Skills and Knowledge to Carry Out Developmentally Appropriate Assessment

Meisels (1993) describes the skills and knowledge that teachers need to carry out developmentally appropriate assessment:

"Teachers must learn to become better observers. Part of being a better observer is knowing what to look for and knowing that looking is not identical with judging. Teachers must train themselves to focus their attention on all of the children in their classrooms and to be self-critical about reactions that may reflect more about teachers' preconceptions than about children's actual performance. Above all, teachers must learn how to use their observations to effect changes in their curriculum--changes that will tell them whether a child knows something by eliciting the best that a child has to offer in a developmentally meaningful situation." (p. 39)

To carry out the necessary responsibilities, teachers must acquire understanding and skills in collecting authentic evidence by observing children in a representative range of classroom behaviors, recording the data as objectively as possible, organizing the information, reflecting on what the data means, and using assessment findings effectively (Nebraska Department of Education & Iowa Department of Education, 1993). Assessment findings should be used for the purposes outlined in the major purposes of assessment.

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