This paper provides an empirical account of the complex nature of early childhood teachers’ work with growing accountability demands for collecting, reporting, and using child assessment data in the U.S. context. Particularly, this paper focuses on preschool teachers’ experience of changes in their roles and pedagogical work in implementing a criterion-referenced, commercial online child assessment system. In doing so, this paper draws on data from a qualitative research study conducted at four Head Start sites that included semi-structured, individual interviews with six teachers and five child development specialists during three different assessment checkpoint periods; multiple observations of four Head Start classrooms for five months; and an analysis of related documents. The findings from this paper highlight that the use of commercial online childhood assessment system increased and expanded teacher work with additional responsibilities and concomitant change in assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy, as well as their views of themselves as professionals.
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Articles by tag "early child curriculum":
2017, 9
p. 48–57
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This article examines British early childhood education; regulation of the educational process for early (preschool) age children; and the features of content, organization and the estimation components of education in preschool stage. The author presents the translated documents and conducts comparative analysis of the legislative acts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Russian Federation to identify the characteristics of English preschool education. After studying the history and development of early childhood education in Great Britain, the author pays special attention to the Education Act and the National Curriculum and the documents accompanying this legislative act that regulate the activity of educators: Statutory guidance «Early years (under 5s) foundation stage framework (EYFS)», «EYFS learning and development requirements: exemptions for children», «Early years foundation stage profile: exemplification materials» and «Statutory guidance on sex and relationship education». The analysis of the structure of the National Curriculum makes it possible to draw the first conclusion that it significantly differs from the Federal Educational State Standard of early childhood education, but the ideas embodied in both documents are similar and reflect the features of preschool age, and emphasize its self-worth. The analysis of documents and guidebooks accompanying the National Curriculum also makes it possible to draw a conclusion about the importance of pedagogical monitoring, as these documents are aimed at supporting educators in conducting diagnostics.
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