It would be easy to have a sweeping negative view of assessments in the current climate. I will never forget the defeat on one child’s face as she looked up at me with a quivering chin and said, “But I can’t read.” Despite how positive and nonchalant I tried to be during that assessment, assuring her that I did not expect her to read the words, the formal assessment experience affected this child’s confidence and her excitement for learning. I have sat with many frustrated children, some near tears, as I asked them to read sight words during their second week of kindergarten. Even when children are just beginning to learn English, I am required to assess them in English-according to the script, not to their needs. Timed assessments and scripted directions, which must be read word for word, provide valuable information but offer no flexibility for our young learners. Teachers are often not allowed to assess their own students (in order to protect the integrity of the results), and the results are sometimes used to measure teacher performance (whether or not the assessments have been designed and validated for use in high-stakes decisions). For example, we could delay assessing reading skills if a child did not yet show an understanding of the difference between letters, words, and numbers.Īssessment in today’s kindergarten classrooms, unfortunately, looks at times like what we would expect in upper-grade classrooms, with proctors and secure testing materials. We had the flexibility to evaluate children in areas that were appropriate for them. My colleagues and I used our own assessments and observations to plan instruction based on what our students needed. When I first began teaching, educators’ observations and self-made assessments were honored as appropriate ways to document young children’s growth and mastery. Over the 20 years I have been a kindergarten teacher, assessment has changed dramatically.
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