DIRECTION: Course content is updated every three years. Due to this update time line some URL links my no longer be active or may have changed. Please type the title of the organization into the command line of any Internet browser search window and you will be able to find whether the URL link is still active or any new link to the corresponding organization's web home page.
Assessment & Curriculum for child from birth to age 8 (grade 3).Early Learning Standards Task Force and Kindergarten Assessment Work Group, Pennsylvania BUILD Initiative & Standards for Learning, Pennsylvania’s Departments of Education and Public Welfare Harrisburg, PA – December, 2005 This state has great resources on the web, which includes recommendation, definitions, curriculum, etc.
Best Practice Resources: This comprehensive resource for professional development offers access to information and resources in various educational areas. This site also allows you to do a keyword search for information that is linked to other Web pages.
Child Developmental Media. This site, which bills itself as “the world’s largest collection of videos, books and curricula for child development professionals and parents,” has many resources listed. Type in “preschool observation” when you go to:
Child outcome assessment tools for early childhood education, National Child Care Information Center, A service of the Child Care BureauThis is a wonderful and exhaustive resource with links to many states, organizations, assessment systems, and more, all cross-referenced in different categories.
Creative Curriculum Teaching Strategies, Inc. Offers training programs, parenting and staff resources, and curriculum and assessment tools. They produce curriculum and teaching guides for infants through schoolagers and for family child caregivers. Materials are developmentally appropriate, straightforward and easy to use. Available in Spanish and English. http://www.teachingstrategies.com
• The Creative Curriculum® Developmental Continuum Assessment Toolkit for Ages 3-5is a kit with forms to assess up to 25 children in programs that implement The Creative Curriculum®.
*The Creative Curriculum® for Infants, Toddlers & Twos Developmental Continuum Assessment Toolkit has 21 objectives and enough forms for 25 children, as well as step-by-step instructions.
The Devereux Earl Childhood Assessment Initiative (DECI). The organization promotes partnerships among early childhood educators, families, and others who work with young children to enhance social and emotional development. This site has many resources and offers training, information, and products, including research-based observational assessment kits for infants and toddlers, and for preschoolers.
Early Childhood News - An online resource for parents and teachers of infants to age eight. www.earlychildhoodnews.com.
The Early Childhood Education Assessment (ECEA) Consortium, Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) began in 2000 to guide policy makers on appropriate assessment systems in order to promote and ensure high-quality learning opportunities for young children. http://www.ccsso.org/Projects/scass/projects/early_childhood_education_assessment_consortium/
The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA Center) has a page dedicated to screening, evaluation, and assessment of young children. Myriad sources are available, including reports with recommended practices, policy briefs from federal agencies such as the Administration for Children and Families, research articles, and more.
Early Learning Foundation Stage: setting the standard for early learning and care from children from birth to five, Department for Children, School & Families, and the United Kingdom. This wonderfully comprehensive site is divided into four sections: 1) A unique child, 2) Positive relationships, 3) Enabling environments, and 4) Learning and development. Available at http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/eyfs/site/index.htm
Especially look at the section on Effective Practice: Observation, Assessment & Planning,
The Educational Resources Information Center: This is the home page for ERIC, a search engine connected to multiple sites on educational topics of all sorts. A great place to look for research articles or information.
Hebbler, K. (2004). Uses and Misuses of Data on Outcomes for Young Children with Disabilities: Draft (July 2004), the Early Childhood Outcomes Center, has tables of the ways data can be used at all levels—to determine outcomes for young children with disabilities. http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~eco/pdfs/ECO_Outcomes_Uses.pdf.
High Scope Educational Research Foundation. The High/Scope Child Observation Record (COR) ® (1992) The High/Scope Foundation. Their highly respected materials support active learning; they publish the Cognitively Oriented Preschool Curriculum as well as observation kits. http://www.highscope.org/index.asp
*The High/Scope COR for Ages 2½-6is an observational assessment tool that measures developmental progress over time in six areas: language, mathematics, initiative, social relations, creative representation, and music and movement. Also contains forms, instructions, and information on performance assessments.
http://www.highscope.org/index.asp
*The High/Scope COR for Infants and Toddlerslooks at children from birth to age 3 in everyday contexts in all developmental domains.
Making Learning Visible Project, a research group based at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focuses on how observation and documentation promote and make visible children’s learning. The site includes tools to help teachers understand different types of documentation and ways to develop and present meaningful documentation in and outside the classroom. Also included are protocols for documentation, including how to develop a question to guide documentation and ways to review and revise documentation throughout the process.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) NAEYC is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to improving the quality of care and education provided to our nation’s young children. They have many excellent publications on all aspects of early development and learning, including these assessment resources: www.naeyc.org
* Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation position statementswebpage, which offers the full NAEYC and NAECS/SDE joint position statement (including a glossary of assessment terms); the NAEYC supplement, “Screening and Assessment of Young English Language Learners” (in Spanish and English); and a Where We Stand Summary for each (the supplement’s summary in Spanish and English). The website provides the DEC companion paper, Promoting Positive Outcomes for Children With Disabilities: Recommendations for Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation, by the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
*“Spotlight on Assessment” (January 2004), in Young Children Vol. 59, No. 1, includes the following:
• Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation: Building an Effective, Accountable System in Programs for Children Birth through Age 8: Position Statement with Expanded Resources (November 2003)is based on the 2003 Joint Position Statement of NAEYC and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE). This resource has research-based recommendations for assessment policies and practices, including indicators of effectiveness, trends and issues, principles with rationale, and developmental charts. (see Position Statements)
*The Words We Use: A Glossary of Terms for Early Childhood Education Standards and Assessments. A list of the common vocabulary for observations and assessment.
*Quality Rating and Improvement Systems recommendations https://www.naeyc.org/policy/statetrends/qris
*Classroom observation assessment tool (2006) is the instrument used in NAEYC’s new accreditation system and covers infants-kindergartens.
*http://www.naeyc.org/selfstudy/pdf/Complete_Observation_Tool.pdf
NIEER (National Institute for Early Education Research) provides an informative page that includes the latest research findings, presentations, policy briefs, and reports focusing on the assessment of young children. The site includes a data bank with information on content standards for early education. www.nieer.org
The New Assessment: Early Childhood Resources, Center for Family and Community Partnerships, University of New Mexico and the Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, and Early Education Program for Children with Disabilities (EEPCD). http://www.newassessment.org/
The center concentrates on the development and assessment of infants and young children, and has information on key issues at
http://www.newassessment.org/Public/Assessments/default.cfm?CategoryID=18
New Child Care. This small site is from Britain; it has interesting graphics and good simple sections with photos on child development, observation skills for students, and developmental profiles.
The Office of Head Start’s website includes resources for educators and program administrators on ways to assess child outcomes, ongoing assessment, and screening. Materials include the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework and related FAQs; tip sheets focusing on various assessment topics, including the difference between screening and assessing of infants and toddlers; and more.
The Ounce Scale, Pearson Early Learning. This is an observational assessment instrument
for infants and toddlers from birth to age 3½. Three elements and six developmental areas are included: the elements are the observation scale; the family album; and the developmental profile. Guidelines and useful information are also provided for parents and professionals. Also available in Spanish.
The Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) is a systemic approach to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early and school-age care and education programs. http://www.qrisnetwork.org
Teaching Strategies GOLD™ is a tool selected by many states for measuring child outcomes because it meets federal data collection and reporting requirements, and is a research-driven, criterion-based tool that utilizes authentic assessment practices around 38 objectives. http://www.teachingstrategies.com
The Work Sampling System, Rebus, Inc. is an assessment system that measures and documents development and curriculum in preschool through 5th grade. This ongoing system focuses on performance assessment, including personal and social development, language and literacy, mathematical thinking, scientific thinking, social studies, the arts, and physical development. https://www.worksamplingonline.com
ZERO TO THREE/National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, is a national organization focused just on infants and toddlers. http://www.zerotothree.org They produce an information packet on developmental assessment for parents and professionals working with infants or toddlers; it is called New Visions for Parents (1996).