The paper discusses the teacher's use of such informal techniques as observation and checklists to detect students' particular instructional or behavioral needs, to detect areas of strength or weakness, and to formulate remedial programs. (Author/SBH)

Presented is a checklist developed by the Austin Early Childhood Special Education Program to help teachers evaluate children's classroom behavior and coping skills. It is explained that results of the checklist should provide information on such factors as possible underlying problems experienced by a student, situations in which a student…

This article presents a comprehensive model of daily, classroom informal writing assessment that is constantly linked to instruction and the characteristics of proficient writers. Methods for promoting teacher, student, and parent collaboration and their roles in dialoguing, conferencing, and reflection are discussed. Strategies for including…

Many early childhood educators are beginning to experiment with and use portfolio assessment. Teachers are also observing young children at play and documenting their play activities for assessment purposes. Close observation of sociodramatic play gives teachers accurate perspectives on young children across the developmental domains of…

Early childhood educators recognize the importance and validity of observing children's activities in the classroom, documenting them in an organized format, and assessing them in relation to the range of expected outcomes for children in that grade. Experienced teachers, however, know that the process of observing, documenting, and assessing…

In contrast to standardized tests, which do not accurately reflect the achievement of young students, portfolio assessment is a valuable tool for documenting a student's development. Portfolio assessment can be conducted formally or informally through observation or by interview. Documentation of observations can take the form of checklists,…