(DOWNLOAD) "An Authentic Approach to Assessing Pre-Kindergarten Programs: Redefining Readiness." by Childhood Education " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: An Authentic Approach to Assessing Pre-Kindergarten Programs: Redefining Readiness.
- Author : Childhood Education
- Release Date : January 01, 2008
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 206 KB
Description
In the wake of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), academic achievement, including school readiness, has come to be redefined as children's ability to earn a passing score on required standardized tests. By relying on test results to tell us if children are ready for school, it is easy to explain achievement gaps and low test scores as being caused by poverty, family circumstances, or other outside factors. In short, families and children may be "blamed" for children not being ready for school. Several years ago, the state of South Carolina turned to experts in early childhood education to address the school readiness issue for its K-2 schools. Rather than asking, "Is this child ready for school?," the state created a program assessment system that reframed the question of school readiness by asking, "Is this school ready for all children?" This approach avoided on-demand tests, and focused instead on a school's ability to meet research-based criteria shown to enhance children's growth, development, and learning--that is, their chances for school success. As a result, the state's kindergarten and 1st-grade performance-based authentic assessment instrument, which is based on the Work Sampling System (Meisels, Jablon, Marsden, Dichtelmiller, & Dorfman, 2001), has been left intact and uncompromised.