SPE 319/319F Assessment: Identification and Progress Monitoring (3 credits)

This course will provide an in-depth presentation of the complex issue of assessment in early care and education. The content of this course will provide students with an in-depth review of informal evaluation procedures and classroom-based data collection strategies for young children in inclusive early care and education settings. Focus will include academic, affective, work-study skill, adaptive functioning, fine motor, and environmental measures. Content coverage will consist of an overview of assessment models including traditional, informal, dynamic, performance, curriculum-based, and alternative techniques and include an examination of evaluation procedures, from pre-referral intervention, eligibility/placement/ program decision-making to progress monitoring of scientifically-based instructional interventions based on Response to Intervention (RTI). Additional course topics address legislation, regulations, topical issues, emerging evaluation trends, test modifications/accommodations, parent involvement and assessment/progress reporting with a focus on procedural considerations in the assessment of development and learning in the early childhood years. Related foci for discussion will also include the challenges in both assessing young children and using assessment data to design meaningful, developmentally appropriate activities for children and their families.

Candidates will develop lesson plans, unit plans, IEPs, IFSPs, 504 plans and intervention strategies that employ Pennsylvania’s Standards Aligned System. By using http://www.pdesas.org, candidates will be able to modify and implement curriculum using the appropriate Academic Standards, including Alternate Academic Standards where necessary, Assessment Anchors, and eligible content.