The Early Childhood Personnel Center

The purpose of this module is to introduce the Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (EI/ECSE) Standard 4. The learning resources provided are designed to be used in both pre-service and in-service to facilitate the integration of the knowledge and skills addressed by this standard.

Standard 4:  Candidates know and understand the purposes of assessment in relation to ethical and legal considerations. Candidates choose developmentally, linguistically, and culturally appropriate tools and methods that are responsive to the characteristics of the young child, family, and program. Using evidence-based practices, candidates develop or select as well as administer informal measures, and select and administer formal measures in partnership with families and other professionals. They analyze, interpret, document, and share assessment information using a strengths-based approach with families and other professionals for eligibility determination, outcome/goal development, planning instruction and intervention, monitoring progress, and reporting.

Components:

4.1 Candidates understand the purposes of formal and informal assessment, including ethical and legal considerations, and use this information to choose developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate, valid, reliable tools and methods that are responsive to the characteristics of the young child, family, and program.

4.2 Candidates develop and administer informal assessments and/or select and use valid, reliable formal assessments using evidence-based practices, including technology, in partnership with families and other professionals.

4.3 Candidates analyze, interpret, document, and share assessment information using a strengths-based approach with families and other professionals.

4.4 Candidates, in collaboration with families and other team members, use assessment data to determine eligibility, develop child and family-based outcomes/goals, plan for interventions and instruction, and monitor progress to determine the efficacy of programming.

Note:  The Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (EI/ECSE) standards and components use the term candidate to refer to preservice students in higher education programs. For the purpose of these modules, the term will be maintained in the EI/ECSE standard and component statements.  The term learner will be used in the support materials and resources.

Purpose

The purpose of this module is to: (a) identify what learners should know and be able to do specific to Standard 4: Assessment Processes and its Components, (b) provide higher education faculty and PD providers with a variety of learning resources for this standard, and (c) identify the relationship of these resources to adult learning practices.  It is designed to be used flexibly for preservice and ongoing professional development.

Objectives

After engaging with these resources, IHE faculty and PD providers will be able to:

• Identify learner outcomes specific to assessment processes.
• Identify resources to integrate into the higher education curriculum and/or content for PD.
• Identify the relationship of the resources with evidence-based practices for adult learners.