s tool kit. However, the assessment may also include administering a standardized test (valid, reliable, and age-appropriate), interviewing an essential adult in a child’s life about their development or behavior, and collecting work samples of children’s writing, drawing, building, or language.

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Types of Assessment

Observation is an essential tool for assessing young children; however, there are other ways of classifying or organizing types of assessments. Being familiar with these types of assessments helps understand the assessment process.  Assessments can be classified into two major categories as either formative or summative.

pb_glossary id=686]Formative[/pb_glossary] assessment is carried out daily during the learning process and measures the child’s understanding as they engage in activities. Formative assessment helps the educator see how the child responds to the curriculum provided. Is the child grasping the experience, or must it be presented differently? Formative assessments can be informal or formal, but naturalistic observations carried out while teaching are the norm in early childhood education. These informal formative assessments are often called authentic assessments.

Formal assessment uses standardized tools designed to assess a specific skill or ability, often with a narrow focus. Because high-stakes decisions about education for individual children often come from results of formal, standardized tests, these tests must show evidence of high validity and reliability. For high validity and reliability, formal assessment tools must be specific and narrow regarding what is being assessed. They must also be consistent in their delivery and scoring. Formal assessment tools that measure child development are often norm-referenced, which means an individual child’s performance is compared to a large group of children of the same chronological age (Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 2008) . Formal assessment tools are often standardized. They are presented in a standard or consistent manner with the same tasks or expectations used for every child.

In contrast, informal assessment can be more flexible than standardized assessments. The educator can develop the informal assessment to address the children’s individual needs and the learning environment—a standard format or focus is not required. Because informal assessment tools can be more flexible and individualized, they are often called authentic assessments.

Authentic assessment tools are used in early childhood classrooms as part of the child’s everyday experience. As might be expected, observation naturally allows for authentic assessment as the child is unaware of being assessed, and the performance assessed occurs naturally. Thus, authentic assessment practices capture what the child does as a regular part of their classroom experience, not what a child does (or does not do) when using a more standardized assessment tool.

Summative assessment happens at the end of a learning period and evaluates the cumulative learning during that period. Summative assessment allows the educator to determine the child’s understanding after exposure to an idea or experience. Summative assessments may use a standard or benchmark for comparison.

In following unbiased and ethically sound observationand documentationpractices, the assessment will reflect a central focus on child development. In assessing a child’s growth and development, use various assessment tools to support developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive practices. Documenting what one observes in children’s daily activities provides an authentic assessmentof the child. This leads to assessment and should happen without unnecessarily disrupting the child’s natural learning environment.

In summary, assessmentis gathering information to make educational decisions about children and their instruction. Observation is one assessment component and is not interchangeable with assessment.

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