“Fundamental cognitive, physical, emotional, and
social skills develop very quickly during a child’s first five years. A
preschool teacher, therefore, might be the most important teacher in a child’s
life.” Illinois State Board Of Education
A recent communication that I had regarding an issue
related to child development concerned observing children and using authentic assessment
to assess young children. In California we use the Desired Results system to
assess children twice a year. The teachers that I was talking to were questioning
if the DRDP was an authentic assessment or is it just a tool aimed at having
early childhood educator’s start teaching young children at an early age to get
prepared for state testing. I found this great link from the state of Illinois
about authentic assessment. I think everyone can benefit from reading this
article and it has great links.
Reference
