Including Parents in the Assessment Cycle
Authentic assessment is tied to children’s daily activities, supported by professional development, and is inclusive of families; it should be purposefully used to make sound decisions about teaching and learning, identify significant concerns that may require focused intervention for individual children, and help programs improve their educational and developmental interventions.
Involving families in early childhood programs is important to support positive development. Watch this short video about the importance of involving families in your child care program. Video must be watched entirely to progress through the course.
As you can see from the objectives, in this assessment training we will focus on obtaining and sharing information with parents.
Families should be involved in the assessment cycle, before, during, and after children attend a program.
Gathering information from families will allow teachers to learn more about a child’s strength’s and needs as well as what might work best for the family and child to help them succeed. Families who feel comfortable interacting with teachers are more likely to share when they have concerns and be more receptive to a teacher’s concerns.
References:
Colorado Department of Education. (2022, February 7). Results Matter video Library. Retrieved March 18, 2023 from https://www.cde.state.co.us/resultsmatter/rmvideoseries