Importance of Assessment in Early Childhood Education

More often than not, parents and students consider tests and assessments to be synonymous with each other. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. A test provides us information about individual performance through the lens of marks or scores.

On the other hand, an assessment provides distinctive information about what a student knows, the gaps in his/her understanding, and how to possibly cover these gaps.

And for teachers to curate a learning roadmap, it is extremely crucial for learners to go through an assessment at a budding stage. 

What is Assessment in Early Childhood Education?

Assessment in early childhood education is a comprehensive framework that helps in evaluating a student’s present level of knowledge and skills. This framework benefits the student as the teacher can design a curriculum suited to a learner’s needs and thereafter derive a suitable learning progression.

This can then become a reliable tool for the parents as well, which in turn creates a strong support system for a child’s development, both at school and at home.

Why is it important?

It is universally known that children learn and develop the most between the ages of 3 to 7. Presently, tests are conducted in groups to check a child’s level of knowledge.

Such testing methods seldom provide information about a child’s critical thinking skills and cognitive, social, and emotional dispositions. Early childhood assessment then becomes critical to a child’s overall growth and development.  

Few critical aspects that strengthen the case for Assessment in Early Childhood:

• It provides a tailor-made comprehensive learning road map instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
• It helps recognize the gaps in the learning and development of a child. A customized solution can help plug-in such gaps with relevant support.
• Assessing a child’s strengths and weak areas helps develop an instructional method more suited to the child. 
• It provides a feedback mechanism about the child’s learning and development level. It also tells us about the effectiveness of the instructional method.
• A year-round assessment provides information about whether the learning and instructional targets were met or not.
• An assessment provides a basis for changing curriculum and instructional design and implementation.

Relying on a comprehensive individualized assessment helps everyone. An educator is aware of what and how to teach. With help of the parent guide and assessments, parents are aware of their child’s needs and can provide relevant support at home. The policymakers can institute changes to the curriculum make-up.