Effective assessments guide student learning, refine teaching practices, ensure curriculum alignment, and foster workforce readiness. However, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools, such as ChatGPT, has significantly disrupted traditional assessment processes, raising concerns about academic integrity and necessitating…

Stimulus overselectivity refers to maladaptive narrow attending that is a common learning problem among children with intellectual disabilities and frequently associated with autism. The present study contrasted overselectivity among groups of children with autism, Down syndrome, and typical development. The groups with autism and Down syndrome…

The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) lists 11 recommended practices for assessment, including "Practitioners report assessment results so they are understandable and useful to families" (DEC, 2014, p. 8). This article examines high-impact practices designed to make meaningful and understandable assessment reports to facilitate…

Many early childhood assessment practices involve table top testing that requires young children to behave like an adult (e.g., follow adult directives, attend to task, and answer questions). Research and professional policy standards have identified and mandated alternatives. Authentic assessment is the alternative to conventional testing…

The early childhood professionals recognize the limitations of conventional testing with young children. This recognition has given rise to Authentic Assessment, now recognized officially as best practice by the major professional organizations. However, no national studies have been conducted to document the comparative qualities of either…

The objectives of the present study were: (a) to compare the "performance" ratings on five aspects of intervention practices as determined by preschool educators to the "performance" ratings as determined by elementary school educators, (b) to compare the "importance" ratings on five aspects of intervention practices…

Authentic assessment "refers to the systematic collection of information about the naturally occurring behaviors of young children and families in their daily routines" (Neisworth & Bagnato, 2004, p. 204). In formative assessments, the assessment information informs instruction. Formative assessments are given periodically and should be used to…

Students with moderate intellectual disability experience a lack of comparable access to literature as compared to their nondisabled peers (Browder et al., 2009; Kliewer, 1998). Problems in access for many of these students may be attributed to low expectations and inadequate support on behalf of students as well as a lack of sufficient literacy…

The Early Years Evaluation (EYE) program is intended to help teachers to evaluate the skills of children from three to six years. This article discusses two new skills assessments of the EYE program: (1) the Early Years Evaluation-Direct Assessment (EYE-DA); and (2) the Early Years Evaluation-Teacher Assessment (EYE-TA). The EYE-DA evaluates…

Performance-based assessments require teacher candidates to demonstrate proficiency on specific teaching tasks and apply knowledge in authentic settings. This article describes the development and use of performance-based assessments (PBAs) for advancing the learning and evaluation of teacher candidates in an early childhood special education…

This study considered the problem of ineffective fieldwork experiences in the English Single Subject Credential Program at California State University, Long Beach prior to student teaching by combining structured fieldwork into a newly established state-mandated assessment, Teaching Performance Assessment Task 1 (TPA 1). This combination of a…

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) program review process increasingly emphasizes the importance of performance-based assessment of early childhood teacher preparation programs. As part of the effort to address performance-based assessment requirements, the teacher educator program described in this study examined…

This article presents how Developmental Approaches in Science, Health and Technology (DASH) summer institute sparks the author to try and succeed in using inquiry with her young students. It is a program created by the Curriculum Research and Development Group, University of Hawaii, and funded in part by the National Science Foundation. DASH is an…

Maintains that new practices such as performance-based assessment that are consistent with the early childhood profession's process goals need to be developed and that testing of young children that is not developmentally appropriate constitutes misassessment. Promotes observational assessment that uses anecdotal notes and that complements…