Program Evaluation and Student Assessment in Early Childhood Education
The standards that the Department of Early Childhood Education uses have been established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). These coherent, evidence-based standards for the preparation of early childhood professionals are a powerful tool that provide clear direction and purpose for programs who prepare early childhood professionals. NAEYC developed and supports professional preparation standards in five key areas that serve as widely held expectations about what early childhood professionals know and are able to do as they work with young children from birth through age 8. The standards for initial-licensure programs were revised and approved in 2001, and the standards and Essential Tools for advanced programs were revised and approved in 2002.
The standards apply to all levels of preparation for institutions of higher education--associates, baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral degree levels. Faculty assigned to programs at each level work to ensure their candidates have mastered the competencies in each of the five areas, with differences expected in depth and breadth of competencies for respective levels. In addition to mastering the standards, candidates in advanced-level graduate programs must master competencies in NAEYC-determined Essential Tools (http://www.naeyc.org). The standards appropriate for each degree that our department offers are applied in the development of coursework and field experiences and are assessed within and across courses within each program.
The Department of Early Childhood Education offers the following initial early childhood education licensure programs:
- BA in Early Childhood Education (BA ECE)
- MAT/CAS in Early Childhood Education (MAT/CAS ECE)
- Subsequent Certification in Early Childhood Education (SubCert ECE)
These programs utilize the initial licensure standards for NAEYC. You can download these standards at http://www.naeyc.org/faculty/pdf/2001.pdf. If you are enrolled in one of the above initial licensure programs we strongly suggest you read this complete document for further information on the program standards that apply to you.
The Department of Early Childhood Education offers the following advanced early childhood education programs:
- MEd in Early Childhood Education (MEd ECE)
- MEd in Early Childhood Administration (MEd ECA)
These programs utilize the advanced licensure standards for NAEYC. You can download these standards at http://www.naeyc.org/faculty/pdf/advanced_standards.pdf. If you are enrolled in one of the above advanced programs we strongly suggest you read this complete document for further information on the program standards that apply to you. Please notice that these standards include all of the initial licensure standards but have additional standards noted as “Essential Professional Tools” that must also be met. These standards also suggest that further standards should likely be added within programs specific to the area of preparation. So, for example, the MEd in ECA program might also include program standards related to the Illinois Director Credential given this is frequently a goal for candidates in this program.
In addition to the program standards developed specifically by NAEYC, our programs also require that candidates meet the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). You can obtain the standards from http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/t_stands.html.
Similar to NAEYC, our program places specific emphasis on preparing candidates to work with diverse students with diverse needs in diverse settings. Candidates must be given the opportunity to acquire and apply knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to help all students learn and demonstrate competency in this area through multiple methods. Our goal is the development of educators who can help all students learn and who can teach from multicultural and global perspectives that draw on the histories, experiences, and representations of students from diverse cultural backgrounds. We provide opportunities for candidates to understand the role of diversity and equity in the teaching and learning process. Candidates must learn about exceptionalities and inclusion as well as gender differences and their impact on learning and demonstrate that they can apply their knowledge of diversity, including exceptionalities, to work in schools with all students.
As the accrediting agency for our programs, NAEYC expects each of our programs to present evidence annually that demonstrates that we provide opportunities for candidates to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for the development of competencies in each domain. These opportunities include (but are not limited to) course work, independent study, portfolio development, field or internship experiences, and capstone experiences such as comprehensive examinations and theses.
We must also demonstrate that our programs assess and monitor the development of candidate competency in each domain and that candidates are assessed through multiple measures and at multiple points during the program (including at entry into the program). We must show that we have a process in place to determine that candidates have attained acceptable competence in every domain prior to graduation. We must be confident that candidates have developed knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions related to the core standards, at a level that will allow them to be effective in their professional work and to have a positive effect on young children and families.
Utilizing the NAEYC standards as our program standards and implementing a comprehensive assessment and evaluation process ensures the integrity of our programs and provides confidence in the ability of our programs and faculty to prepare candidates as early childhood professionals ready to make a difference in the lives of young children and their families.
To be confident that each candidate meets the program standards we have adopted, we collect multiple measures using multiple assessment methods. We then review and evaluate these assessments collectively to determine each candidate’s ability to demonstrate that he or she has met each competency at the level necessary for us to be confident that he or she will make a positive impact on children and their families. Assessments used within our program include (but are not limited to):
- Illinois Basic Skills Test
- Illinois Assessment of Professional Teaching (APT) Test for Early Childhood
- Illinois Content Area Test for Early Childhood
- Cooperating Teacher Evaluations for Field Experiences and Student Teaching
- Electronic Portfolio containing artifacts and reflections that demonstrate required competencies
- Preclinical Experience Logs
- Course-related papers and assignments
Since the majority of the assessments used provide information on more than one area of competency, all of them used together provide us with multiple methods and measures for assessment and evaluation. While each of the assessments is important to the overall picture it provides about each candidate’s competencies, the electronic portfolio is one that requires candidates to consistently attend to throughout their program and provides us with a tool to monitor yearly progress towards meeting all program goals. It also enables us to identify candidates that need additional guidance and advising at various points in the program.
Electronic Portfolios: LiveText
LiveText is an Internet-based service that allows candidates and professors to create, share, and collaborate on their work. Candidates can upload their work, align it to current standards, and share it with other candidates, appropriate instructors, and potential employers of their choosing. The initial component of this website being implemented at NLU is the "Electronic Portfolio." This portfolio tool is the main focus of many programs at National College of Education and is a requirement for certification and graduation. In the past, paper-based 3-ring binders have been the traditional form of portfolio. It was a culminating project done towards the end of the candidate's program. Today, we can closely monitor that the portfolio is being gradually added to in an effort to make sure that candidates are aware of the specific standards and pedagogy of the program.
Some of the benefits of the creation of electronic portfolios via LiveText are:
- It allows for easy alignment with the latest state and federal standards for teacher education programs. Candidates can easily show “proof” that they have attained competencies.
- Instructors can easily track the progress of a portfolio by accessing it online.
- It allows candidates to showcase their work (such as worksheets, lesson plans, and photos of classroom activities).
- It allows for easier creation of your portfolio. Files are backed-up and accessible in LiveText in case something happens to your computer.
- It can be accessed from multiple locations (such as school, work, and home).
Our program has developed a series of tutorial modules to orient all students to the electronic portfolio as an assessment tool and how it is used to evaluate candidate competencies. Use the following links to to download each of these PowerPoint files:
Since there are additional tutorials and resources available that will teach candidates how to set-up and use LiveText as your electronic portfolio tool, we will not focus on the mechanics of its use here. However, an important aspect of this tool that we should note is that it enables each program to create a template for candidate use so that each candidate has a guide for ensuring that they meet the required competencies. Each program in our department has a template for candidate use that was developed using the NAEYC, NETS-T, and diversity standards introduced previously. The LiveText tutorials provided above will guide you through the steps required to copy this template and use it throughout your program.
The basic requirement within the electronic portfolio is that candidates provide artifacts that they believe demonstrate their attainment of each competency. For each competency candidates will provide a description of the artifacts they provide and a reflective statement on how the artifacts demonstrate they have met the competency. An artifact is any example of your work or experience. Each course candidates take in the department requires assignments and tasks that can serve as artifacts within the portfolio. In fact each course will designate one or more assignments as potential artifacts for the portfolio and instructors will require candidates to share their portfolio with them at various points in the program. However, it is the candidate’s responsibility to make sure the artifacts included in his or her portfolio demonstrates best work and that the reflection clearly shows evidence of competency in each area.
When candidate portfolios are reviewed and evaluated each year, candidates receive written comments and feedback on their progress towards meeting program standards as well as a completed rubric with scores that represent the reviewer’s judgment of the candidate’s progress in demonstrating his or her competence and attainment of program standards. Candidates are responsible for reviewing their feedback and rubric in order to make continuous improvements throughout their program. The rubric utilized across all programs can be viewed by clicking on one of the two versions below:
Additional rubrics are used to evaluate the advanced standards required in the MEd programs. (Note: LiveText tutorials are available that show candidates the steps required within the program to review comments and rubrics.)
This above information provides you with a brief overview of the assessment and evaluation process we use in the Department of Early Childhood Education with a specific focus on the role of the electronic portfolio. While candidates are assessed using multiple measures and methods, the electronic portfolio is a method of assessment that requires candidate attention throughout their program at NLU. Candidates are evaluated at checkpoints throughout the program to ensure they are making adequate yearly progress towards meeting the program standards for our department. Additional resources are available online (see links above) and within our courses that will provide candidates with assistance in creating and managing their electronic portfolio.
