Meeting a crucial need, this book provides clear recommendations for authentic developmental assessment of children from infancy to age 6, including those with developmental delays and disabilities. It describes principles and strategies for collecting information about children's everyday activities in the home, preschool, and community that serves as a valid basis for intervention planning and progress monitoring. Throughout, the book emphasizes the importance of enlisting parents as partners with practitioners and teachers in observation and team-based decision making. Special features of this well-organized, accessible volume include recommendations for developmentally appropriate assessment tools and "Best-Practice Guidepoints" in each chapter that distill key professional standards and practices.

The only book with professional ratings and reviews of 80 widely used assessment measures for children birth-8, the new edition of this popular reference helps you select high-quality assessment materials for your early childhood program.

This book examines, through case studies of elementary and secondary schools, how five schools have developed “authentic,” performance-based assessments of students’ learning, and how this work has interacted with and influenced the teaching and learning experiences students encounter in school. This important and timely book reveals the changing dynamics of classroom life as it moves from more traditional pedagogy to one that asks students to master intellectual and practical skills that are eminently transferable to “real-life” social settings and workplaces. “The issue of assessment comes first, but we see in the following case studies how it becomes powerfully enveloped in the processes of learning and teaching, of informing students, teachers, parents, and others of ‘how the children are doing.’ The portraits explicitly and implicitly suggest a deep, fair, and defensible way to answer the question ‘How’m I doing?’ in a manner that helps this child and eventually every child.” —From the Foreword by Theodore R. Sizer “Informative and thought provoking.” —American Journal of Education

The assessment of young children's development and learning has recently taken on new importance. Private and government organizations are developing programs to enhance the school readiness of all young children, especially children from economically disadvantaged homes and communities and children with special needs. Well-planned and effective assessment can inform teaching and program improvement, and contribute to better outcomes for children. This book affirms that assessments can make crucial contributions to the improvement of children's well-being, but only if they are well designed, implemented effectively, developed in the context of systematic planning, and are interpreted and used appropriately. Otherwise, assessment of children and programs can have negative consequences for both. The value of assessments therefore requires fundamental attention to their purpose and the design of the larger systems in which they are used. Early Childhood Assessment addresses these issues by identifying the important outcomes for children from birth to age 5 and the quality and purposes of different techniques and instruments for developmental assessments.

The debate surrounding testing and accountability in early childhood education continues, but one thing is universally agreed upon: effective observation and assessment of young children's learning are critical to supporting their development. Educators balance what they know about child development with observation and assessment approaches that both inform and improve the curriculum. This foundational resource for all educators of children from birth through third grade explores What observation and assessment are, why to use them, and how Ways to integrate documentation, observation, and assessment into the daily routine Practices that are culturally and linguistically responsive Ways to engage families in observation and assessment processes How to effectively share children's learning with families, administrators, and others Find inspiration to intentionally develop and implement meaningful, developmentally appropriate observation and assessment practices to build responsive, joyful classrooms.

The Handbook of Family Literacy, 2e, provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of family literacy of any available book. It documents the need for literacy education for children and parents, describes early literacy and math development within the home, analyses interventions in home and center settings, and examines the issues faced by fathers and women with low literacy skills. Cultural issues are examined especially those for Hispanic, African American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, and migrant populations. Noted experts throughout the United States, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa analyze the commonalities and differences of family literacy across cultures and families. Key features include the following. Comprehensive – Provides updated information on the relation between early childhood literacy development, parenting education, and intervention services. Research Focus – Provides an extensive review of experimental studies, including national reviews and meta-analyses on family literacy. Practice Focus – Provides a comprehensive treatment of family literacy interventions necessary for program developers, policy makers, and researchers. Diversity Focus – Provides detailed information on cultural and diversity issues for guiding interventions, policy, and research. International Focus – Provides an international perspective on family literacy services that informs program developers, researchers, and policy makers across countries. Evaluation Focus – Provides detailed guidelines for ensuring program quality and fidelity and a valuable new evaluation perspective based on implementation science. This book is essential reading for anyone – researchers, program developers, students, practitioners, and policy makers – who needs to be knowledgeable about intervention issues, family needs, program developments, and research outcomes in family literacy.

This book is not for the "tired and timid" but for those committed professionals who wish to think through a plan that is coherent, cohesive, learner- and family-focused, and work through the development of a defensible (reliable and valid) authentic assessment system. Discusses emerging research in the area of brain development research and its implication for assessment practices. Provides information on the "standards movement" and how these standards can have either a negative or positive impact on developmental goals. Adds a developmental continuum as an appendix to help teachers focus on emerging development rather than on perceived deficits in children. Provides an added chapter on portfolio systems. Places more emphasis on the discussions of diversity and inclusion. For educators and school administrators.