Counting What Counts or What Can Be Counted? Assessment and Accountability in the Early Years.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." attributed to Albert Einstein

‘Otherness’ of ECE Birth - 7 is specific and unique Neurological and Developmental phase What matters looks different Implications for how children demonstrate this and how it is assessed

“Assessment is the most visible expression of what we value as educators.”

Definition and role of assessment “Knowing and understanding children in order to support their learning and development” Which Expresses values of education and perception of learners Defines the curriculum, pedagogy and outcomes Enables accountability Jan Dubiel: ‘Effective Assessment in the Early Years’ Foundation Stage’ SAGE 2014

What are the significant indicators of (long term) success in the EYFS What are the significant indicators of (long term) success in the EYFS? (Progress in ‘what’) How do we represent the complexity of young children's’ knowledge and understanding? (How)

Is it even possible?

Four questions: What information do we want to get? How do we get the information? How will the information be used? How do we document the information?

What information do we want to get What information do we want to get? What do we need to know about children?

What is significant information? A professional value driven decision A relationship between Knowledge of the individual child as a learner Aspirations and intentions. (Curriculum and Outcomes)

What are the indicators for successful long term outcomes (in the EYFS)?

Research and Evidence Language (Snowling 2011, Roulstone 2011) PSED (Goodman 2015) Physical Development (Grissmer 2010) Executive Functioning (Diamond 2013, Blair et al 2008, Roebers 2014) Self Regulation (Whitebread 2012)

How do we get the information How do we get the information? How can this be done effectively and authentically and accurately?

Testing Young Children

“A Test Based Assessment is one in which a series of pre-set questions and / or activities are provided for a child to answer / respond to. This may be achieved by the child providing an oral answer, manipulating an object or pointing to an object or an image on a screen in response to a question or instruction. For each question there is a wrong or right answer / response and the child is scored accordingly. The identical set of questions / activities is administered for each child in the group to provide a scored assessment for each child and cumulatively for the group as a whole”

Practitioner Led Observational Assessment Effective practitioner led assessment involves practitioners in making accurate and meaningful judgements about children’s attainment through observation of and interaction with children.

Observational Assessment Is the act of selecting, processing and reflecting on authentic information. Often happens during episodes of interaction. Is a skilled and skilful process of identifying significant learning demonstrated by children

A state of flow is… “…being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, ... Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost” Csikszentmihalyi

How will the information be used?

Immediate / responsive Formative Immediate / responsive Strategic

How do we use this to support learning and development? Immediate / responsive ‘Invisible moment of possibility’ (Dubiel) Strategic Future possibilities for learning Interests and fascinations Impact and accountability

Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years * 07/16/96 Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years Teacher’s extending activities: “…a particular form of teacher initiation that may also be applied in cases where initially the child initiated. The most effective settings were found to provide both teacher-initiated group work and freely chosen yet potentially instructive play activities. ‘Extension’ was included in the definition of ‘sustained shared thinking” (Siraj-Blatchford et al 2002) *

Invisible moments of possibility   …points in children’s self-initiated activity where they do not know what could be required or needed to take it further and are often characterised by frustration; but as adults we do know what this could be and so have a responsibility to intervene with suggestion, question, resource and so on. They rest on the effectiveness of assessment (knowing the child) and an awareness of significant aspects of learning (curricular content that as an adult we know and believe is important). Jan Dubiel

EPPSE Research

How do we document this? Recording for: Pedagogy and Provision Accountability, progress, development and impact

Pedagogy and Provision; Record and document.. What you need to clarify your knowledge and understanding of the child / children What is significant What you will forget

Records Is it needed and if so why? Who is this for? Who uses it? How often does it get used? How does it help you do your job?

Challenges in assessment Effective use (formative) Effective use (summative) Manageability

Summative Assessment Derives from ongoing / formative assessment Can be completed at any point Needs to be accessible and manageable Focuses on ‘significances’ and ‘signifiers’ Informs evaluation of provision, progress and development Can be used for accountability

Accountability Professional responsibility Formative and summative data ‘Fine grain’ and ‘headline’ data Representational and indicative data Precision and strategic usability

Challenges in accountability Taking ownership of process and its representation Reflecting values and intentions Defining success Being accountable for what matters to protect and articulate what is important

Assessment data = information Assessment is identifying what is important (values) finding out how we get what we need to know (beliefs) deciding if it is useful (reflection) and using it (practice).

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