Ongoing Assessment in Developing Meaning Curriculum
Assessment is defined as “a systematic procedure for obtaining information for observation, interviews, portfolios, projects, tests, and other sources that can be used to make judgments about characteristics of children or programs.” (Gronlund, 2007) Basically, the objectives of an assessment are collection, evaluation and use of information to help teachers make better decisions in the education of their students. Furthermore, objectives of assessment with children in an Early Childhood Education program are that they guide the student to develop cognitive, language, social/emotional, and physical skills. Cognitive development consists of the “children’s thinking skills, including the development of logical and symbolic thinking, problem-solving skills, and approaches to learning.” (Dodge, Heroman, Charles & Maiorca, 2004) The language development involves the “children’s ability to communicate through words, both spoken and written, including listening and speaking, reading and writing skills.” (Dodge, Heroman, Charles & Maiorca, 2004) The social/emotional development centers on the “children’s feelings about themselves, the development of responsibility, and their ability to relate positively to others.” (Dodge, Heroman, Charles & Maiorca, 2004) Finally, physical development consists of the “children’s gross and fine motor skills.” (Dodge, Heroman, Charles & Maiorca, 2004) The values that assessments brings to the curriculum planning process is important because it allows teachers to easily identify what their student is capable of doing and what he/she already knows. Also reminding the educator that every child learns at different rates, not every child will be at the same pace at the same time. Therefore, this will allow the educators to properly and adequately write out their lesson plans accommodating to each and every student. The knowledge that we as educators will gain by using assessments in planning activities for an individual child