02/05/2009
How to Assess, and How Not To
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.
John F. Kennedy
Sam Meisels offered these tips in assessing children in the Head Start Bulletin (October 2000):
- Young children should never be challenged during assessments by being separated from their parents or familiar caregivers.
- An unfamiliar examiner should never assess young children.
- Assessments that are limited to areas that are easily measurable, such as certain motor or cognitive skills, should not be considered complete.
- Formal tests or tools should not be the cornerstone of an assessment of an infant or young child.
- Functional assessments focus on everyday, naturally occurring, practical behaviors and accomplishments that...
- Are easily recognized by parents and service providers,
- Are central to the emergence of infant and toddler competence,
- Form the fabric of the relationships between infants and their primary caregivers,
- Are learned and assessed in context, and
- Serve to elicit, support, and extend children's skills, abilities, and accomplishments.
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