Ongoing Assessment: Module 3 Strategies

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Ongoing Assessment Module 3 Strategies

• Developed by
• Mary McLean, Ph.D. Professor, Department of
  Exceptional Education
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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Strategies for Ongoing Assessment

• Observation
• Documentation

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Observational Strategies

• Portfolios/work samples
• Gathering information from families and other
  service or care providers

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Observational Strategies

• Observation of child behavior over time in
  typical routines and activities will yield the
  most authentic information for ongoing
  assessment..
• but also requires the most careful planning
  and implementation

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Suggestions for Systematic Observation

• Plan your observations in advance
• Be as objective as possible as you observe
• Observe both verbal and nonverbal behavior
• Refrain from interpretation or drawing
  conclusions while you are observing
• (McAfee Leong,2002)

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Planning Observations

• Identify the behaviors to be observed
• Identify the activities and routines where the
  behaviors are most likely to occur
• Identify any materials that need to be available
• Plan to observe in multiple contexts if needed

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Activity Protocols

• An activity protocol provides a list of skills
  likely to be observed in a particular activity or
  routine. This facilitates the process of
  observing more than one skill at a time as well
  as observing skills for more than one child at a
  time.

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Activity 3.1
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Documentation of Observations in Typical
Environments

• Recording descriptions of behavior
• Recording counts or tallies

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Recording Descriptions of Behavior

• Procedures which describe what happened
• Narratives or running records
• Anecdotal notes
• Jottings

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Methods for Organizing Observations

• Post-It Notes
• Mailing Labels
• Recipe Cards
• Notebooks
• Clipboards

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Set up a system for observation and documentation
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Recording Counts or Tallies

• Event sampling includes procedures which record
• The presence or absence of a behavior
• The frequency or number of times a behavior
  occurred
• The duration of the behavior

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Activity 3.2
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Portfolio Assessment

• A portfolio is an organized, purposeful
  compilation of evidence documenting a childs
  development and learning over time.
• (McAfee Leong, 2002)

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Portfolio Content

• Possible contents
• Anecdotal notes
• Childrens work samples
• Photos of childrens activities
• Audio or video recordings
• Transcripts of childrens language

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B. Strategies for Ongoing Assessment

• Gathering information from families and other
  Service Providers

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Develop a Plan to Guide Your Efforts

• Decide what information is important to ask for
• Make flexible plans which will accommodate the
  situations and preferences of individual families
• Remember that information from families is not
  right or wrong but it is one more valuable piece
  of the puzzle!

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Strategies for Gathering Information

• Utilize homevisits as a strategy to connect with
  families and observe the child in a natural
  environment.
• Send out periodic requests for information from
  families (describe specific skills to watch for
  at home.)
• Use assessment tools that have family report
  forms AEPS, HELP.
• Use existing informal communication mechanisms
  (traveling notebook, daily conversations, e-mail,
  telephone.)

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How to Include Information from Other Providers
Systematically

• Plan collaborative activities for observations
• Schedule periodic team meetings or staffings
• Take advantage of informal communication
  mechanisms

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Activity 3.3
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C. Using Ongoing Assessment to Inform
Instructional Planning
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Assessment is only helpful if used to inform
planning!!!
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Develop a plan for ensuring that assessment
information is informing instruction.
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Review of ongoing assessment information should
inform instructional planningwhich is then
implemented and assessed in a continuous cycle of
teaching and assessing.
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Wisconsin Model Early Learning StandardsTeaching
Cycle

• Ongoing Assessment
• Gathering information to determine what the child
  can do and what the child is ready to learn
• Data collection
• Data Analysis

• Planning and Curriculum Goals
• Deciding what should be done to promote
  development and what we want children to learn.
• Needs identification and prioritization
• Planning (strategy/indicators)

Implementation Providing meaningful, experiential
activities that support individual and group
goals guided by supportive interaction and
relationships
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Activity 3.4