Standards, Assessment, Standards, Assessment, and Curriculumand Curriculum

Standards, Assessment, Standards, Assessment, and Curriculumand Curriculum

Thursday, July 8, 2004Thursday, July 8, 2004

8:00 am – 1:00 pm8:00 am – 1:00 pm

Icebreaker• Get into groups of three• One of you represents standards• One represents assessment• The other represents curriculum• Describe the ideal relationship

that should exist between the three of you

Standards• The National Association for the

Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

• Position Statement• Your school’s standards for the

age group with which you work

My school’s standards• Alignment with

the NAEYC Position Statement

• Problems or areas that need improvement in order to better meet the principles outlined in the NAEYC Position Statement

Assessment• Write down your own definition of

“assessment” in relation to early childhood

• Compare your definition with the NAEYC definition

NAEYC defines assessment as:

The ongoing process of• observing• recording• documenting

the work children do and how they do it to provide a basis for a variety of educational decisions that affect the child

Assessment is integral to curriculum and

instructionIn EC programs, assessment provides a

basisfor1. Planning instruction and

communicating with parents2. Identifying children with special needs3. Evaluating programs and

demonstrating accountability

Standards and Assessment System

• Using either your school’s standards or another set of standards, fill in the activity sheet

• Target specific performance objectives

• Determine what collection method you will use to collect the recordings

Curriculum• Continuum…• How do you define “curriculum” in

early childhood?

NAEYC defines curriculum as

An organized framework that delineates

• The content children are to learn• The processes through which

children achieve the identified curricular goals

NAEYC definition cont’d • What teachers do to help children

achieve these goals• The context in which teaching and

learning occur

Traditional Curriculum• “Children are consumers of

curriculum.”

Deb Curtis and Marge CarterReflecting Children’s Lives

Child-Centered Curriculum

• “Children are inventors and creators of curriculum.”

Deb Curtis and Marge CarterReflecting Children’s Lives

Negotiated Curriculum• “The child originates and the

teacher frames.”

Forman & Fyfe (1998)Authentic Childhood: Exploring

Reggio Emilia in the Classroom

Case Studies• Read each case study as directed• Discuss with a partner the

questions at the end• Share your discussion with the

group

The Learning Cycle: The Quest for

Knowledge• Awareness: recognition that develops

from experience• Exploration: construction of meaning

through sensory experiences• Inquiry: comparison of constructions

within context of culture• Utilization: Understandings can be

applied and used in new situations

Early Literacy• Confusabet Alphabet• Four Components of Literacy

ListeningSpeakingReadingWriting

Listening

Teachers must monitorchildren’s receptive

language

Hearing and listeningare different!

Listening is a valuableacademic and

social skill

Listening can be learned

Teachers shoulduse songs, chants,poems, and rhymes

to promotephonemic awareness

Teachers shoulduse descriptivelanguage and

information talkto increase children’s vocabulary

Adults must modellistening

© Linda Ruhmann, Child Development Department, San Antonio College

Speaking

Speech shouldbe included in daily

routines

Speaking well isa valuable

academic andsocial skill

Adults should modelappropriate speech

Sociodramaticplay encourages

speech

Adults should create aclimate in which

children are comfortablespeaking

In order to learn tospeak well, children

must have manyopportunities to speak

Using a varietyof questions

encourages speech

© Linda Ruhmann, Child Development Department, San Antonio College

Reading

Children must perceivereading as:FunctionalPurposefulMeaningful

Teachers must help children tobecome hooked on books

through book-rich environmentsand motivating read-alouds

Teachers must usea variety of strategies

to promotereading comprehension

Teachers provideChildren with Individualized

Information on decoding

Teachers mustpurposefully expand

children’s knowledge about

print

© Linda Ruhmann, Child Development Department, San Antonio College

Writing

Social and physicalenvironment

MaterialsTime

Space

Requires both physical andcognitive development

Spelling is a developmental

process

Composition is aprocess

Children's stages of writing are

similar to theirstages of drawing

Reading and writingare inter-related

ModelingEncouragement

Support

© Linda Ruhmann, Child Development Department, San Antonio College

Math Conceptsand Skills

One-to-OneCorrespondence

Number Senseand

Counting

Logic and Classifying

Comparing

ShapeSpatial Sense

Parts and Whole

Ordering, Seriationand Patterning

Measuring

The Basics of Science:The Processes of Inquiry

Observing Comparing

Classifying

Measuring

Communicating

Inferring

Predicting

Hypothesizing andControlling Variables:

Investigations