Paper Example on Assessing Young Learners

Introduction

Nurturing young people in the learning environment is not an easy task to complete. This is the most important part of their lives in that it ensures that the development of the brain goes well and at the same time the students enjoy himself or herself. The progress of these learners ought to be monitored to ensure that they are getting the best out of their learning environment. This assessment gathers a lot of focus from various external bodies such as the media.

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In a quest to ensure these learners attain the best modes of gaining knowledge; their understanding, many articles talk about the issue and how well they can be improved. New York Times, for instance, has talked about the learning systems being adopted in various schools and how the funds are being used to ensure that the child benefits fully and how the impact of technology is affecting learning. The teacher magazine organizes online assessment test to monitor the progress of these young brains. Their main agenda is to firmly ensure proper learning of these learners and provide them with an appropriate or suitable learning environment.

Purpose and Uses of Observing and Assessing Young Learners

Assessing young learners' primary goal is to ensure that the learner is attaining the best possible education in a proper environment and has all the required materials to exercise their knowledge potential fully. Another factor to monitor the teachers and their ways of imparting knowledge on these young brains. The teachers play a crucial role in the brain growth of the learners and thus should always be in the near perfect shape to play exercise their duties well. Through assessment, the teacher can effectively conduct their duties well.

Assessment is also needed to help in making a decision that is aimed at improving learning. Determination of the students' capabilities is also put together to establish what is the best thing for a particular learner. A proper understanding of the learners' abilities is also helpful in guiding them based on their likes. Assessing the learning methodology being used helps in determining the tweaks that need to be done in the education system being used. Sometimes the ones in use are not fully exploiting the syllabus, and therefore newer methods can be put to use.

Reviewing these learners also enable the education to attain information that can be used to monitor which schools are doing well and even understand why the other ones are not performing well. They can also use the information to conduct policy reviews and also validate the budget analysis. Funds can be easily planned and accordingly. The assessment of young learners is also helpful in involving the communication of the teacher and the parents. Combined support from both the people in the lives of the young learner can help in determining how they can improve the modes of learning of the learner. Sometimes the young student can easily learn using the daily thing at home rather than at school. It is important to fully understand the flaws of the learner and formulate a plan to prioritize their development.

Ways in Which Children’s Development, Learning, and Behavior Can Be Assessed

Assessment of young learners can be achieved in various ways. However, there some factors that should be put into consideration. The whole procedure should not at any moment interfere with the daily functioning of the particular learners. They should also be able to have fun and at the same time not feel impeded by the whole procedure. All variables should be considered to ensure that they address everything they need for the assessment.

Young learners can be assessed in two manners mainly the informal assessment and the formal assessment. Informal assessment concerns mostly activities that are done without having to involve the child's contact; physical assessment is done without having to tap in the brain of the kid. Some modes of informal assessment include observation. This is done without necessarily having to intrude in the lives of the learners in question. The physical development of a child is done easily just by the use of the eye. The socio-emotional, intellectual and also the exact part are also noted. Children communicate through their bodies and the eyes (Covacevich, 2014).

Another method of child assessment is by the use of recorded data about the learners; collected over a period. This data is useful I determining the development of a child; whether there is progress or not. Integration of the parents and guardians in the whole process is also another method of conducting the assessment. These are the people who are with the children at home, and it is fair to consider that the kid is always more comfortable at home. Such an environment enables the kid to act out fully, this way the parents can quickly determine how far the learner's development has gone or in some instances has not even picked up.

Formal assessment is done mainly by the use of standardized tests that have to be administered according to the prescribed time limits, instructional scoring procedures and should follow the administration guidelines set up. Such analysis is usually done to assess the learners' performance, who are in a specific program. The tests are done to groups of young children to provide normative and scalable data and mostly mirror the classroom instructions. The system does not favor the younger children since they do not provide accurate and valid data.

Diagnostic assessments are done to identify the young learner's weaknesses and strengths so that correct remedies may be administered accordingly. These are results, however, do not directly reflect the academic outcome of the child. Developmental screening is a set of age-appropriate performance that focuses on the developmental criteria and is linked to ages that are typical for the behavior. The results are meant to determine the developmental delays that the child has and find ways of fixing them. They also help in revealing the subjects that the kid is ready to start and those that they are not ready for and also give guidance with concern to the whole learning system.

A portfolio involves the use of data that has been collected over time and are flexible in showing young learners dimensions. A portfolio is a collection of the young learners work over a certain timeframe. This particular method is useful when dealing with lower grade children. It focuses on the on the knowledge improvement and skills and also the strengths. The child can quickly determine what they are good at since it involves a wide range of questions. Digital portfolios enable young children to include wide ranges of materials and thus giving a better understanding of the child (Whitebread et al, 2009).

Methods to Ensure That Assessment and Observation Are Developmentally Appropriate and Adhere to the Ethics of the Profession

When setting up an assessment, various factor ought to be put into consideration for the primary purpose of obtaining correct information. The whole focus should be to ensure that the child can offer information without having to go out of their way. The educator should administer the test in a one on one setting to be able to fully identify the body language if the young learner during the test. Always keep the questions short to avoid straining the child, and it is essential to allow the learner to be tested by an administrator whom they know and feel secure around; preferably the teacher. This enables the young learner to respond freely and even feel safe. The test administrator, on the other hand, should act freely around the child and offer support wherever possible; not answering questions though. Medical personnel should always be readily available should some test; physical ones, take a toll on the child.

The learner's way of assessment should also focus on the questions being offered to the child should focus on the individual strengths of the child and also uniqueness. The questions also should cover all areas that reflect child development. Physical skills, language skills, mental strengths, and literacy levels should all be tested. It should also be in line with the curriculum being followed by the child for smooth response and better understanding. The whole process should also not stress the child in any manner and should focus on a wide range of assessment angles.

Methods to Accommodate Issues of Individuality and Differences in Culture, Ethnicity, Home Language, Age, and Socioeconomic Background

"True, all children need to experience their competence to build self-respect. But each child needs to feel that his person is cherished regardless of his competence," Dorothy Corkille Briggs. Diversity in the schools must also be addressed when determining the proper tool for assessing the young students. The model used should not infringe the religion, ethnic background or race. A proper understanding of the school to be assessed should be done to determine the type of students and then use the data to create a model that favors all. The language used can be altered to cater for those who do not share the language or have not fully grasped it. This allows the child not to feel out of place and enables data collection to be closer to perfect.

Guidelines for Reporting Assessment Information to a Primary Caregiver

The reporting methods that to be put to use should be in an easy language to give the caregiver a better understanding. The findings should depict the areas in which the child has not understood. Reporting methods include written reports, parent interviews conferences. A good report should also talk about the whole process of assessment.

A good assessment should be termed as being reliable and valid. Reliability means the assessment strategy should produce results that reflect similarities to the ones administered prior and also after this assessment. Validity, on the other hand, refers to the degree in which the assessment measures to what it claims to test and is determined by comparison and contrasting outcomes with another criterion (Guddemi et al, 2004).

References

Covacevich, C. (2014). How to select an instrument for assessing student learning. Inter-American Development Bank.

Guddemi, M., & Case, B. J. (2004). Assessing young children. Assessment report, PearsonEducation.(2016, Eylul19).

Measelle, J. R., Ablow, J. C., Cowan, P. A., & Cowan, C. P. (1998). Assessing young children's views of their academic, social, and emotional lives: An evaluation of the selfperception scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview. Child development, 69(6), 1556-1576.

Teale, W. H., Hiebert, E. H., & Chittenden, E. A. (1987). Assessing young children's literacy development. The Reading Teacher, 40(8), 772-777.

Whitebread, D., Coltman, P., Pasternak, D. P., Sangster, C., Grau, V., Bingham, S., ... & Demetriou, D. (2009). The development of two observational tools for assessing metacognition and self-regulated learning in young children. Metacognition and Learning, 4(1), 63-85.