Progress Monitoring in Early Childhood: Generating a Discussion

Progress Monitoring in Progress Monitoring in Early Childhood: Early Childhood:

Generating a DiscussionGenerating a Discussion

Progress Monitoring in Progress Monitoring in Early Childhood: Early Childhood:

Generating a DiscussionGenerating 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 Monitoring Progress or Implementing Progress Implementing Progress

Monitoring: Monitoring: What Do We Mean?What Do We Mean?

Kathy HebbelerKathy HebbelerEarly Childhood Outcomes CenterEarly Childhood Outcomes Center

at SRI Internationalat SRI International

Early Childhood Outcomes CenterEarly Childhood Outcomes Center 3

Or Or

What happens when a general early childhood

perspective on assessment meets a special education

perspective on assessment?


Will it be this?Will it be this?


Or this?Or this?


Mark Wolery, Mark Wolery, Monitoring Children’s Monitoring Children’s Progress and Intervention ImplementationProgress 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


Neisworth & Bagnato, DEC Neisworth & Bagnato, DEC Recommended Practices: Assessment 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.”


Historical context: Times are changingHistorical context: Times are changing

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


National Association for the Education of National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)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.”


Council of Chief State School OfficersCouncil 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.”


Naming ongoing assessment in ECNaming ongoing assessment in EC

Curriculum-based assessment Curriculum-embedded assessment Criterion-referenced assessment Instructional assessment Formative assessment


Historical context: Times are changingHistorical context: Times are changing

Response to Intervention (RTI) Much attention in K-3 (or higher) Involves a particular type of

assessment (GOM) or (CBM) Models to apply principles to programs

for younger children development


What kind of assessment is going on in What kind of assessment is going on in EC programs across the country?EC programs across the country?

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.


What kind of assessment is going on in What kind of assessment is going on in EC programs across the country?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.


What comes next for ongoing assessment in early childhood?


Common GroundCommon 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


Choices for Teachers and AdministratorsChoices 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)


Features: General Outcome MeasuresFeatures: General Outcome Measures

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


Features: Curriculum-basedFeatures: Curriculum-based

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”


Unanswered questionsUnanswered questions

Can a curriculum-based tool provide enough information to identify children in need of additional help?

Will a GOM tool and a curriculum-based tool identify the same children?


Unanswered questions (Cont’d)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?


The time and skill issue for ECThe 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


Mark Wolery, Mark Wolery, Monitoring Children’s Monitoring Children’s Progress and Intervention ImplementationProgress 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


Can there be TWO kinds of progress monitoring in early

childhood?

Progress Monitoring in Early Childhood: Generating a Discussion

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