New Course from ChildCare Education Institute on

ATLANTA, GA, Oct. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ChildCare Education Institute® (CCEI), an online child care training provider dedicated exclusively to the early care and education workforce, is proud to introduce CUR135: Introduction to Assessment to the online child care training course catalog. 

Humans are constantly collecting information from the environment, making judgments, forming opinions, and basing their decisions on that information.  In the early childhood environment, assessment is the ongoing process of gathering and documenting evidence of learning.  Assessment is not synonymous with testing. Instead, assessment is closer in meaning to the word measurement. 

At its best, assessment refers to the way teachers measure student progress, strengths, and needs. With this knowledge, teachers can make informed, evidence-based decisions about curriculum and instruction. In the early care and education (ECE) environment, effective assessment is not about giving a final grade or determining whether a child can recall information. Assessment plays an essential and distinct role in ECE, where individualized learning is the focus.  Assessment is a long-term and ongoing process. In other words, a single assessment activity or observation tells us very little. Instead, observing and tracking progress, bit by bit, over time, creates a meaningful picture of a child′s developmental journey.

Early childhood is a challenging period to assess because the rate of growth is quite rapid. Children of the same age can exhibit wide variations in development. Also, growth is highly influenced by environmental factors, such as health and nutrition, prior experiences, family interactions, culture, and access to quality child care.  The value of assessment extends beyond simply knowing what children can and cannot do. That is incredibly important information, but it is what educators do with this information that is the most valuable aspect of assessment in…