The challenge of assessing early learning

As news of a down-turning economy continues to fill the media, early childhood has been brought forward as a solid, long term investment. This has been a key point for Ready 4 K as we move forward in Minnesota to ensure that every child starts kindergarten, supported, encouraged and fully prepared for learning success. Ready 4 K board member Art Rolnick has gained national attention for framing increasing access to quality early care and education as an economic investment.

Like any investment, we need to be sure it is generating the returns we expect. It's a complicated question to answer. Early learning is, of course, about bright, creative and unique individual children, not stock options or 401(k)s. One tool that is used in Minnesota is the Minnesota Kindergarten Readiness Assessment. (View a previous post to learn more about the Assessment and the most recent result.)

Currently, the Assessment is done with only a representative sample of children in Minnesota. Expanding the Assessment for all children has been part of Ready 4 K's legislative agenda in recent years and is still part of a larger vision for creating an early childhood system that supports all children and families.

Minnesota 2020, a nonpartisan think tank, has recently published an article on Assessing an Early Investment. Ready 4 K President Todd Otis and Early Childhood Systems Specialist Zoe Nicholie have much to say in the article about the Assessment and how it should be used.

Creators and supporters of the assessment remain vocal that it should not be viewed as a test.

Todd Otis, President of Ready 4 K, an organization that promotes school readiness initiatives in the state, phrased it this way, "Instead of thinking of it like the SATs, think of it like a check up with your doctor."

Trained teachers observe children's behavior as they participate in regular activities, rather than administer an actual test. The assessment's purpose is to review overall progress, not create specific skill mandates that define passing or failing grades. The MDE is not saying that by the time a child enters kindergarten he/she must be able to recite the alphabet, tie his/her shoe and solve basic arithmetic problems. Instead, the assessment outlines a range of behaviors and skills that demonstrate progress in a variety of areas deemed important for later success.

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Otis and his colleague Zoe Nicholie of Ready 4 K warn against mutation of the assessment into a high stakes testing system. The logic of high stakes testing such as that mandated by NCLB is that schools should be held accountable for their test results, and by linking progress to funding levels schools will be more motivated to improve. One of the problems with this logic, however, is that it fails to account for the myriad of outside influences that impact young people's ability to learn and be successful. Health, parental involvement, and early education exposure are only a few of the factors that, according to Nicholie and Otis, influence a child's early development. If assessment results are directly tied to kindergarten or preschool funding, they ignore the complex web of influences shaping children's growth.

It's important that we know how are kids are doing so that we can create early learning opportunities that work best for them. It is also important for communities to understand how well their children are prepared so that the entire community can work together to ensure their success in school and in life.

What do you think? Share your thoughts on how to best determine the success of our early learning investment in the comments below.

photo by FrancoisRoche