Standard 3

The purpose of Standard 3 is to articulate the knowledge an early-childhood educator needs to ensure appropriate assessment of students.

KEY ELEMENTS

There are two Key Elements of Standard 3:

(I and A): An early-childhood educator should appreciate what assessment seeks to achieve, why it is beneficial, and how it can best be utilized. This applies equally in establishing desired outcomes, developing sound curricula, and utilizing appropriate strategies in the education of young children.

(I): An early-childhood educator should appreciate the usefulness of developing relationships with families and colleagues that focus on assessing a child’s learning and development because doing so promotes optimal learning environments.

The importance of attention to a child’s development in all three domains is evident throughout the text. Specific examples include the following content in Chapter 12.

Chapter 12

   Discusses student academic performance, including:

  1. Differences in curriculum by nation, community, and school subject (p. 393; pp. 395–397).

  2. The hidden curriculum (implicit values and assumptions evident in course selection, schedules, tracking, teacher characteristics, discipline, instructional methods, extracurricular activities, etc.) (pp. 394–395).

  3. Learning a second language—immersion, bilingual education, ELL, ESL (pp. 387–388).

  4. Gender differences in school performance (pp. 397–398).

  5. Determinants of educational practice—state and local governments, teachers, and parents (pp. 398–399).

  6. Types of schools in the U.S. (public, private, charter, home schooling) and characteristics of each (pp. 401–402).

  1. Discusses international standardized benchmarks of achievement in reading and math (PIRLS and TIMMS, respectively) (pp. 395–397).

  2. Discusses goals and consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (p. 399).

  3. Discusses the federally sponsored National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement tests in reading, math, and other subjects (p. 399).

A-14