BFEA2033

Educational Assessment
WEEK 2
 Selecting an Appropriate
Infant-Toddler Assessment.
How we collect information?
• Three main aspects:
1) The source of information
2) The method of obtaining information
3) The context, setting or situation for the appraisal
1) The source of information
It refers to “who” or “what” of …
• The child: observe->analyze->talk with->listen
• Parents, specialists, classroom assistants, adults
• Written records from other teachers, specialists, or any other source
The child as a source of information

Advantages
• Most direct, authentic source of information
• Builds relationship and communication if observe direct/interact with
the child
• Self reports disclose information difficult to obtain in another way
(what the child think & feel, attitudes, disposition (temper, character)
The child as a source of information
Disadvantages
• Trouble to express or demonstrate some behavior e.g. internal mental
processes
• Some behavior cannot be observed at school (relationship with
grandparents)

Recommendation:
a)Make sure the child feels at ease
b)Provide opportunities for self-reporting
The parents & other adults as a source of information

Advantages
• Give insights about child behavior outside the classroom
• Can provide information about home/school and cultural differences
• Add to knowledge about a child
parent: child behavior from birth to the present
other adults like specialist: deeper knowledge (expertise /
professional skills) ~ provide teacher’s understanding of a child
The parents & other adults as a source of
information
Disadvantages
• Biases – affect teacher’s perceptions of a child
• Misunderstood the reason of the assessment; may place pressure on the
child
• Time consuming; so use for specific cases

Recommendation:
a)Keep information confidentially
b)No gossiping/labeling the child/exchanging opinions
c)Sharing info between teachers and other professionals as formal as
possible
written records as a source of information
Advantages
• Give teachers an additional points
• Help to know the child quickly
• Not forgotten
• Gives long-range perspective to child growth and learning
• Previous screening, diagnosis, achievement, and health tests will not
be repeated
written records as a source of information
Disadvantages
• Information can be old and inaccurate
• May vary in quality, amount and usefulness
• Teachers unfamiliar with testing terms and statistics will need help to interpret
test results

Recommendation:
a)Check the date and source of all written material
b)Consider written information given with your knowledge, experience and current
assessment
c)Seek help if not sure about the testing terms
d)Use information appropriately: no labeling, group…
 Informal methods of authentic
assessment or assessment tools
• Anecdotal Records
Anecdotal Records
Introduction
• An anecdote is a story.
• Give a brief written description of a child’s behavior at one time
(How, when and where); recorded after behavior occurs
• It is told in the past tense.
• Focus on one behaviour.
• Make sure to be close to the action.
• Sit where you can see and hear the children clearly.
• This will help with the accuracy of your recording.
Anecdotal Records
Purposes
• Provides insight into a particular behavior / to record a specific
behavior (only focus to one behavior or developmental aspect).
• Planning a specific individual teaching strateg,.
Anecdotal Records
Guidelines:
• Record only what is observed or heard (typical or unusual or related
to the chosen objective).
• A prompt, accurate, should deal with the facts; Contest: should
include the setting (e.g. where the behavior occurs)
• What was said and done (brief narrative word for word, action for
action – of exactly what a child is doing and saying)
• Do not interpret the child behavior (explain or analyse the behavior
such as Hannah very good in her fine motor skill).
• Do not judge (use adjective words such as she is very happy).
Information to be recorded.
• Facial expressions
• Interactions with materials
• Interactions with people
• Body movements
• Body language
• Spoken language
• Attention span
Anecdotal records
Advantages Disadvantages

Open-ended: anything & everything witnesses Depends too much on observer’s memory as it only
recorded after the event

Rich in details Depend on the observer’s interest, so may not able to

give a complete picture

No special training to record Difficult to code or analyze narrative record

The observer can look for and record the significant Incident may be taken out of context, so may interpret
behavior and can ignore the rest. wrongly or used in a biased manner
Sample of anecdotal records
Name of child: Christopher Age: 6 years old

Observer: Chen Lee Wan Date of observation: 15 January 2019

Location: ABC Preschool Classroom Time: 11.45am to 12pm

Objective:
To observe Christopher's sentence structure with peers.

Observation record:
Christopher played with the drama materials for 15 minutes, using the dress-ups and examining himself in the mirror. He walked over to the
home corner table and said to another boy, 'Hey give me that.' He took the spoon from the other student. I spoke to Christopher and asked
him to give the spoon back to the other student. He gave the spoon back and said, 'I like choc milk and a biscuit too!'
I asked the children to pack away. Another adult approached Christopher asking him to help pack away. Christopher replied to the adult, 'And
then can we go outside?' The adult replied 'Yes!' Christopher shouted 'Yay' and started packing away.

Analysis:
Christopher was able to use both simple and complex sentence structure. He demonstrated confidence in his interactions with his peers.
Christopher was able to engage in appropriate 'turn taking' during his brief conversation with an adult. According to the language milestone,
he was meet the 6 years old language development criteria (Wortham, 2018).
Exercise
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpu9sSVdqe0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42AfHO9F9Eg
Running record
Introduction:
• Focuses on a sequence of events, all relevant behavior, A to Z.
• Recorded while behavior is occurring.
• Objectively write down everything that occurs, includes all behavior.
• All records in present tense.
• In a similar way a running record records exactly what a child is doing and saying within a
particular time-frame, recorded over a period (few minutes to a few weeks etc).
• A very detailed description of behaviour or an event, which is recorded as it happens.
• It is a bit like doing live show reporter.
• Describes in detail what is exactly happening.
• Running records are used mainly to provide very objective information about a particular
situation.
• Running records are a useful tool and worth the time involved, especially when you are
specifically looking for a child’s skill acquisition, how a child initiates interactions with
others, or discussions the children have with each other.
Running record
Purposes:
• Helps obtain a more detailed insight into behavior over a period of
time.
• To discover causes and effects of behavior.
• For strategy planning.
Running record
Guidelines:
• Maintain objectivity
• Include more detailed narrative of a child’s behavior as possible
(behavior observed)
• Record only the facts that occur
• Record every detail without omitting anything
• Do not interpret
• Do not judge (use words that describe)
Running record:
Advantages Disadvantages

Open-ended: record everything he/she sees, not Time consuming, making it difficult for observer to
restricting to a particular kind of behavior find periods of uninterrupted time

Comprehensive/complete record: not limited to Difficult to use for more than one child at a time, it
particular incidents works best for individual observation

Written at the time of the incident, so it is more Take time to code and analyze
accurate

No special observation skills training It is difficult to record everything for any length of
time without missing important details.
Sample of running records
Name of child: Maya Age: 2 years old

Observer: Chen Lee Wan Date of observation: 15 January 2019

Location: ABC Nursery Time: 1pm – 1.02pm

Observation record:
Annette kneels down next to Maya and begins wiping her face with a wet cloth. As Annette starts to wipe Maya’s right hand, Maya grabs
the cloth with her left hand and yanks it away from Annette. Annette asks, “You wanna do it?” Maya starts wiping her mouth and tongue,
clutching the cloth tightly in both hands. Annette smiles, claps her hands together and exclaims, “OK! Good job!” Annette reaches out and
begins to lift Maya’s bib over her head. Maya transfers the wet cloth to her right hand, then, as the bib is lifted up and over her head, grabs
it with both hands again. She wipes the cloth across her cheek and mouth, then vigorously swipes at her tongue four times.

Analysis:
Lunch is over and Annette begins cleaning faces and hands. When she gets to Maya, Maya wrenches the cloth out of Annette's hands and
begins wiping her own face. With their growing sense of autonomy, toddlers are ready to take on all sorts of tasks all by themselves.
According to the Erikson’s stage theory, toddler is on autonomy vs shame stage (Berk, 2017). Therefore, Maya development is meeting the
criteria.

Maya able grab the cloth properly without dropping on the floor. She able manipulate the cloth from left hand to right hand. The fine
motor skill development of Maya is achieve the milestone proposed by Wortham (2018).
Information to be recorded.
• Facial expressions
• Interactions with materials
• Interactions with people
• Body movements
• Body language
• Spoken language
• Attention span
Exercise
• https://www.facebook.com/SonOfGodMovie/videos/2274387006169
316/
Checklists
Introduction:
• A list of behavior identifying children’s skill and knowledge.
• Recorded before, during, and after behavior occurs.
• Indicate the presence or absence of the behaviors.
• Useful when observing a particular skill or a certain aspect of a child’s
behaviour.
• In a checklist, children are ‘checked off’ against a list of skills or behaviours.
• Develop based on milestones or any relevant info, reliability and validity is
important.
• Checklists usually look at the skill level of a particular age group and
consider developmental norms.
Checklists
Purpose
• Enables teachers to observe and easily check off what children know
and are able to do (progress & development)
• To determine specific behavior
• Plan appropriate strategy to help
Checklists
Guideline:
• Make sure that the checklist includes behavior that are important for
the program and for learning (e.g. counts from 1 to 10, hops on one
foot etc).
• Tick for presence behavior.
• Cross for the behavior unable perform by the child.
• Adding a comments column to your checklist can assist in forming a
more rounded scenario.
• Put “NA” for the event didn’t happen in the observation series.
Checklist
Advantages Disadvantages

Observe more than one child at a time for many Closed, looking at particular behaviors and not
behaviors everything that occurs.

Useful for understanding an individual during a period For specific / fix behaviors only
of time

A good survey or inventory tool, easy, quick, and No information on quality of behavior
efficient to use.

Useful for several observers at once

No special training needed

Cont……
When developing checklists:
• Items should be short, descriptive, understandable.
• Objective and nonjudgmental (not “jump high” but “jumps over a 10
inch object”).
• Items should be positive and nature.
• Items should not be repeated elsewhere in the checklist.
• If the observer does not have opportunity to observe certain
behaviors, indicated by some symbol (e.g. N, meaning no opportunity
to observe).
Sample of checklist
Exercise
• Construct the checklist.
- 3 persons in one group.
- Find 3 milestones about 1 years old child’s gross motor skill
development.
- The setting to observe is outdoor playground.
- Select the items and write it on the paper.