Which of the following would be most effectively documented by means of an anecdotal record?

Define: Observation in ECE

The foundational assessment skill, the one that all teachers practice.

Define: Documentation in ECE

The process of making a record with tangible evidence of work, learning, and activity collected by teachers.

Define: Assessment in ECE

standardized assessment, the measuring and quantifying children's development and learning using standardized instruments like tests.

• Collecting and recording the information
• Interpreting and evaluating the information
• Using the informaion

The two broad approaches to assessment are:

• Authentic (performance-based) assessment
• occurs in the ongoing life adn daily activities of the early childhood classroom
• Standardized (formal) assessment
• employs instruments (a test or other tool) that in some way measure children's development and learning

The ultimate goal of assessment is:

To better understand and thus better serve children

What is assessment used for?

• To understand
• To guide your decision making
• To make a plan
• To identify
• To report
• To evaluate

Define: Formative Assessment

Assessment carried out while you are teaching, to inform and improve instruction

Define: Summative assessment

Assessment that is designed to evaluate a child's acquisition of knowledge or skills after teaching is completed

Define: Authentic Assessment

• genuine
• is the evaluation of a child's development or performance in the context of everyday life.
• In a natural or authentic approach, the teacher observes and documents real-life examples in which skills and knowledge are demonstrated in tasks that are meaningful to the child.
• Is an ongoing process collected through out the day

Multiple kinds of information included in authentic assessment include:

• Teacher's observations of children engaged in meaningful activities, including:
• self-selected play, teacher-directed activities, routines, and transitions
• Photographs, videotapes and audio recordings, interviews with children and family members, and examples of children's work, called work samples

Examples of children's work in authentic assessment that can provide authentic evidence of a child's understanding and ability.

• The skill of observation is used to understand children's development and make theory come alive.
• You observe teachers, learning environments, and activities to learn about teaching strategies and how these work (or do not work) in the real world.
• One of an early childhood teacher's most important tasks
• The ability to observe - to "read" and understand children - is one of the most important and satisfying skills that you can develop.

What You Gain from Observation:

• Increased sensitivity to children in general - awareness of the range of development and a heightened awareness of the unique qualities of childhood and the world of children to give you greater understanding of and empathy for children
• In-depth understanding of individual children - how they think, feel, and view the world, and their interests, skills, characteristic responses, and areas of strength and weakness - to use in planning curriculum that meets the child's needs and in communicating the child's progress to others

• Understanding of social relationships - among children and between childrena dn adults - to better enable you to better facilitate relationships in the classroom
• Awareness of the way the environment is used by children, families, and staff so that you can improve it
• Increased ability to share meaningful aspects of children's development and the ability to make visible the power of children's learning to help you to be a better advocate for children

Define: child-sense in observation

A feeling for how individual children and groups of children are feeling and functioning.

• developed with consistent practice of observation - a deep understanding based on a great deal of experience in observing individuals and groups of children over time

The three parts of observation - to aid more objective observations and separate out feelings or reactions for what is actually seen:

• Observing: Purposefully gathering information
• Recording: Documenting what you have observed in a variety of ways
• Interpreting: Reflecting on what your observations might mean

Define: kidwatching or childwatching

To experience as completely as possible; involves focusing on watching and listening while quieting the inner voice that adds a running commentary of explanation and evaluations

Define: Observation
(3 steps of observation)

• The ability to wait to see and hear what is really happening instead of hurriedly drawing conclusions. Suspend expectations, judgments, biases, defenses, preconceptions.
  
• Be aware of characteristics and record specific details accurately
  

Define: Recording
(3 steps of observation)

• Not relying on memory
• Record to remember, share, and make sense of what we have observed
• Compile and organize
• Use the information to improve teaching

3 ways to record what you have observed:

• Narrative Observation Records
• open-ended written documents, rich in detail that require skill in writing
• Structured Observation Records
• close-ended documents tally if, how frequently, or how long specified behaviors occur to help understand patterns: little to no writing
• Electronic Observation Records
• visual or audio documentation which require equipment, technical skill, and time to put together.

Define: Interpreting
(3 ways of observation)

• alt: conclusions, inferences, comments
• Interpret what is not visible; the reasons for behavior that can only be inferred.
• Seek the relationship between the child's behavior that you have observed and it's unobservable cause
• Consider factors, such as: stage of development, health, culture, and individual experience

Describe: narrative observations

Written observations tell a story. It begins with a setting (where and when the observation occurs), it has characters (a child or children and the adults and materials with whom they interact), and it has actions (the child's activities and interactions).

• ECE professionals use this skill to communicate with parents and other professionals
• Can be hard to clearly separate what you observed (objective description) with what you think about it (subjective interpretation).

Example: Subjective narrative observation

Sasha is a cute little girl with beautiful curly hair. She is happy because she is in the sandbox. Sasha is making birthday cakes. She sings "Happy Birthday". She wishes it was her birthday. Carson gets mad, he walks up to Sasha and says, "Hey it's not your birthday! It's my birthday!" He scares Sasha and kicks over her birthday cake. Sasha gets mad back and throws some sand at Carson. Carson and Sasha don't know how to be nice to one another

Example: Ineffective Narrative Observation lacking in detail

Sasha is playing in the sandbox. Carson walks up and yells at her. Sasha throws sand at him. Carson and Sasha cry.

Example: Objective Narrative Observation

Sasha sits in the sandbox playing with a bucket and shovel. She slowly fills the bucket with sand. After each scoop she peers into the bucket and pats the sand. When the bucket is filled to the brim she pats the top several times. She looks at the ground and picks up three small sticks that she pokes into the top of the bucket of sand. She sings, "Happy Birthday to Sasha." S. looks around the sandbox and smiles a wide smile. Carson, a classmate who turned 4 today, stomps up and says, "Hey it's not your birthday! It's my birthday!" He kicks over the bucket. S.'s eyes widen and fill with tears. She picks up a handful of sand and throws it at C. C. yells, "Teacher!" He and S. both burst into tears

Define: Running Records
(alt: specimen record)

• Written while you are watching
• They are open-ended and detailed narrative accounts of behavior and events
• Observes a particular child engaged in a particular activity at a particular time
• Observe and write down everything that the child says and does for the time you are observing.
• Rarely used by practitioners who are "on the floor" and responsible for a group of children

Define: Anecdotal Records

• An open-ended, detailed narrative describing incidents, behaviors, and interactions
• Brief, and describes a single incident
• Written after the fact; after you notice something worthy of noticing.
• Has a focus, is dated, includes the name of the child and the observer, includes some context (place/time)
• Should be objective

Ways to conveniently make anecdotal Record writing a part of every day:

• Clipboards posted through out the classroom
• Notebooks for each child
• Classroom laptop
• Self-stick labels, index cards, or notebooks
• Digital voice recorders
• Handheld computers

Golden Rules for writing Anecdotal Records:

1. Write after you observe a typical behavior or interaction
2. Write after you observe a new behavior or interaction
3. Write after you observe an unusual behavior or interaction
4. Describe what happened. Include only what you saw, heard, or otherwise experienced through your senses. Avoid generalizations (always, usually, never)

(cont.) Golden Rules for Writing Anecdotal Records:

5.) Omit the words I and me unless the child spoke those words (remember that the observation is about the child, not you).
6.) Refrain from saying why you think the child behaved or interacted in this way.
7.) Exclude your opinions of the child, the behavior, or interaction (remember, its not about you)
8.) Leave out your feelings about what happened

(cont.2) Golden Rules of Writing Anecdotal Records:

9.) Write a separate comment that explains why you thought this behavior or interaction was important to record and what you think it might mean in terms of this child's development and program goals for children 10.) Keep anecdotal records

• Form the basis of the child portfolio
• improves the quality of the educational experience you provide for children
• help you to understand and be more responsive to individuals
• Most useful kind of observation to guide you in planning curriculum and assessing that curriculum's ability to meet needs of the child

Define: Structured Observations

• Can reveal trends and patterns in behavior
• Designed well, they increase your objectivity and can correct for misperceptions or biases
• Ex:
• Time samples, event samples, checklists, rating scales, rubrics, and interviews

Define: Time Samples
(alt: frequency count)

A method for tracking behaviors that occur at regular intervals and in rapid succession

• A system for collecting information on a predefined behavior or set of behaviors displayed by an individual or group; not a record of everything that happens
• Uses a grid on which you tally the occurrence of particular behavior(s) during a short period of time
• Ex: "√"could stand for a positive interaction, and "x"could stand for a negative interaction

• used to help you understand more about a behavior
• watch a particular behavior or interaction and then record shat preceded the event (called the consequence)
• Made while it is occurring or immediately after
• Purpose to collect information about the relationship between the behavior and the context of the behavior so that you can understand the cause and possibly devise a way to alter the course of events

Describe: Checklists, Rating Scales, and Rubrics

• Checklists = list of traits, behaviors, concepts, and skills on which an observer puts dates or checkmarks next to each item to indicate if or when it is observed.
• simple way to record the skills and knowledge chidlren demonstrate in the classroom
• Rating Scales = Only significant difference from the checklist is a mechanism for indicating the degree to which a behavior or characteristic is present
• Rubrics = provides a way to indicate the characteristics of a skill and the extent to which it has been demonstrated
• differs from rating scales in that very specific criteria for different levels are included within the rubric.

Describe: Interviews

• Informal
• Formal

• Informal: conversations with children often provide you with insight into their ideas and learning which can be documented in anecdotal records
• Formal: selects a focus (math, concepts, feelings about friends, language development) then plans a series of questions that ask them of all the children
• Allows you to compare the children's various responses and better understand how different children understand a concept.

Electronic Observation Records:

• Photographs
• annotated photographs - a photograph accompanied by an anecdotal record
• Video and Audio Records

Define & Describe: Work Samples

• Children's drawings, paintings, cutting, writing, journals, dictated stories, maps, computer work, word banks, and so forth
  
• Serve as a powerful form of authentic assessment
• Provide tangible evidence of a child's learning.

Selecting An Observation Method:

• In order to create a vivid record of a child's activity, use running record; videotape
• In order to record a behavior or interaction or the achievement of a milestone, use Anecdotal Record; Annotated Photograph
• In order to ascertain how often a type of behavior occurs, use Time Sample
• In order to understand why or when a particular behavior occurs, use Event Sample
• In order to Gather information about children's play preferences, individual progress, how materials and equipment are being used, use Checklist
• In order to evaluate the extent to which a child has reached particular milestones, use Rating Scale
• In order to compare how different children understand a specific concept, use Interviews
• In order to Quickly and accurately document something that is difficult to describe, use Annotated Photographs; Videotape
• In order to document movement, language, or interactions (or related abilities, such as musical skill) in order to share them with others, use Running Record; Videotape or Audio Recording

Describe & Define: Portfolios

• Derived from the portfolios artists create to present their work to others. So to does a child's portfolio give a fuller understanding of who the child is and what the child knows and can do.
• Refers to the documentation that teachers and others gather to represent their own training and ability - usually called a, professional portfolio
• help you to look at children's work over time to gauge how they are developing - socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively
• Help you share your understanding with families and other professionals; represent the child's strenghts and potential and can be shared with the staff of the next program to which the child moves.
• An organized assemblage of plans, documents, and records that provide evidence of implementation in a program for children of accreditation criteria - called, program portfolio or classroom portfolio

Characteristics of a portfolio:

• can include narrative, structured, and electronic observation records, work samples, and interviews
• Important to create complete and authentic representation of the child's understanding and skill in the categories you have determined to be important
• Turn a collection into a portfolio by organizing and interpreting the evidence that you have collected

Certain items, destined for the child's portfolio, collected at the same time from all children at different periods of time throughout their educational experience with you

• Example: A drawing from the first week of school and another from the last week of school

Steps to creating meaningful student portfolios

1. Identify the goals and objectives for each child and decide what materials and information will indicate that these have been accomplished; collect core items
2. Develop a system to organize all the materials you collect
3. Reflect on waht you have colelcted, analyze what it means, and finally write a description of the child's abilities and characteristics; called an individual profile, a developmental description, or a summary statement.

Describe: Digital Portfolios

• sometimes created without physical materials
• Instead, materials (photos, observations, rating scales, etc.) are scanned into a computer
• These are assembled into a digital document that can be shared electronically
• Have the advantage of requiring little physical space and they require no storage boxes, binders, sheet protectors, toner, or photo paper.
• Requires technical expertise on the part of the teacher and of the family
• Computer access might be limited to the family; the computer program the portfolio was created in will eventually become outdated, rendering the portfolio difficult, if not impossible, to access.

Describe: Portfolio Blogs

• Creating a blog for each child that is ongoing.
• The teacher inputs observations and photographs each week.
  
• Both teacher and family have access to the blog and are able to input their observations and insights

Golden Rules to Creating Child Portfolios:

1. Decide on domains or subject areas to be used as a structure
2. Involve families in the portfolio process from the start by explaining what you plan to do and having them participate when possible.
3. Set aside a special place for collecting portfolio evidence. It should have a section for each child and be large enough to hold larger examples of children's work.
4. Establish a time line for collecting evidence and writing summaries, including how and when the portfolio will be shared and passed on.
5. Identify evidence of a child's ability - such as drawing, an observation of a social interaction, an observation or taped language sample, a photograph of a block building, or a writing sample
6. Create a checklist or other system to ensure that you collect observations of each child and samples of their work in every domain or subject area on a regular basis
7. Collect core items at the same time from all children, such as a drawing or writing sample from the first week of school and another from the last week of school.
8. Annotate each item you collect with the date and a brief explanation of its significance
9. Have older children select examples of a favorite or "best" work to include in their portfolios
10. Find a colleague to be our portfolio partner so that you can share, edit, and review one another's written work.

Authentic Assessment Systems

• The High/Scope Child Observation Record (COR)
• The Work Sampling System
• Teaching Strategies Gold

The High/Scope Child Observation Record (COR)

• An observational assessment system designed to help teachers and caregivers determine the developmental status of young children ages 6 weeks to 6 years, and that includes six categories for infants & toddlers, and Preschool aged children:
• Infants & Toddlers
1. Sense of Self
2. Social Relations
3. Creative Representations
4. Movement
5. Communication and Language
6. Exploration and Early Logic
• Preschoolers
1. Initiative
2. Social relations
3. Creative Representation
4. Music and Movement
5. Language and Literacy
6. Logic and Mathematics

The Work Sampling System (Dichtelmiller)

• A more comprehensive performance-based assessment system designed to be used from preschool through the primary years (ages 3-11)
• 3 components
1. Developmental Guidelines & Checklists
2. Portfolios
3. Summary Reports
• The Ounce Scale
• The infant-toddler verion of work sampling to be used with children from birth to 3.5 years

• Designed to accompany The Creative Curriculum for Preschool and The Creative Curriculum or Infants, Toddlers, & Twos
• A preschool and infant-toddler observational assessment system based on skills related to development

• One form of public documentation is called Documentation Panels; associated with Reggio Emilia preschool programs
• Are posters in which photographs, children's work, observations, and teacher authored text are put together to illustrate an aspect of the program
• Often used to present how curriculum studies/projects lead to children's growth and learning
• Used to show how the questions of a group of children led to investigation, to illustrate how children learn by using a particular piece of equipment
• Show how children learn from their interactions with others

Authentic Assessment in Kindergarten and the Primary Grades
Article: Joyful Learning and Assessment in Kindergarten (Hughes and Gullo 2010)

1. View assessment as a continuous process - in other words, use ongoing authentic assessment of children's activities as a vehilce for assessing their growth and informing your teaching.
2. Understand assessment as a comprehensive process - in other words, realize that true assessment needs to include children learning in different ways - not on a test
3. Consider assessment as an integrative process - that it, authentic assessment shows the effectiveness of instruction. When children use what they have learned in lessons and self-selected activity and you document their responses, then you are powerfully assessing the children and your teaching.

Quote:
"Childhood is a journey, not a race"

Kinds of Standardized Assessment Instruments:

• A Test: a systematic procedure for smapling a child's behavior and knowledge that usually summarizes the child's perfromance with a score; have clearly defined purposes
• Two kinds of data used to establish dependability: validity and reliability
• Assessment Instruments: a systematic means of collecting and recoding information about young children (checklists, rating scales, and performance assessments, etc.)
• Screening Instruments: designed to identify children who may need specilzed services
• Developmental Assessments: include checklists and rating scales that have been created for appraising children's skills and abilities.
• Diagnostic Tests: in-depth evaluations used to assess what children actually can do in specific areas of development.
• Readiness and Achievement Tests: examine children (individually or in groups) to make judgments regarding their performance in comparison to some standard.

Issues in Standardized Testing:

• Test results may not be valid and reliable because it is difficult to administer tests to young children. The tests may be beyond the children's developmental capabilities, or the children's behavior may be unduly influenced by mood or by the test situation
• Tests measure a narrow range of objectives - mostly cognitive and language abilities - and miss important objectives of early childhood education such as creativity, problem-solving, and social and emotional development
• Man tests are culturally biased. Children who do not speak English as a first language and those from minority groups frequently do not do as well on the tests
• Tests are often inappropriately administered and interpreted because most early childhood professionals are not trained int he appropriate use and interpretation of standardized tests.
• Teachers who want children to do well on tests may introduce skills too early or alter their curriculum and "teach to the test," resulting in teaching methods and content that are inappropriate for young children
• Tests are often used for purposes for which they were not intended. Tests results are inappropriately used to keep children out of school, retain them in the same grade, place them in remedial classes, or make unwarranted placements in special education classrooms rather than for improving classroom practice.

Define: high-stakes testing

• using the scores on tests to make decisions that have long-term consequences such as rejecting, retaining, or tracking children
• when schools become narrowly focused on tests results, curriculum and children's school experiences are limited
• programs will eliminate recess, play, story reading, art, music, and physical education
• Early Childhood Educators strenuously object to this; children's love of learning and true education itself become the victim to high-stakes testing

NAEYC Guidelines for decisions related to testing in early childhood settings:

• Ethical principles guide assessment practices
• Assessment instruments are used for their intended purposes
• Assessments are appropriate for ages and other characteristics of children being assessed
• Assessment instruments are in compliance with professional criteria for quality
• What is assessed is developmentally and educationally significant
• Assessment evidence is used to understand and improve learning
• Assessment evidence is gathered from realistic settings and situations that reflect children's actual performance.
• Assessments use multiple sources of evidence gathered over time
• Screening is always linked to follow-up
• Use of individually administered, norm-referenced tests is limited
• Staff and families are knowledgable about assessment

• Written observations, assessments, and tests are confidential, and should be stored in such a way as to protect the privacy of children and families
• Families have an undisputed right to access this information
• Generally considered appropriate to share observations and assessment results with other teachers and administrators who work with the child
• need the written permission of the family to share information with therapists, teachers in the next school, physicians, and others concerned with the child's welfare
• the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct provides guidelines.
• Never acceptable to gossip
• Important to change the child's name, or use only use initials in college observation papers.

What do you mean by anecdotal record?

Which one is an example of anecdotal note taking?

What should be included in anecdotal notes?

What are the characteristics of anecdotal record?