Early Childhood Assessment is a tool used to gather and provide educators, parents, and families with critical information about a child’s development and growth. Dubai, and some other cities in UAE, licensed early childhood programs are required to include a child assessment component in their programs.
1. Observe: To observe a child’s performance at school or at home is the best way to learn more about the child’s development. Educators are free to observe the child through all facets of development such as intellectual, linguistic, socio-emotional, and physical development on a regular basis. Through observation, an educator or even a parent can better understand the child’s behavior and mind in certain facets of development and their advantage or disadvantage in any of the developmental areas.
2. Make notes: Making notes regarding the child is a helpful way of keeping track through classes. It is a way to record data that is collected through the work, the child has produced over a period of time. The notes can clearly show progress made by the child and is a brilliant way to be constantly up to date with the class happenings on a day-to-day basis. It also helps in creating a bond and understanding between the parents and the teacher, which is ultimately beneficial to the young learners.
3. Test the children: At the end, all comes down to the performance of the child, and this is objectively remarked upon only by standardized tests administered to the children which clearly show the progress of the child or lack thereof. These tests are scored in a standard manner so every child has equal odds at it, and are often used to assess the performance of children in a program. Many schools in the Middle East, including the GCC regions, have started to organize standardized tests for all grades.
Assessments provided to children in the early years of their academic life can go a very long way. It offers clarity and evidence to the child’s need for additional support or the intervention of a special educator, to help him cope in school. Also, based on the cumulative performance of all students, educators can plan their lessons more strategically and alter their teaching methodologies.
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NLP’s innovative NextAssessment is a comprehensive assessment management solution that enables teachers to evaluate students on the basis of their ability. It enables periodic assessments from formative to competitive exams for all classes.