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Thinking young

Boston Globe Editorial
November 19, 2004

Watch three boys playing at a sand table and one learns quite a bit. A skilled observer can see how the boys use language, interact, share, assert themselves, and understand concepts such as volume as they play with sand toys.

It's one method of assessing early education. Choosing how to do this is crucial for Massachusetts, which is building a universal system for early education and care.

The MCAS exam is a familiar assessment tool. But small children lack the attention and understanding to take paper tests. And such tests can't measure their fluid skills.

A thorough public debate is needed. Samuel Meisels, president of the Erikson Institute, a Chicago graduate school focusing on child development, says alternatives are available. In Boston recently, Meisels discussed "observational assessment," which is based on watching children perform skills. Meisels warns against the idea that cognition is the single most important goal. To be ready for school, children also need physical, social, and emotional skills, which should also be assessed.

In Maryland, teachers compile portfolios to assess the school-readiness of kindergarten students, looking at skills in math, language, social studies, science, and the arts as well as social development and health. The resulting data help teachers and parents as well as guiding policy-makers. In one case, weak science scores led to the creation of a science fair for preschoolers.

Maryland also uses the data to examine the impact of pre-kindergarten experiences: how skill levels vary depending on whether children were in Head Start, at home, in nursery schools, or in other settings. One finding is a lack of "phonemic awareness" -- of the structure and traits of words -- in all these settings. This finding gives all the players -- from parents to Head Start and nursery teachers -- the information they need to improve teaching.

According to Rolf Grafwallner, coordinator of Maryland's Early Learning Office, this assessment system united the members of Maryland's early-education community.

There are challenges. Producing portfolios for each child is a lot of work. Debates focus on whether teachers can do fair assessments. Meisels says they can if they are well trained. This requires healthy spending on professional development and salaries that fairly compensate teachers for their workloads. Once teachers create the portfolios, the information has to be gathered and analyzed -- work that Maryland hires contractors to do.

Moreover, the data can point to expensive solutions. For example, Maryland is implementing full-day kindergarten to improve school readiness. Still, the challenges are eclipsed by the excitement and benefits of ensuring that children start school with the ingredients for success.

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