Assessment is one of your most important tools in the learning environment. Assessments guide instruction, help educators communicate milestones to families and the community, identify specific learning needs, and allow us to evaluate our teaching practices. In this Discussion, you will examine assessments and modify them for specific groups of students. You will provide a rationale for these changes and examine your peers’ suggestions for modification and serve as a critical friend by examining and suggesting changes.

Educational terminology at its best can express clearly what good educators can do and should do. Educational terminology at its worst is confusing and subject to misinterpretation. One point of confusion in assessment practice has been the difference between accommodation and modification. As a part of this Discussion, you will explain the differences between accommodations and modifications in the early childhood learning environment and the purpose of each.

To prepare:

• Review the NBPTS Early      Childhood Generalist Standards and the Matafwali and Serpell (2014);      Ntuli, Nyarambi, and Traore (2014); Petre (2014); and Guss et al. (2013)      articles.
• Examine assessments for      kindergarten-aged children or children aged 6–8 (primary).
• Then, choose a      group different from the one you selected in Module 2.
• Research and list four      different assessments that could be used (one for each: formative,      summative, informal and formal) and what these are used for (cognitive,      emotional, linguistic, physical, and/or social development, emerging      content knowledge, intervention, other).
• Review the Mental      Measurements Yearbook and verify the information posted on use and      validity and reliability or find research discussing this      assessment’s use.
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses      of each assessment, the validity and reliability of the formal instrument,      and the data collected from these assessments