How infants and young children are assessed

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NAEYC Assessment Reflection

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NAEYC Assessment Reflection

What is the purpose of assessment?

After reading the chapter and the NAEYC, it is clear that educators need to assess the learners to gather relevant information about student performance or progress or to understand student interests to make verdicts about their learning process. The NAEYC requires that school children undergo regular assessments to understand their learning needs (Naeyc.org, 2003). According to the NAEYC’s position statement on assessment, it is clear that learners are assessed to help the educators make relevant decisions on teaching and learning, to help stakeholders improve the developmental and educational interventions of learners through the program, and to highlight imperative issues that require focused interventions for each child (Newby, 2014). Based on the information I have gathered so far from the chapter and the NAEYC position statement, an assessment is done to identify unique characteristics exhibited by different children so that a plan can be implemented to cater to their unique characteristics and achieve developmental and educational goals.

Why are very young children measured in infancy and the preschool years?

From the NAEYC position statement and the chapter, it is clear that children are assessed at different stages of development for different purposes. In infancy, children are measured to determine or identify congenital disabilities or developmental issues that the children may be experiencing, such as development in motor skills, language, social development, and cognitive development, among others (Naeyc.org, 2003). At the preschool, children are measured for placement. The results of the measurements are used to determine whether to place the child in an infant or early childhood program or to provide them with special services based on their needs. Measurement is also done for program planning (Newby, 2014). I realized that the results of the measurements are used to plan for programs that will cater to their learning and development needs.

Why is research conducted on the development of very young children? How is such research used?

I realized that research is very important in child development interventions. From the development of language, cognition, and social development, among other aspects of early childhood, research helps provide consistent findings that inform stakeholders of what happens in a child’s earliest years regarding health, growth, and learning capabilities. I noted that through studying children, educators, parents, and policymakers could also understand environmental factors that affect how a child grows physically, educationally, emotionally, and psychologically (Newby, 2014). For instance, parental attitudes to education can impact a child’s educational performance. The results are also used to plan for the learning programs, understand the needs of the children to develop effectively, plan for their health, and for policy-making to ensure children’s legislations are evidence-based. I realized that parents could use the research results to implement parental support and educational plans based on their children’s learning and developmental needs (Naeyc.org, 2003). Research is mostly done to improve children’s social support and improve the emotional outcomes of the children.

What questions or puzzles do you have about this topic?

Although the puzzles of questions I have maybe early for me to be concerned with, I need help understanding the best modalities for conducting research on children and assessing young children. Similarly, research ethics requires participants to consent and eliminate biases while researching human participants. When I think about the requirements, the question that comes to my mind is how research achieves the two requirements.

References

Naeyc.org. (2003). NAEYC Position Statement. Retrieved August 28, 2023, from
https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/pscape.pdf

Newby, P. (2014). Research methods for education. Routledge.