ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Margie Carter, writing in the book, Cultivating Curriculum in Early Childhood Organizations (part of the Art of Leadership series), describes an experience she had the summer she “participated in a gathering to hear about the New Zealand system of early childhood education and, in particular, their approach to assessment referred to as ‘Learning Stories.’ Chris Bayes captivated us when she suggested we consider thinking of assessment from the child’s point of view.

Drawing on the work of Podmore, May and Carr (2001), she gave us these possible questions in the voice of a child in our center:

• Do you appreciate and understand my interests and abilities and those of my family?
• Do you meet my daily needs with care and sensitive consideration? Can I trust you?
• Do you engage my mind, offer challenges, and extend my world? Do you let me fly?
• Do you invite me to communicate and respond to my own particular efforts? Do you hear me?
• Do you encourage and facilitate my endeavors to be part of a wider group? Is this place fair for us?”

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