The Partnership for Early Education Research (PEER) has released the first of three research briefs describing the work funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. The first brief is entitled, Assessment use in early childhood: A study of public and private center-based classrooms in southwest Connecticut. The brief is available on PEER’s publications page, where the next two briefs will also be posted.
As explained in a previous article from PEER, early childhood educators use assessments for a variety of purposes. For example, assessment data can help teachers to monitor children’s development, determine whether additional evaluation is needed, and tailor instruction to children’s needs. When PEER was created, member organizations wanted to learn more about how early childhood educators in their region were using assessments. PEER designed one of its initial research projects to address this interest. Specifically, PEER aimed to answer two research questions:
- How are assessments used in early childhood education classrooms in the southwest region of Connecticut?
- Are there district and setting differences in how assessments are used in early childhood education classrooms in the southwest region of Connecticut?
To answer these questions, PEER administered an online survey in winter 2016 that asked early childhood teachers about their use of assessments and assessment data. Two hundred teachers from early childhood education programs in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford were invited to participate in the survey. Sixty-five teachers (33%) responded to the survey. PEER conducted descriptive analyses of respondent characteristics, what assessments were used, and how assessment data were used.
The study has some important implications despite some limitations, such as the relatively small sample size. Survey results show that early childhood educators within each community report using a variety of assessments, which makes it difficult to make comparisons among children from different classrooms. Likewise, it is difficult to share data about incoming kindergarten students with kindergarten staff because kindergarten staff would need to familiarize themselves with multiple assessments. Finally, the variety of assessments used in each community increases the burden of professional development because teachers should receive adequate professional development for each assessment they administer. These three concerns might be addressed by the implementation of a common assessment across all of a community's early childhood classrooms.
Despite the variation in the use of assessments within communities and settings, it is promising that early childhood educators across all three PEER communities are using data to inform practice, a process that is associated with positive child outcomes. In follow-up study, PEER is conducting further analyses to examine how assessments are being used relative to their stated purpose. These analyses will provide additional insight into assessment practices in PEER communities, which can potentially inform the design of policy and professional development practices in PEER communities.