Transcript Part C and Preschool Child Outcome Indicators

Progress Monitoring in
Early Childhood:
Generating a Discussion
Judy Carta, Juniper Gardens, University of Kansas
Nan Vendegna, Colorado Results Matter
Kathy Hebbeler, ECO at SRI International
Moderator: Christy Kavulic, OSEP
OSEP Project Director’s Conference
Washington, DC, July 2008
Monitoring Progress or
Implementing Progress
Monitoring:
What Do We Mean?
Kathy Hebbeler
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
at SRI International
Or
What happens when a
general early childhood
perspective on assessment
meets a special education
perspective on assessment?
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
3
Will it be this?
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Or this?
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
5
Mark Wolery, Monitoring Children’s
Progress and Intervention Implementation
“Each interaction with children provides
opportunities to gather information for
making decisions about progress and
intervention programs….such
assessment is called monitoring.”
From McLean, Wolery & Bailey, 2004
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
6
Neisworth & Bagnato, DEC
Recommended Practices: Assessment
“Beyond the eligibility or gate-keeping
purpose, assessment also is critical for
program planning, monitoring
(formative) progress, and for program
(summative) evaluation.”
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Historical context: Times are changing
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General early childhood community has
gone from being negative about
assessment to embracing assessment –
the right kind of assessment
No: IQ tests, “readiness tests” that
exclude
Yes: Curriculum-based measures to
inform instruction
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC)
“High quality programs are informed
by ongoing systematic, formal, and
informal assessment approaches to
provide information on children’s
learning and development.”
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Council of Chief State School Officers
“Ongoing assessment through observation,
analysis of children’s work, and use of valid
and reliable instruments and processes
helps teachers to know how to plan the
learning environment and experiences. It
supports instructional planning for individual
children and for the group. It is key to
assuring successful early learners.”
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Naming ongoing assessment in EC
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Curriculum-based assessment
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Curriculum-embedded assessment
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Criterion-referenced assessment
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Instructional assessment
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Formative assessment
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Historical context: Times are changing

Response to Intervention (RTI)

Much attention in K-3 (or higher)

Involves a particular type of
assessment (GOM) or (CBM)
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Models to apply principles to programs
for younger children development
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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What kind of assessment is going on in
EC programs across the country?
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We don’t know
Probably many programs with no
ongoing assessment or poor assessment
Trend seems to be toward more and
more adoption of curriculum-based
assessments in regular EC (consistent
with NAEYC recs)
Head Start has been promoting ongoing
assessment. Creative Curriculum fairly
commonly used tool.
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
13
What kind of assessment is going on in
EC programs across the country?

Will see more assessment for
accountability

For OSEP reporting, EI and ECSE
programs are using a variety of
approaches to collect data on child
outcomes including curriculum-based
assessment.
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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What comes next for ongoing
assessment in early childhood?
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Common Ground

Importance of ongoing assessment

Developmental trajectories

Some children will not make progress

Important to identify those children

Important to adjust child’s program
(instruction/intervention) and monitor
success of the adjustment
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Choices for Teachers and Administrators

Curriculum-based assessment

Curriculum-based assessment plus
GOM(s) or CBM(s)

GOM(s) alone (poor choice)?

No ongoing assessment (poor
choice)
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Features: General Outcome Measures
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Quick
Easy to learn
Administered one-on-one
Intervention or instruction not linked to
tool
Better researched with regard to
trajectories, psychometric properties
Lends itself well to charting growth
Lends itself well to analysis
Central to RTI
Not as well known in EC
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Features: Curriculum-based
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Comprehensive
Takes time to learn and master
Time-consuming to complete assessment
Data collected as part of ongoing classroom
activities; integral to instruction
Helps teachers be better observers of children
Helps teachers know what to teach
Data do not lend themselves well to
aggregation
Not as psychometrically “developed”
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Unanswered questions

Can a curriculum-based tool provide
enough information to identify children
in need of additional help?
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Will a GOM tool and a curriculumbased tool identify the same children?
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Unanswered questions (Cont’d)

Can EC teachers and care providers,
many of whom have limited education,
be expected to learn and implement
both types of assessments?

How is an administrator or director
who learns about both to reconcile
these perspectives?
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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The time and skill issue for EC

“The most effective uses of CBM in the
formative evaluation of individual
student programs almost certainly
occur in setting where individual
(special) education teachers have the
time and skills to respond to the
charted progress of individual
students.”
Deno, 2003
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
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Mark Wolery, Monitoring Children’s
Progress and Intervention Implementation
“Each interaction with children provides
opportunities to gather information for
making decisions about progress and
intervention programs….such
assessment is called monitoring.”
From McLean, Wolery & Bailey, 2004
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
24
Can there be TWO kinds of
progress monitoring in early
childhood?
Early Childhood Outcomes Center
25