VINIERON DE OTROS MUNDOS

Assessment practices which document children’s progress whilst attending formal education settings are a key focus of educators, for a number reasons (Downs & Strand, 2006). These include issues such as accountability for teachers and settings; the use of formative assessment as a tool to identify ‘at- risk’ children; its use to detect specific trends in early childhood education; and its function as a means to assess and promote children’s learning (Boat, Zorn, & Austin, 2005; Downs & Strand, 2006; Gredler, 2000; Shaughnessy & Greathouse, 2006).

Globally there are differing purposes behind assessment for children attending early childhood education and care settings. Much of this is summative assessment as opposed to formative assessment. For example, in the United States of America this assessment is intended primarily to provide a form of accountability by identifying ‘at-risk’ children and those with learning difficulties (Boat et al., 2005; Downs & Strand, 2006; Gredler, 2000; Shaughnessy & Greathouse, 2006). This form of assessment can be viewed as a deficit model which provides summative information in order to identify gaps in children’s

13 development. Stobart (2014) points out that tests may play a part in formative assessment if the responses are used to identify what has, and has not, been understood, and if this leads to action to improve learning. While useful in some settings this form of summative assessment is not adequate to provide detailed information on how children learn and develop because summative assessment is decontextualised. In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Italy and New Zealand, the move towards formative assessment (also assessment for learning) has strengthened over the last several decades (Bath, 2012; Carr, 2001). This move means that children have become more visible in their own learning by becoming active contributors to that learning. Formative assessment aims to improve student outcomes for all children (Black & Wiliam, 1998a, 1998b; Carr, Cowie, & Davis, 2015; Hill, Cowie, Gilmore, & Smith, 2010). Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam have written extensively on the role of formative assessment in education, influenced by the work of Royce Sadler (1989; 1998) who argued that formative assessment must be about children contributing to their own learning. Black (2001) described formative assessment as a tool for educational reform, moving away from summative assessment which, he supposed, has negative effects on learning. In 1998, Black and Wiliam explored what they termed Inside the Black Box, the black box being the classroom into which inputs were fed and from which good outputs were expected. They proposed that further research needed to be undertaken inside the classroom to explore what they termed “the heart of teaching” – formative assessment (Black & Wiliam, 1998b). Black and Wiliam went on to argue that teaching and learning must be a co-operative venture; there needs to be interaction between the teacher and the student, the student and teacher and the student and their peers for most effective learning to take place (Black & Wiliam, 1998b). To further strengthen this learning relationship parents and whānau must also be engaged somehow in their children’s learning. This will be further discussed later in this chapter. In 2004 a follow-up project to Inside the Black Box was undertaken (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2004). The project team worked with teachers inside their classrooms to improve their teaching practices

14 by using formative assessment practices or assessment for learning. Black et al. (2004, p. 10) defined assessment for learning as follows:

Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence. An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information that teachers and their students can use as feedback in assessing themselves and one another and in modifying the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment becomes “formative assessment” when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet the learning needs.

Black and Wiliam’s work (and that of other researchers investigating formative assessment) sits predominantly in the primary and secondary education sectors and focuses on enabling teachers to carry out formative assessment practices (Bell & Cowie, 2001; Black et al., 2004; Black & Wiliam, 1998b; Clarke, Timperley, & Hattie, 2003; Crooks, 2002; Crooks, 1988; Hill et al., 2010). In 2005 Bronwen Cowie reported on what formative assessment practices actually meant for students. The data for this study came from the Learning in Science (Assessment) project (Bell & Cowie, 2001). Students from year 7 (10-11 years) up to year 10 (14-15 year olds) and their teachers were interviewed to obtain the data. The students in this study viewed themselves as “active and intentional participants in classroom assessment interactions” (p. 150). Cowie’s findings, interestingly, link to much earlier research undertaken by Sadler (1989), who as mentioned above claimed that children must contribute to their own learning. The findings also echo Black’s assertion that peers are valuable sources of formative assessment (Black, 2010; Brown, Harris, & Harnett, 2012). Students in this study also valued timely feedback from their teachers, particularly in the form of suggestions. This was also a finding in a study carried out by Brown et al. (2012) which investigated teachers concepts of feedback. Most importantly, Cowie identified that the assessment practices in the classroom helped to define how the students viewed themselves as “learners and knowers”: in short how their own identities as learners were developed, an important concept for consideration in early childhood education (Carr & Lee, 2012; Cowie, 2005).

15 In recent years in Aotearoa New Zealand, formative assessment has come to the fore in early childhood education settings as in the other educational sectors mentioned above (Carr, 2009). This has particularly been the case since the introduction of the national curriculum for early childhood education, Te

Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996) in the mid-1990s, followed by Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars in 2004 (Carr, 2009;

Carr et al., 2015; Ministry of Education, 2004). Early childhood education teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand are required, as part of the national curriculum, to carry out assessment for children’s learning (formative assessment) in order to provide programmes which meet the needs of the children who attend their settings (Ministry of Education, 1996). Assessment is crucial in early childhood education as teachers strive to provide high quality programmes for the children they teach. Assessment has become an important tool to aid children in becoming confident and competent learners, a goal of the early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996). This, in turn, enables children to construct their own identities as learners (Carr, 2005; Carr & Lee, 2012; Carr et al., 2002). The use of formative assessment practices rather than summative ones supports children in the development of these essential skills. Referring to Carol Dweck’s (2000) work on learning and performance goals, Carr (2001, p. 525) noted:

When children are oriented towards learning goals, they strive to increase their competence, to understand or master something new. They attempt hard tasks, and persist after failure or setback. When they are oriented towards performance goals they strive to gain favourable judgements or to avoid negative judgements of their competence.

Although assessment is important for children’s learning, first and foremost it must be noted that without assessment the effectiveness of programmes cannot be evaluated (Carr & Claxton, 2002). As Carr and Claxton (2002) went on to note, if there is not some form of “systematic tracking of learners, educators cannot know whether their good intentions are being translated into the desired outcomes” (p. 16). Moss and Dahlberg (2008) proposed that sound assessment practices are also an indicator of quality in early childhood education. Research indicates that children who attend high quality

16 early childhood education settings and are exposed to superior assessment methods such as assessment for learning, are more likely to succeed in formal schooling environments and, in fact, in later life (Gibbs, 2004; Kuamoo, 2008; Nores & Barnett, 2010; Olson, 2002).

Assessment for learning in early childhood education will identify children’s dispositions, strengths and interests. Formative assessment practices thus allow teachers to ensure that their programmes are meeting the needs of the children, in particular by focusing on ways of extending their learning. A tool which is particularly useful for this purpose is the Learning Story (further discussed in 2.3).