A huge challenge in serving young children is collecting accurate and useful data about what they know and can do…often under tight timelines or when we have 100 other things to do.
Additional challenges come from recommended practices and research, which tells us to engage in authentic assessment practices.
Practices where we are a guide during children’s play, using the power of observation to learn about them.
How is this possible?
How is this doable for caseloads and classrooms that are too heavy, and assessments that have 100s of items?
One solution is to use what we call, assessment activity plans.
Whether you are a home visitor, itinerant teacher, or a center-based provider…assessment activity plans help you engage in authentic assessment. You can use assessment activity plans with individual or groups of children. You can use them in homes and/or community settings. And, you can use them with assessments like the Teaching Strategies GOLD or the Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System (AEPS).
Check out this recording where I share how I learned about assessment activities, and give you two practical ways to create and use them to overcome the assessment challenges you face.
Looking for more transformative professional development on authentic assessment or the AEPS?
Here are a few options…
- Contact me today to talk about solutions
- Read more about authentic assessment activity plans
- Watch authentic assessment in action
- Learn how to engage in authentic assessment (content starts at minute mark 1:25)
- Read about flipping assessment practices from standardized to personalized
- Check out these examples of assessment activity plans for the AEPS