Screening and Assessment in Head Start
By Tom Schultz, Head Start Bureau

How are our children doing? This question stays on the mind of every Head Start and Early Head Start staff member, manager, parent, and community partner. It is the key question we seek to answer in our national research and evaluation studies. And it led the Congress in 1998 to enact new legislative mandates that Head Start programs are beginning to implement to assess children's progress towards specific learning outcomes, and to analyze and use information on child outcomes in their local program self-assessment process.

How are our children doing? A major way we begin to answer this question is through initial screening and ongoing assessment of every child in Head Start and Early Head Start. As mandated in the Program Performance Standards, initial screening of children is carried out to identify evidence of developmental, sensory, or behavioral concerns and to determine if children should receive a more formal evaluation to identify disabilities. Ongoing assessment is also required for each child to identify his strengths and needs, to help tailor learning experiences and other services, and to support staff in communicating and working with parents and families.

This Bulletin provides a wide variety of ideas and strategies on initial screening and ongoing assessment; connections between assessment, curriculum and individualization; and ways to implement new policies on assessing and analyzing information on child outcomes in your program. Authors from the Head Start Bureau, research projects, state government agencies, and local Head Start and Early Head Start programs contributed the following articles to help you think about and work on new ways to improve your program-

• We begin with an article, by Judy Jablon and Amy Dombro, experts in early childhood education and assessment, that reinforces the central importance of staff becoming skilled observers of children and using their observations to enhance children's learning and development.
• Four articles describe efforts in local Head Start agencies to improve screening, assessment, and linkages with program curriculum. Jan Greenberg tells how East Coast Migrant Head Start created their current screening and ongoing assessment approach-and how they are planning to meet new mandates to use child outcome data in program self-assessment and continuous improvement. Leaders from Head Start programs in Jackson, Michigan, and Seattle, Washington, describe efforts to improve and link curricula and ongoing assessment efforts. Larry Schweinhart and Ann Brown describe how the High/Scope Child Observation Record system is being utilized in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as the foundation for an ongoing child assessment system.
• Jim O'Brien of the Head Start Bureau provides an article on how initial screening and ongoing assessment successfully supports children with disabilities in Head Start and Early Head Start.
• Leaders from Early Head Start programs in Vermont, Delaware, and Missouri provide accounts of efforts to involve parents as integral partners in the assessment process; to use a research-based tool to assess the quality of classroom environments to complement child assessment and internal program monitoring efforts; and to use an assessment tool to improve the quality and outcomes of services by home visitors to children and families.
• Head Start Director Gayle Cunningham shares her perspective on and lessons learned from participating in a Head Start Quality Research Center Study. A summary of recent HSQRC findings accompany her interview.
• Two articles describe statewide collaborative efforts by Head Start grantees in Rhode Island and Ohio to develop common approaches for assessing and analyzing information on child outcomes.
• The Head Start Child Outcomes Framework, which accompanied the recent Information Memorandum on Using Child Outcomes in Program Self-Assessment (IM-00-18), is reproduced as an additional resource for readers.
• Dollie Wolverton of the Head Start Bureau provides an overview of the National Head Start Child Development Institute which provided more than 3200 Head Start managers with a week-long professional development experience keyed to the goal of fostering and assessing progress on child outcomes and school readiness.

How are our children doing? This question was a passionate concern for Helen Taylor, Associate Commissioner of the Head Start Bureau from 1993 until her death on October 3, 2000. Helen worked tirelessly to strengthen program quality, increase funding, and enhance accountability. She believed wholeheartedly in the importance of Head Start agencies using state-of-the-art screening and assessment methods and using assessment to improve curriculum, enrich learning experiences, and engage families as partners. She recognized the challenge of demonstrating accountability for child outcomes in new ways as critical to Head Start's future.We dedicate this Bulletin to her memory.

Tom Schultz is the Director of the Program Support Division, Head Start Bureau.T: 202-205-8323; E: tschultz@acf.dhhs.gov.

 

Key Concepts

Screening

The screening process is the preliminary step used to determine if sensory, behavioral, and developmental skills are progressing as expected, or if there are causes for concern or a perceived need for further evaluation.The screening itself does not determine a diagnosis or need for early intervention. However, it may suggest the need for an in-depth evaluation that can make those determinations. To ensure that children with special needs are identified early, Head Start requires screenings to be conducted within 45 days from entry into the program. Screenings are not one-time events-if a child is suspected of having a developmental delay later in the program year, a referral is made for a formal evaluation at that time.

Assessment

Assessment is an on-going process to determine a child's strengths and needs. It also assesses the family's strengths, needs, resources, concerns, and priorities. Information from the assessment is used to determine strategies to support the development of the child within the context of the classroom as well as his family, culture, and environment. Assessment is both a formal and informal process.The formal process includes the use of published developmental tests, checklists, or structured observational procedures. Informal assessment includes discussions with parents or caregivers and casual observation of children engaged in their daily tasks.

Formal Evaluation

A formal evaluation is performed by a qualified professional to diagnose a developmental, sensory, or behavioral condition or disability requiring intervention. Most children will not be referred for formal evaluations-only those children identified through the screening and ongoing assessment processes as suspected of having a condition or disability that might require intervention. The Early Intervention/Part C agency or the Local Education Agency in the community must be notified of a child who needs formal evaluation to determine his or her eligibility for early intervention, special education, and/or related services as called for by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). When formal evaluation determines that a child does have a disability, programs work with families and local partners to develop an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) or Individual Education Program (IEP) to address needs identified by the formal evaluation.

 

 

Using What You Learn From Observation: A Form of Assessment
By Judy Jablon and Amy Dombro

Every decision you make about the environment, daily routines, and learning opportunities in your classroom affects children's learning. By assessing children's learning through ongoing observation, you gain insights into children's strengths, knowledge, interests, and skills.You discover barriers that may be inhibiting their success. You reflect on daily life in your program and make adaptations that enable children to overcome obstacles and build on what they know and do well. By using what you learn from observation, you can foster each child's competence and success and create and maintain a high-quality program for children and families.

Some people think of assessment as an end point-something you do to prepare a report for families or to meet a program's requirements. Actually, assessment should be used as an ongoing process to answer questions about children's growth and learning, and to find ways of supporting their development.

Assessing to Find Answers About Individual Children

There is always something new to learn about a child-even children you think you know well. If you make a habit of asking questions, you will get to know who a child is and can keep track of who that child is becoming. Asking specific questions can provide a focus for observations and lead to solutions. You have repeated opportunities to witness children practicing skills, demonstrating knowledge, and exhibiting behaviors in a familiar and comfortable environment. Not only can you observe what children know, but also how they think and solve problems. By collecting observations, you can find answers to your questions and build a picture of children's performance and progress without interfering with their daily activities or usual behavior.

For example, when Laura, an infant caregiver, senses something amiss with five-month-old Kara's fine motor development, she refers to the observational checklist she uses to monitor children's development. Based on her observations, she realizes Kara is not bringing both hands to midline, while Taylor, another child the same age, does so frequently. Laura continues observing and decides to talk to the physical therapist who consults with the program to request activities to help Kara reach this milestone.

To assess four-year-old Kathy, the teacher photographed Kathy and Josie playing together in the block area. Several days later, he made some notes about the conversation Kathy was having with another preschooler. On yet a third occasion, he saved a painting Kathy made with Josie. When it is time to evaluate Kathy's performance and progress, her teacher's judgments about her growing ability to interact with her peers will be based on these and other observations.

These examples illustrate how day-to-day assessment of young children can help monitor their development and learning and help you make meaningful decisions about how to support their continued progress.

There is always something new to learn about a child-even children you think you know well. If you make a habit of asking questions, you will get to know who a child is and can keep track of who that child is becoming.

What are some of your questions about the children in your care? Observing can help you learn about a child's:

• Health and physical development. What kinds of large motor and small motor activities does the child prefer? How does the child manipulate scissors and crayons? Does the family have concerns about the child's health?
• Temperament. Can a child generally be described as flexible? Slow to warm up or fearful? Feisty or intense?
• Skills and abilities. What does the child do well? What does the child find challenging? What skills is the child trying to achieve?
• Interests. What activities cause a child's eyes to light up? What does the child talk about? When given a choice, what does the child choose to do?
• Culture and home life. How does the child express cultural or family traditions during play? How is discipline handled and affection expressed at home?
• Approach to learning. How does the child approach new activity? How would you describe the child's interaction with materials?
• Use of verbal language. How much language does the child have? Does the child talk to other children? Other adults? What does the child talk about?
• Use of body language. How does the child move? Does the child use gestures? Is the child physically expressive?
• Social interactions with adults and peers. Does the child interact with other children? How does the child initiate interactions? How does the child handle conflicts?
• Cognitive skills. Does the child show interest in books and other print material? Does the child notice similarities and differences?

Assessing to Inform Decisions About Programming and Teaching

Observing and reflecting lead to insights and interventions that work. You can apply what you learn from observations to modify your program in order to adapt your environment, daily routines, and teaching strategies. At the end of the day, Karlene, an infant caregiver, reflects on what she has seen this past week:

Over the past three days, Lynn, age 7 months, has been getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. Today, she put one hand in front of the other, moved a knee forward, rocked slightly back and then crawled for several feet.

We are always mindful of safety. Since we have a child starting to crawl, I will crawl around the floor and look for potential hazards. That way we'll be able to let Lynn freely explore the room.

Periodically observing daily routines ensures that they get the same attention and planning as all the other valuable learning experiences in your program. Jeff, a preschool teacher, observed rest time was becoming difficult especially with Nicholas, age 4 1/2. As Jeff writes at the end of the week:

Nicholas whines when I dim the lights and say it is time for a rest. He tells me, "I want to play, not sleep." On Tuesday, he laid down on his mat for a few minutes and began fidgeting. Soon he rolled off his mat and onto his neighbor's.

My solution has been to adapt rest time by letting Nicholas-and other children who don't sleep or nap-bring a quiet work activity with them to their mats, such as paper, crayons and books. This seems to be working.

By observing, you learn about children's interests, strengths, and experiences. You can use this information to individualize instruction for the children in your program. A preschool teacher notes:

Leticia, age 3, whose home language is Russian, rarely speaks in school. One day we were talking about pets and Leticia didn't say a word. But the next day, she and her mom came to school with Leticia's guinea pig from home.

I found out Leticia understands more English than I thought she did. I knew I had to build on this to help her feel more comfortable speaking at school. So, we wrote a story about Tiger, her guinea pig. Leticia worked on an illustration of what Tiger eats. I always have a camera on hand for moments like this so I took some photos of Leticia, her mom, and Tiger. I gave one photo to Leticia to take home and kept some in our class photo album. After this, Leticia began talking more to me and other children.

Assessing to Understand Challenging Behavior

Every teacher struggles with challenging behavior. Careful assessment of young children can give you the clues to address discipline issues. Asking questions, looking for strengths, and enlisting the support of families in positive ways can benefit everyone involved. This case study of Denise illustrates how one teacher used these strategies successfully.

Regina, an excellent classroom manager and usually quite resourceful in finding ways to support children, did not know how to respond to Denise, a preschooler in her classroom. She explains:

When we're sitting in circle, Denise doesn't seem to understand what is going on. She doesn't follow directions. I'm continually telling her to settle down and to stop talking.

I decided to begin recording mostly positive behaviors-for myself and to share with Denise's grandmother, who has had more than her share of people complaining about Denise's behavior. I thought by building our relationship and strengthening the relationship between Denise and her grandmother, she would get the support she needs at home and in school.

At first Regina had to work hard and look carefully to find something to write about. Over time it became easier. Here are a few observations she recorded and sent home:

During a group discussion about favorite foods, Denise looked around and fidgeted as she waited for a turn to speak. At her turn, she said her favorite food was blueberry pancakes. She said she could eat 100 of them. She smiled when three other children agreed.

Denise's face tightened when another child crumpled the edge of her painting. She moved her hands as if to pinch him. Then she looked over and called me for help. I asked what happened. Paul explained he crumpled Denise's painting by accident when he hung his painting up on the drying line. He told her he was sorry. She smiled and said, "That's OK" to Paul.

Regina has used her observations not only to build her relationship with Denise, but also to strengthen Denise's relationship with her grandmother, turning grandmother into an ally supporting Denise-at home and in school. Regina explains:

Denise is starting to feel better about herself. She beamed and told me her grandmother is proud of her. Denise's grandmother has called me to say how much she appreciates the positive notes. I have come to care for Denise and the way she grabs life so fully - even though that means she may disrupt circle time.

Assessing to Foster Each Child's Competence and Success

Assessment can help teachers make good decisions about how to intervene in ways that support each child's success as a learner. As you get to know children and your respect and appreciation for them grows, it is more likely your decisions about how and when to intervene will be based on their interests and needs. This is the essence of individualizing.

Sometimes the best thing you can do to support a child's learning is to step back to let the child experience something-even if that means the child will take a risk or make a mistake. Taking a few moments to observe a child at play or work may be just what you need to figure out if you should stay out of the action. When you do step in, rely on your observations to guide you. Ask the right questions, make the appropriate comments, or offer materials that will stimulate and stretch the child's thinking.

The chart on this page shows examples of decisions teachers might make based on their knowledge, appreciation, and respect for the children under their care. The next time you observe children, think of a question you can ask about a child or how you might intervene to support a child's success.

Chart

Child's Age: What You Observed

6-Month-Old Child: Babbles back when you talk with him

What You Might Decide To Do:

• Note his language development and desire to communicate by describing to him what is happening during his daily routines, such as diaper changing and mealtimes.
• Pause to let him respond through sounds and gestures.

Child's Age: What You Observed

22-Month-Old Child: Cries lately when her grandmother leaves in the morning.

What You Might Decide To Do:

• Be available to support her when it is time for grandmother to say good-bye.
• Show respect and let her know she can share her feelings with you by listening to and acknowledging her feelings.
• Show her the picture of her family hanging on the wall.

Child's Age: What You Observed

3-Year-Old Child: Told about making dumplings with her parents over the weekend.

What You Might Decide To Do:

• Provide cultural continuity by talking about foods children eat at home during lunchtime conversation.
• Add books with pictures of foods from different cultures to the library corner.
• Invite Baili's parent(s) to prepare dumplings or another favorite dish with the children.

Child's Age: What You Observed

4-Year-Old Child: Arguing with Edward about who is taller.

What You Might Decide To Do:

• Observe if they can problem solve on their own. (In a few minutes, Sarah gets a ruler to measure Edward.)
• Make a growth chart with the class to mark their changing heights.

Child's Age: What You Observed

5-Year-Old Child: Built a barn complete with stalls and a milking machine in the block area.

What You Might Decide To Do:

• Ask him to talk about how he helps his older brother milk the cows in the barn.
• Reinforce what he already knows by hanging up pictures of the interior and exterior of barns in the block area.

We encourage you to conduct ongoing assessments. Everyone will benefit. Your work will be much more satisfying as you ask and answer questions about teaching and learn ing. Your relationships with parents also will be enriched by the stories you share with them. Finally, you will encourage the development of the children in your care as you create an appropriate learning environment and nurture each child's individuality.

This article is adapted from the book, The Power of Observation, by Judy Jablon, Amy Dombro, and Margo Dichtelmiller (1999. Washington, D.C.: Teaching Strategies, Inc.).

Judy Jablon is an Early Childhood Curriculum and Assessment Specialist and a developer of the Work Sampling System. T: 973-761-4118; E: judyjablon@aol.com.

Amy Dombro is a consultant to infant/toddler and family day care programs and a trainer of Head Start and child care staff. T: 212-928-0545; E: amydombro@aol.com.

 

 

The Challenge of Assessing Children: One Migrant Head Start's Story
By Jan Greenberg

East Coast Migrant Head Start Project (ECMHSP), like every other Head Start program in this country, is actively engaged in meeting the challenge of implementing the legislative changes concerning Head Start program and child outcomes. These include, "establishing additional results-based educational performance standards and performance measures, and adapting these standards and measures for use by programs in their self-assessments..." (ACYF-IM-HS-00-18, 8/10/00).

This challenge offers us an opportunity to take a step back and look at what we already are doing to measure child outcomes, and what still needs to be done. It entails reviewing our current screening and assessment system, particularly our assessment tool and process. For many years, ECMHSP centers have used the Denver II to screen all children, and the Early Learning Accomplishment Profile (E-LAP: ages birth to 3 years) and Learning Accomplishment Profile (LAP: ages 3 to 6 years) for ongoing assessment and to track children's progress across a broad range of skills. We are asking ourselves a specific question: Does the E-LAP/LAP provide adequate child outcome information? If not, what other assessment tool does?

This, of course, raises other questions: What criteria will we use to evaluate different assessment tools? How would a change of assessment affect our continuity system? What are the pros and cons of changing our assessment system? If we change our assessment tool, how will that impact programs that integrate the E-LAP/LAP into their curriculum framework?

ECMHSP has established a Child Assessment Committee composed of ECMHSP, delegate agency, and center staff to address these and other issues and questions. This article provides background information about ECMHSP, describes work the committee has accomplished, and explains the questions and issues under discussion.

Who We Are

ECMHSP was established in 1974 to provide continuity of Head Start services to the children of migrant farm workers and their families along the East Coast of the United States. It has evolved over the years from a small, two-center program in Florida, to a multi-state, multi-agency, multi-center operation. Currently, ECMHSP contracts with 20 delegate agencies in 12 states (AL, DE, FL, GA, ME, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA, SC, and VA). There are a total of 88 centers serving over 8,000 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in full-day programs.

The majority of ECMHSP children and families are Spanish-speaking families from Mexico, Texas, and Puerto Rico. ECMHSP programs also serve children and families from Haiti, Guatemala, Canada (Mixtec Indians who cross the Canadian border into Maine and work in the blueberry barrens), and the United States.

Programs seek staff members who speak the children's languages. Parents often are hired as teacher's aides for this reason. Many of the families live in Florida from October through May and travel up-stream after the agricultural season is over to work in northern states. Centers open and close with the comings and goings of migrant families, rather than operating on a school year schedule. Thus, ECMHSP programs share children as their families move from place to place to do agricultural work. Many of the children come into Head Start as infants and stay within the ECMHSP system until they transition into kindergarten.

What We Do: Screening and Assessment

Within this context, ECMHSP has developed and implemented a screening/assessment system to provide—

• Important information about children's competencies and skill development;
• Opportunities for family involvement and input;
• Information for use by classroom teachers in individualizing learning activities and creating classroom lesson plans; and
• A communication and continuity link between all the centers in the ECMHSP system (for E-LAP/LAP).

All children are screened within the first two weeks of enrollment using the Denver II instrument. The first E-LAP/LAP assessment is completed in the next month. The results, along with family input, are used to create individual Child Activity Plans (CAPs) for infants, toddlers, or preschoolers.

The CAP identifies learning objectives and related classroom activities in the following areas of development (similar to the Domains in the Head Start Outcomes Framework): language, cognitive, gross motor, fine motor, pre-writing (only in the LAP), social-emotional, and self-help. Information from the CAPs is used to develop lesson plans for toddler and preschool classrooms. E-LAPs/LAPs are updated monthly, as are the children's CAPs. Programs that are open for eight weeks or less only use Denver II screenings.

ECMHSP uses the E-LAP/LAP as a key part of its communication and continuity system. Classroom teachers assess each child each month and record the information on two identical E-LAP/LAP forms. One copy is provided to families when they inform the center they are leaving; the other goes in the child's records folder, which contains education, health, and family information.

Children's records are sent back to the ECMHSP main office when they leave a center. When families come to the next ECMHSP center, they give their child's E-LAP/LAP form to the classroom teachers. The center also requests the child's records from the ECMHSP main office. This information helps teachers at the new center, as they continue the assessment process and monthly updates. Thus, the E-LAP/LAP form is a communication tool that allows centers to provide continuity of education services as children move.

ECMHSP chose to use the Denver II screening a number of years ago because it met important criteria. It is useful because—

• Hispanic children are included in the re-standardization;
• It is a recognized screening tool;
• There are English and Spanish versions;
• Training resources are locally available to centers;
• It covers children with ages ranging from birth to six years; and
• It can be administered by paraprofessionals.

ECMHSP chose to use the E-LAP/LAP for ongoing child assessment for many of the same reasons. There are English and Spanish versions, it can be administered by paraprofessionals, it includes children with ages ranging from birth to six years, and it is a recognized assessment tool. Both the Denver II and E-LAP/LAP are relatively easy to administer once staff understand the purpose of the tools, the information they provide, and the mechanics of administration.

With such a long-standing and integrated systemwide screening and assessment process in place, reviewing our assessment tool/process to consider change could be a daunting task! However, ECMHSP looks at it as a chance to strengthen our assessment system, reinforce the connections between assessment and curriculum, and measure more accurately children's progress towards established goals and outcomes.

Where We Are

The ECMHSP Child Assessment team has established a course of action. They are gathering information on commercial assessment tools, reviewing Head Start materials on child outcomes, program performance measures and program self-assessment, and establishing criteria and indicators for evaluating assessment tools.

The last activity has entailed quite a bit of discussion to flesh out the indicators for each criterion. So far, our global criteria include staff and training, cost, age-range, play-based, correlation with curriculum, and correlation with the Head Start child outcomes.

One of the criteria-the need to be culturally and linguistically appropriate-requires thoughtful consideration. We ask ourselves, "What do we mean by culturally and linguistically appropriate? How do we determine whether or not an assessment tool is culturally and linguistically appropriate?"

Since all assessment tools and assessment developers are influenced by culture, no assessment is entirely free of bias. Assessment tools measure what is thought to be important to the developer and to the society at large. For example, mainstream American society values competencies in reading and writing. Thus many assessments emphasize related cognitive and fine motor skills. Other cultures value oral traditions and interpersonal relationship skills. Because our programs serve children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, we have developed the following indicators and questions. These preliminary indicators may be refined as we apply them-

• Pilot/standardization studies. Was the assessment tool piloted with children similar to our population of children?
• Availability of tool in other languages. Is the tool available in Spanish? Other languages? If yes, is it a direct translation from the English, or is it an adapted translation (i.e., items assess information similar to the English version, but use words, pictures, and concepts that are culturally familiar and relevant to Latino or other cultures)?
• Protocol for item administration and interpretation of responses. Do assessors have flexibility in administering items? If a child gives a correct answer, but in his/her home language, is that response acceptable? What kind of latitude do assessors have in interpreting children's responses? Do assessors have to use a prescribed kit of assessment materials, or can they use materials familiar to the children?

Where We Are Going

The Child Assessment Team is ready to begin the work of evaluating selected assessment tools using our criteria and indicators. Since our programs already use the LAP, we will begin with that tool. This will also entail correlating the LAP with The Creative Curriculum used by many migrant programs.

Once the committee has evaluated all the assessment tools, ECMHSP senior management staff will review the information and make an informed decision. They will take into account the impact of any change on our established continuity system, staff training issues, the integration of assessment and curriculum, and measurement of child outcomes as mandated by Head Start.

This is an exciting time for ECMHSP. Our system review undoubtedly will have a profound effect on the educational services we provide. While we already know a great deal about children's developmental and educational status, this work will help us know better where we want our children to go and how to tell when they get there. This is a golden opportunity to create and deliver an even stronger, sounder educational experience for young children-one that will prepare them to become lifelong, successful learners.

Jan Greenberg is the Training and Development Associate at ECMHSP. T: 703-243-7522; E: greenberg@ecmhsp.org.

The following ECMHSP staff contributed to the article: Leila Arjona, Clara Cappiello, Grace Horsman, and Kim Stacy.

 

 

Linking Assessment with Curriculum
By Margo Dichtelmiller, Mary Cunningham DeLuca, and Brenda Webster

Developing a curriculum to help Head Start teachers ensure the highest quality education for the young children they serve is an important objective of our large and diverse program. We offer Head Start for over 750 preschoolers, and Early Head Start for 95 infants and toddlers, through the Community Action Agency in Jackson and Hillsdale Counties, Michigan. Preschool program options include half day, full day, extended day, and full year center-based services.

The journey to our current curriculum began in 1997, when we decided we were not satisfied with our curriculum. Like other Head Start programs, we purchased and used several different curricula over the past ten years. However, none fully met the needs of our program and families. As we looked at those available, cost was often a factor as was compatibility with the Head Start Program Performance Standards. It became apparent that what we wanted did not exist. We would have to take the leap and develop our own.

As it turned out, the path to curriculum development was not straightforward. At the same time we were discussing curriculum, we were also struggling with priorities related to assessment: how to develop outcomes, collect data, more fully utilize the Performance Standards and integrate the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation standards into our program.

Assessment was also a concern among our teachers. They thought that our assessment system required too much paperwork. They viewed it as an additional and unnecessary burden. We wanted an assessment approach that met certain criteria: covers all areas of the curriculum; identifies the skills and behaviors teachers need to look for; is a child-friendly approach and can be used during daily classroom activities; and provides information to help teachers make decisions about what to teach. We decided to begin the process of change by looking for a new approach to assessment. After careful review, we concluded that the Work Sampling System met our criteria and addressed our needs.

Learning to Use a New Assessment System

We phased in the Work Sampling System over a two-year period. This strategy proved to be cost effective and allowed staff time to become fully knowledgeable about the assessment system. We believed that by moving slowly, we would have greater success. Margo Dichtelmiller, one of the developers of Work Sampling, trained our education staff. Head Start training dollars and program dollars paid for this training.

The 1998 school year started with staff development focusing on general assessment principles, observation/documentation methods, and introduction of the Work Sampling System. The consultant continued to meet with our educational staff every six weeks. Separate meetings were held with teachers and teacher assistants. At the beginning of each session, the group reflected on their successes and challenges using the assessment system and we encouraged teachers to share solutions to challenges they encountered.

In October 1998, we created a Child Progress Report based on the Work Sampling System Summary Report and trained staff to use it. The report includes space for teacher evaluations of a child's performance and for a short narrative about the child's progress. At the first Parent-Teacher Conferences in November, teachers shared this report with parents. Staff and parents liked this new approach to reporting, which used descriptive language to highlight the child's competencies. Using teacher input, the progress report form has been revised several times to make it as clear and informative as possible.

The following spring, the consultant met with each classroom team for thirty minutes to review their Work Sampling materials. During these sessions, they examined observation notes, developmental checklists, and progress reports and discussed questions and concerns. This approach had several important benefits. First, it allowed staff and consultants to become acquainted and build a level of trust. Second, it provided a safe environment to monitor how well teachers were using the Work Sampling method and to answer questions specific to each classroom. At this point, we focused on using observation to complete the Work Sampling Developmental Checklists. Although our staff were always watching and learning from children, they needed to learn how to make systematic and objective observations in order to make use of the assessment process and materials.

In 1999, the second year, we made one significant change in the staff development program in response to staff feedback. Instead of meeting separately with teachers and assistants, we convened smaller groups of classroom teams. The same workshop was delivered four times so groups of 15-20 had ample opportunity to ask questions. We introduced Portfolio collection, the final piece of the Work Sampling assessment system, during the 1999-2000 school year, but teachers were not expected to use Portfolios until the next school year.

Turning the Focus to Curriculum

As teachers became familiar with Portfolio collection, we concentrated on documenting Language and Literacy goals. This was consistent with the emphasis in Head Start on emergent literacy skills. However, we soon realized many teachers were not familiar with the most recent research on emergent reading and writing. More significantly, they needed concrete ideas for ways to promote literacy growth through interactions with children in developmentally appropriate ways. It was apparent that there was a need to revamp the curriculum for three to five-year olds.

So the new assessment system led us back to curriculum! We developed a preschool curriculum, Planned Play, that reflects the assessment goals and meshed with Head Start mandates.

The curriculum addresses the seven domains of child outcomes identified by the Work Sampling System: Personal and Social Development, Language and Literacy, Mathematical Thinking, Scientific Thinking, Social Studies, The Arts, and Physical Development. These domains overlap with the eight domains included in the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework.

Each curriculum domain has components. For example, Personal and Social Development has five components—

1. A) Self-concept
2. B) Self-control
3. C) Approach to learning
4. D) Interaction with others
5. E) Social problem solving

Within each domain, curricular components are represented by several indicators for four-year-olds taken from the Work Sampling Developmental Checklist. These become child objectives.

For each indicator, we have identified specific behavioral expectations for children, based on the rationale and examples in the Work Sampling Developmental Guidelines, teacher knowledge, and classroom experience. Expectations for children are also based on what we expect children to do by the end of their participation in Head Start, before making the transition to kindergarten. In some cases, we identified separate expectations for three-year-olds, where expectations differed significantly from four-year-olds. For example, in the domain of Language and Literacy, under the component of Writing, one indicator is: Represents stories through pictures, dictation, and play.

The expectations for children for this indicator include:

• Understands that pictures can represent objects
• Acts out stories or represents them with flannel board pieces
• Draws a picture and tells a story about it
• Labels pictures with words
• Dictates to teacher a story about their picture
• Uses characters or information from stories in the dramatic play

The curriculum lists teacher behaviors that support this learning, including:

• Use props in dramatic play that allow children to act out stories and their own experiences
• Ask children to tell you about their picture and write what they tell you
• Give children many open-ended materials to explore and use for representation
• Add props to the block and truck area to encourage representation

In addition to outlining expectations for children and teaching strategies to support children's development, the Planned Play curriculum is based on the use of long-term thematic units. Our teachers agreed that themes are appropriate for young children; they promote in-depth investigation and reinforce children's interests. Our teachers were also glad to have more time to inform and involve parents in the longer studies. During the 2000-2001 school year, teachers will participate in staff development activities related to the curriculum and use of thematic units.

We have worked hard to dovetail the curriculum with a range of standards and outcomes we want our preschool Head Start to address. A cover page for each curriculum domain lists relevant program measures and Head Start Performance Standards. In addition, the cover page lists the related NAEYC Accreditation Criteria with examples, plus the agency outcomes developed by the Community Action Agency for children from birth to five. Ongoing staff development helps make our standards and outcomes meaningful at the classroom level.

Getting to Know the New Curriculum

After initial drafts of several domains were completed, a group of teachers reviewed the curriculum and met as a focus group. They explained what they believed should be included in a curriculum and how they thought the curriculum would be received. In response to their input, we added lists of field trip possibilities and other useful classroom resources.

The curriculum was presented to the teachers during a training session in August 2000. The entire group reviewed the curriculum introduction. Each domain was reviewed by a small group of teachers who summarized the major points and reported to the larger group. The teachers' response to Planned Play was positive. They appreciated the well-defined expectations and the examples of what a child should be able to do typically by the end of Head Start. They made the following comments about the curriculum—

• "This is going to make planning easier and more organized."
• "I like having a framework for linking my planning to my assessment goals."
• "I wish something like this would have been available when I was new to the agency."

We believe that involving the teachers in developing the curriculum and basing it on the already familiar assessment system, Work Sampling, diminished resistance to trying something new.

The Policy Council was directly involved in reviewing and providing direction to the curriculum. Parent input included the development of both an anti-bias statement and a transition plan from Early Head Start to Head Start. The Policy Council approved the curriculum in August 2000.

Next Steps

The Planned Play curriculum is a living document. We want to add input from teachers, such as descriptions of long-term studies and activities they have used in their classrooms. We also want them to note expectations that seem too advanced or too easy for preschoolers. Future plans include writing a parent guide to accompany the curriculum and developing a birth-to-three curriculum so our program will have a continuous curriculum from infancy through preschool. We will also be looking at how the curriculum meshes with the Head Start Outcomes Framework.

The Early Head Start specialists are also piloting a new assessment tool, the Ounce of Prevention Scale. When it is adopted, we will link their assessment to curriculum activities, as we did for preschool Head Start. We hope to have this work completed by September 2001.

Margo Dichtelmiller is an Assistant Professor at Eastern Michigan University. T: 734-455-2059; E: mdichtel@on-line.emich.edu.

Mary Cunningham DeLuca is the Director for Children's Services at the Community Action Agency in Jackson, Michigan. T: 517-784-4800; E: mdeluca@caajlh.org.

Brenda Webster is an Education Specialist with Head Start in Jackson, Michigan. T: 517-784-4800; E: bwebster@caajh.org.

 

 

From Curriculum to Outcomes: One Program's Experience
An Interview with Mary Carr-Wilt

Guest Editor Judy David interviewed Mary Carr-Wilt for this article. Frances Jones-Baker, Children's Services Coordinator, also contributed information to this article.

Mary Carr-Wilt is the Program Manager of the Seattle Public Schools Head Start Program. For over four years, she has been working with her management team to improve the quality of their program, which serves 454 children in 13 schools. In this interview, Mary describes the history of their efforts, decisions they made, and ways they involved teachers in changing their curriculum and assessment system. She is excited about the results she has seen in classroom practices and child outcomes.

Q: What prompted you to make changes in the program?
I was newly hired in 1996 with a strong background in early childhood education and family literacy. At the time, Head Start was anticipating newly revised Program Performance Standards. Within our school district, there were other changes as a result of an internal monitoring and evaluation of our Head Start services. As a program, we were taking a close look at all of our systems. Our management team took the new Head Start regulations very seriously-particularly those related to child outcomes. The State of Washington was also defining language and literacy outcomes for children birth to five, plus the school district was responding to state and national requirements for K-12 educational outcomes. The climate was one of change.

Q: Where did you begin?
It was clear to me that our long-term survival would depend on demonstrating that Head Start was the first important step in the educational experience for Seattle's low-income children. As we began to assess the quality of our program, we realized there was a disparity in our classroom practices. While all of our lead teachers had CDAs (1/3 of the teachers held an Associate or higher degree), there was not a consistent link between their education and the richness of their practice. Our program lacked a strong infrastructure for monitoring and developing teacher competency. We were not reflecting the latest research findings about early childhood education or about language and literacy performance in low-income children. We believed that given the emphasis on literacy outcomes at the federal, state, and district levels, the best place to begin would be to study the mandated outcomes and assess our own practice.

Six classroom teams volunteered to sit on a Literacy Task Force in May of 1998 and were charged with the task of exploring the topics of literacy development and curriculum, language assessment, and prevailing practices in our Head Start classrooms. Consultants on literacy development met with the Task Force to present current research ideas. The new Head Start Program Performance Standards were reviewed and the group concluded that some standards were being addressed in all classrooms but no class was addressing all standards. We experimented with formal and informal language assessment in a small sample of children. We found some discrepancy in teachers' perceptions of the children's language skills versus their actual performance. Some teachers were surprised that the sample of children generally fell below average in vocabulary. The Leadership Team concluded that taken together, this information indicated a need to enhance our teachers' knowledge base in language and literacy as well as to deepen our classroom practices. The fact that about 38 percent of our children come from families whose home language is other than English and the fact that we serve a high number of children with special education needs also called for taking a special look at practices.

Q: Did the language assessment lead to curriculum changes?
Yes, we realized that if we were going to be able to provide the highest quality program for all our children, we would need to develop a strong system for ensuring quality from classroom to classroom. That system would have to link child assessment and goal setting to specific curriculum strategies and have a strong teacher training plan to support implementation.

In my former position with the State Department of Education, I reviewed many educational curricula. I believe that the DLM Early Childhood Program offers a comprehensive literacy-based approach that addresses the needs and values of our program and the district. DLM has 20 monthly curriculum units. Each unit has a teacher's planning guide for activities, children's books, and an assessment tool to mark children's progress. Materials are adapted for use with children who speak Spanish or have disabilities.

The editor of the materials was invited to meet with our Leadership Team to discuss the origins and scope of the materials. The Team agreed that the materials would provide a comprehensive vehicle for us to address and assess Head Start requirements consistently across our classrooms. We asked the members of the Task Force to field test a DLM unit-Friends and Family-for a month and give us their impressions. The Leadership Team wanted to make sure that key players supported the program's adoption if we chose to move forward.

When the editor came back to guide the Task Force on planning for the test unit, we invited all staff, Region X representatives, our special education and mental health partners, and other local early childhood programs. At the end of the pilot month, the Task Force listed their impressions of the DLM program strengths, concerns they felt we would need to address if we adopted the program, and strategies for dealing with the concerns. The classroom teams were largely pleased with the materials-they were well organized, bright, fun, had lots of choices, and were well received by the children. The group consensus was to go forward with the curriculum.

Q: What were the concerns and how did you address them?
The curriculum required a more detailed level of planning from teachers, including the identification of specific strategies linked to individual objectives. The materials called for regular and detailed review of child progress. Time management for planning and documentation was different. To provide some level of familiarity, several members of the Task Force adapted our current planning materials to use with the new program. We began the 1999-2000 school year with a three-day institute on the program, supporting staff to implement the first month's unit. There was a steep learning curve for some teachers and some were worried that having a selection of recommended activities would take away their creativity. Others were worried that they might be evaluated on their ability to use the materials. We reassured them that the curriculum was flexible and that they would have plenty of time to learn about it.

Frances, our Coordinator for Children's Services, met monthly with the teachers to discuss concerns and support them in the development of plans and materials for the units. There was some level of discomfort with the wide range of skill development (2 1/2 - 6 years) that the program addresses in its Developmental Outcomes Checklist. The staff went through this instrument framework and agreed upon the skills that they felt were appropriate for our four-year-olds when they leave Head Start. Staff adopted the final draft last spring and we are testing the outcomes this year.

Q: What assessment strategies are being used in your program?
We use the DIAL as a screening tool when children enter the program. DLM's curriculum units are month-long and at the end of each one, a unit checklist is used. A child's progress is noted across all areas of development. So now, on a regular basis, we collect data to use for curriculum planning and individualization and we have consistent data across all the classrooms. We have been using the DLM Developmental Outcomes Checklist twice a year to report on individual children's progress. We're working on meshing the monthly unit assessments, which are used internally in the classrooms, and the Developmental Checklist. Teachers also record observations on six children every week who are the focus of a weekly team meeting. By the end of the month, each child in the classroom has been discussed. We've set up a research design to see if our children are meeting the child outcomes on the DLM Developmental Checklist. Five children from each classroom will be assessed at three points during the school year. We will analyze the data by gender, home language, and special needs. We want to see if the indicators are correct and if children are progressing in every classroom.

Q: How are these initiatives in curriculum and outcomes linked to staff development?
We've revisited child development because we knew that if the teachers could talk about that, it would help them reflect on their own practice. So we've set up on-site tailor-made courses through a community college. The courses, Applied Child Development and Early Childhood Education Curriculum Planning, use our curriculum as a foundation for planning, discussion, and analysis. One third of our teachers don't have their AA degrees and they're getting credit; other staff members are taking the course to ensure that everyone is at the same theoretical level. We're also taking data from the research project and based on the children's outcomes, giving curriculum support to our teachers where it's needed.

Q: What have been some of the biggest challenges?
Change has been hard for all of us, particularly when we've been comfortable with our original way of doing business, and the change calls for developing new skills. There is always a lot of fear that we may not be able to meet the new requirements. And then there's the reality that in the learning stage, things take a lot longer to get done than when you are proficient. That learning curve period can be very frustrating.

Q: What changes have you seen in the program as a result?
Although we are at the beginning of this journey, early on we observed visible changes in such areas as richness of the classroom environments of our newer teachers and a larger variety of language experiences. Lesson plans across the program are much more specific. Activities are clearly linked to curriculum and child goals.

Q: Where does the program go next?
You could look at this process and think, "Oh, this is just about adopting a new curriculum," but that's only one element of a larger process. It's been more about looking at what needs to be in place to truly be able to ensure equitable high quality assessment and instruction, and child achievement across our program. The materials we've adopted are very important because the careful alignment between assessment and planning eliminates a lot of guesswork for staff. The DLM curriculum offers a framework for discussing child development, individual differences, and best teaching methods. That framework is the critical foundation for supporting staff and children in this challenge to ensure outcomes. We're working on comparing the DLM checklist with the Head Start Outcomes. We're considering whether an additional form of language assessment is needed to complement the checklist.

This year is about getting comfortable with the materials and process, reviewing our child development knowledge, and reflecting on how the two work together. Next year will need to be about monitoring and coaching for consistency. The following year, with a solid foundation of staff confidence and consistent practice, we'll be able to focus on the critical questions about the impact of our practice on language, literacy, and school readiness.

In the meantime, we're beginning the conversations within our district about how best to align our assessment and curriculum strategies with those of the K-12 system, so that it all clearly fits together for families.

Q: What advice would you give other programs grappling with outcomes and assessment issues?
Take this opportunity to find support in your community from people whose business is curriculum and assessment. We've used researchers and consultants from the beginning to inspire us because we don't have time to design it all ourselves. The regulations really require Head Start Directors to know child development to make informed decisions. Several of us got together and set up a series of four seminars for fellow directors; we presented information on curriculum, phonological awareness, and other topics. There is a lot of pressure on the federal and regional offices to enhance an infrastructure for training and support on curriculum, assessment, and staff development.

Mary Carr-Wilt and Frances Jones Baker can be reached at T:206-252-0960; E: mcarr@seattleschools.org and fjonesbaker@seattleschools.org.

 

 

Using the High/Scope Preschool Child Observation Record (COR)
By Larry Schweinhart and Eileen Storer

The High/Scope Preschool Child Observation Record (COR) is a tool for assessing the development of children two to six years old. The COR meshes quite well with the Head Start Performance Standards and the new Head Start Child Outcomes Framework. It is developmentally appropriate and widely used in Head Start programs. Head Start teachers who complete it several times a year can assess how well their program contributes to children's development. Originally developed for use with the High/Scope curriculum framework, a Head Start grant ten years ago enabled High/Scope to further develop and validate the COR for use in any early childhood program, whatever curriculum it uses. The manual for COR presents evidence of its reliability (i.e., the instrument's ability to consistently measure what it intends to measure) and concurrent validity (i.e., the instrument's ability to provide similar results for what is being measured compared to other testing instruments).

To use the COR, teachers begin by observing children and writing notes to describe their developmentally significant behavior. These notes provide them with evidence to complete 30 items in six areas of development-language and literacy, logic and mathematics, initiative, social relations, creative representation, and music and movement. These areas closely resemble the domains described in the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework. Each item has five specifically described levels, giving the assessment tool a developmental perspective that a simple checklist does not have. The levels are developmentally appropriate, ranging from the easiest to the hardest level, for preschool children two to five years of age. Here, for example, are the five levels for the item on demonstrating knowledge about books—

1. Child does not yet pick up books and hold them conventionally.
2. Child picks up books and holds them conventionally, looking at the pages and turning them.
3. Child picture-reads, telling the story from the pictures on the cover or in the book.
4. Child follows the print on a page, moving his or her eyes in the correct direction (usually left to right and top to bottom).
5. Child appears to read or actually reads a book, pointing to the words and telling the story.

High/Scope recommends that teachers participate in a two-day workshop on how to use the COR and offers these workshops throughout the country. They provide training in how to recognize developmentally significant behavior and describe it in anecdotal notes, how to select the item and item level that each anecdotal note represents, and how to report these results to parents and program officials.

High/Scope is now planning and preparing to expand the COR to both younger and older children. We have developed the High/Scope COR to be used with children from six weeks to three years (overlap ping with the preschool version that begins at age two). In the past few years, we have been working with elementary educators to develop a version of the COR for ages five to seven. We are currently conducting studies of the reliability and validity of each instrument and expect them to be available in 2001.

To consider the COR from the perspective of a director of a local program, we asked Ann Brown, director of the Michigan School Readiness program at the Learning Village, Inc., in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to answer a few questions on her program's use of the COR. Here are our questions and her responses.

Why did your program choose to use the COR for the assessment of young children?
The COR allows us to base our program on what we know about individual children. Teachers might think they already know their children, but the COR goes beyond that to organize our observations and understanding of children. It helps us see groups of children at different times of the day to help us determine if some times need to be planned more carefully. In addition, the COR facilitates our communication with parents. So many parents say, "All the kids do in this program is play. The teachers don't teach them anything." But they need to see the true picture. One of the challenges to programs like Head Start is to communicate to parents what their children are learning. The COR is a deliberate and focused way to communicate with parents about what their children are learning in Head Start.

Using the COR also means improving our interactions with children. Lately, we have been focusing on how well our teacher practices support children's initiative. For example, one day on the playground, a child wanted to walk up the stainless-steel slide. He was holding onto the sides and no other kids were around. His feet were slipping a little, but he was doing it. Referring to the COR items for initiative helped us decide it was okay for the child to do this as long as he was safe.

What do you think of the criticism that the COR is time-consuming?
Teachers who are not used to systematic observation of children's development do have to adjust to the added workload of the COR, but the effort pays off handsomely in their greater knowledge of their children's development, their ability to teach children developmentally, and their ability to communicate with parents about how their children are developing. It takes time to learn how to implement the COR well; it cannot happen overnight. It's taken our staff three years to really feel that we had put all of the parts of the COR together. The curriculum model was in place, the staff were trained, then we began attending to the COR - doing observations and putting them together. The first year, we only did the COR once on each child. Another year, we went from using the manual to the computerized system, which involved some learning. All of the steps took time, but I knew we were doing better than most other programs in the assessment system we were putting into place.

Do you think it is appropriate to use the COR as a screening tool?
No. We use it to develop program plans, and to get information about how to support children's development. We begin by writing anecdotes, which helps us identify issues to address. For example, we can learn about a child's language skills at meals over a period of time. The period of time is required to distinguish a true language issue from a child's lack of comfort in a new program. Observational evidence that is consistent over a few weeks is important to have before making a referral for a formal evaluation.

How does the COR help you with child outcomes?
One of my focuses this year has been to share with staff the outcomes for children by presenting them with pre- and post-program COR comparison data. The discussion helps staff focus on areas of child development and answer the questions: What do we need to know more about? What goals do we want to develop? We use the COR to assess child outcomes for reporting to the government. We are systematically assessing children using an instrument that I trust because it has proven reliability and validity. It's not just a checklist or a homemade assessment tool. The COR really focuses on staff responsiveness to what they do every day. It's feedback from the kids. Information from the COR is a continual topic of conversation.

Overall, the COR accomplishes three things—

• You see children's actions in the context of the classroom and the home.
• You see children not only alone, but also in relationship to their peers and adults.
• The different parts of the COR inform you about all areas of a child's development.

Head Start's new requirement to assess child outcomes has the potential to radically transform the program. An excellent way to ensure that the transformation will enhance children's educational experiences is to use an observational assessment tool of established reliability and validity, and to ensure that it is both developmentally appropriate to children and user-friendly. The COR is such a tool.

Larry Schweinhart is the Research Division Chair and Eileen Storer is a Research Associate at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation. T: 734-485-2000, E: LarryS@highscope.org, and EileenS@highscope.org.

 

 

How Screening and Assessment Practices Support Quality Disabilities Services in Head Start
By Jim O'Brien

The Head Start Performance Standards do not require that any particular strategy, instrument or technique be used. Appropriate procedures, however, should conform to sound early childhood practice and be valid, measuring what they are supposed to measure, and reliable, yielding consistent results over time and across users. Agencies should consult with the program's content area experts in health, child development, and mental health, with parents, and with the Health Services Advisory Committee as they design and implement a developmental screening approach.

Guidance related to 45 CFR 1304.20(b)(1-3)

Head Start works with families and community partners to enable the early detection of obstacles to children's development and then intervenes to reduce or eliminate these barriers. For many children, enrollment in Head Start provides the first indication that a disability or health condition may be affecting their development. To promote developmental and learning outcomes for all children, Head Start programs must plan and implement a sound, systematic approach for developmental screening and ongoing assessment. This screening and assessment system must include the careful selection and administration of instruments and procedures and the competent interpretation of results. The system must be understood and used by the program and parents as a means to support developmental and learning outcomes for all children.

The Performance Standards require that within 45 days of a child entering Head Start, appropriate screening procedures must be completed to identify any developmental, sensory (visual and auditory), and behavioral concerns. These procedures should be appropriate for the child's age, cultural background, and language and be conducted in collaboration with parents. The Performance Standards also require that, when appropriate, standardized developmental screening instruments exist, they should be used, and consultants to the program should be involved in helping programs select procedures. Sound screening instruments are designed to have the sensitivity to identify children who need further assessment and the specificity to exclude those who do not.

For some children the results of screening procedures, combined with information available from the ongoing assessment of progress required for every child (1304.21), may indicate the need for referral for a formal evaluation by a professional. As the Performance Standards (1308.6(b)) note, even standardized developmental screening is insufficient to determine disability. This screening merely identifies those children who require a referral. The formal evaluation, utilizing multiple sources of information from the family and program (including the ongoing developmental assessment of the child) will more fully assess the child's status, and determine what intervention may be needed. (e.g., special education or related services). A successful screening and assessment system requires appropriate instruments and procedures. When staff and parents are well-informed and supported to understand and act upon the information the system provides, it will positively affect child outcomes. When staff and parents commit time and energy to necessary procedures (e.g., docu-mentation of parent permission, timelines, scores, etc.), they expect the program to act upon the information in a timely and systematic manner to address identified needs and concerns. A process that responds to the child's needs can reinforce the parents' expectations that future screening and assessment will be a meaningful activity for them and their child.

The remainder of this article describes approaches to involving all the stakeholders in the screening and assessment system and ways of increasing their understanding and effective participation.

Engaging the Meaningful Participation of Staff and Parents

The planning and implementation of a screening and assessment system requires coordination and communication within the program as well as with community partners. The Disabilities Services Coordinator has the responsibility to provide leadership to the Head Start team and others so that their activities lead to effective parent involvement and developmental services for children with disabilities. (See below) But in addition to these activities, the involvement of the persons with the greatest day-to-day influence on the child's development-the parents and the teachers-is critical.

Some Important Activities for Disabilities Services

• Work with the program team to ensure that parents are informed of the screening's purpose, procedures and results, and kept informed throughout any formal evaluation that may be required.
• Arrange for a formal evaluation of children who have been identified as possibly having a disability. Make a referral to the Local Education Agency/Child Find/Part C Agency as soon as the need is evident.
• Assist Head Start parents and program staff to take an informed and active role in decision meetings required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
• Coordinate with managers and staff implementing health services, ongoing developmental assessments, and family partnerships to assure that the full range of information available is used continuously to inform appropriate program planning for children with disabilities.

Guidelines for Screening and Assessment

1. Screening and assessment should be viewed as services-as part of the intervention process-and not only as a means of identification and measurement.
2. Processes, procedures, and instruments intended for screening and assessment should only be used for their specified purposes.
3. Multiple sources of information should be included in screening and assessment processes.
4. Developmental screening should take place on a periodic basis. It is inappropriate to screen young children only once during their early years. Similarly, provisions should be made for reevaluation or reassessment after services have been initiated.
5. Developmental screening should be viewed as only one path to more in-depth assessment. Failure to qualify for services based on a single source of screening information should not become a barrier to further evaluation for intervention services if other risk factors (e.g., environmental, medical, familial) are present.
6. Screening and assessment procedures should be reliable and valid (i.e., consistent in their ability to measure what they are intended to measure).
7. Family members should be an integral part of the screening and assessment process. Information provided by family members is critically important for determining whether or not to initiate more in-depth assessment and for designing appropriate intervention strategies. Parents should be given complete informed consent at all stages of the screening and assessment process.
8. During screening and assessment of developmental strengths and problems, the more relevant and familiar the tasks and setting are to the child and the child's family, the more likely it is that the results will be valid.
9. All tests, procedures, and processes intended for screening or assessment must be culturally sensitive.
10. Extensive and comprehensive training is needed by those who screen and assess very young children.

Meisels, S.J. & S. Provence. 1989. Screening and Assessment: Guidelines for Identifying Young Disabled and Developmentally Vulnerable Children and Their Families. Washington, DC: National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, p. 24.

Common Pitfalls in Screening

• Scheduling a screening when the problem is already observable. When trained staff report an obvious problem, a referral for a formal evaluation may be the appropriate first step.
• Ignoring screening results. Some times, initial screening test results are not taken seriously and a "wait and see" attitude is adopted. Good screening instruments are usually right, and there is risk of harm from delayed diagnosis and intervention.
• Relying on informal methods. Informal tools such as checklists often miss problems. Validated and standardized tools carry the burden of proof that informal measures lack. We would never select tools for blood lead or other medical screens with questionable or unknown levels of accuracy. Why do this with development?

Adapted from F.P.Glascoe and H.L. Shapiro, "Developmental and Behavioral Screening," 1999.

Communication

Head Start staff may have limited experience in discussing the results of screening and ongoing assessment with families. When the evidence suggests that there may be a developmental concern requiring more formal evaluation, some staff may be reluctant to present this information to parents. For some Head Start families, this may be the first time that a developmental concern has come to their attention, others may have had concerns but were reluctant to discuss them, and still others may have been trying to get information about their concerns for some time. Whatever the situation, the quality of the communication between staff and families will have an impact on a family's willingness to consider and act upon the screening and assessment findings. Training and supervision must support this important function.

Programs need a well-planned system for communicating the screening and assessment results to parents. When communication is not planned and purposeful, parents of young children with disabilities often relate a common story of suspecting a problem but being reassured that the child will "grow out of it." Parents are more likely to accept information when they believe that they have good communication with the person doing the screening. Head Start, in its ongoing parnerships with families, has an opportunity to communicate screening and assessment results to parents in a man ner that recognizes the child's strengths while systematically responding when a concern warrants it.

Staff members also need opportunities to explore and discuss with supervisors any reservations, questions, and concerns about making a referral.

There are hidden costs to discounting screening findings-missed opportunities for early intervention may complicate a problem. This issue is often present in screening for emotional and behavioral concerns that carry a stigma. If not addressed, the child's behavioral difficulties often produce rejection by peers. Managers and consultants need to solicit feedback from staff and parents on whether the screening and assessment are helping them support children's development. If staff perceive the procedure as having consequences (e.g., a stigmatizing "label") without resulting in useful guidance about how to address the behavioral concern, then they are less likely to endorse the system.

Throughout the year, programs should provide opportunities for feedback from staff and parents on the screening and assessment system. Inquire about what is useful, confusing, or perhaps being rejected. Provide feedback on what the system has accomplished. Acknowledge that any screening process will "detect" some concerns that, upon further evaluation, do not warrant intervention; it will also fail to detect some problems that do require intervention. No screening instrument is perfect but each is tested and retested to be better than unstructured observations and impressions. To the extent that families and staff see that the system takes into account their feedback, respects their knowledge of their children's development, and makes a difference for children, they will be more supportive of screening and assessment.

d

Use Information Continuously

Screening and assessment systems should contribute to the Head Start program's ongoing efforts to help children reach developmental and learning outcomes. When implemented well, a system provides specific and timely information to inform teachers and parents about each child's progress and can support the individualization needed to address developmental outcomes for each child. For children with disabilities, the results of formal assessments and the objectives from individualized plans for special education and instructional supports provide guidance that must inform their daily experiences.

Remember that while ongoing assessment is, by definition, expected to occur throughout the program year, screening is most often associated with the child's entry into the program. Given the rapid growth and changes which young children display, screening should occur on a periodic schedule consistent with the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program (EPSDT) recommendations. For most children, the screening and assessment system offers reassurance that the child is on track for achieving the expected developmental outcomes. Furthermore, staff and parents should be provided direction and support to remain vigilant and responsive to any concern that emerges after the initial screening period. Sound procedures have decision rules on when to conduct a rescreening or additional assessment.

Empower Parents of Children with Disabilities

Parents of children with disabilities can benefit from Head Start experiences that help them practice communication, advocacy, and decision-making skills using screening and assessment results for their children. Parents of school age children with disabilities often describe their early experiences with assessment reports and individualized planning as confusing and intimidating. Head Start can empower families with expectations they will carry with them into their child's school career-that assessment procedures and results must be explained to generate informed decisions, that parent concerns must be addressed, and that resources, including other parents, must be identified to provide support and guidance.

Parents of children with disabilities will need orientation to key concepts from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), such as parental consent, evaluations, confidentiality of records, eligibility for special education and related services, services in the least restrictive environment, and rights to due process. Opportunities in Head Start for parent education on their rights and on the school's obligations under IDEA will help them develop a sound foundation for their child's school experience. The Disability Services Coordinator should play an important role in supporting parents' goals in these areas.

Managing Child Records in the Screening and Assessment System

Key features include—

1. A record of the procedures used for screening and assessment
2. Evidence that the child's family provided information in the screening process
3. A report on the results of screening, including steps taken if further assessment was indicated (including obtaining written permission from the parents)