1. Curriculum Manager, Amelio Child Care
Construction of an Assessment Tool for Early Childhood Development in the World of DiscoveryTM Curriculum
Divya Palaniappan
Curriculum Manager, Amelio Child Care
Confidential – Do Not Distribute

2. Importance of Early Childhood Education
Courtesy: permanentfund.org
A child's potential is determined in the early years [1]

3. Assessment of Early Childhood Curriculum
Early Childhood Program
Quality of Curriculum
An Effective Assessment Tool
Need for an effective Assessment Tool

4. Drawbacks of Existing Assessment Tools
Early Childhood Program
1. Measures only few areas
Quality of Curriculum
An Effective Assessment Tool
2. Informal Techniques
3. Observer’s Bias
Construct a quantitative Assessment Tool that evaluates the effectiveness of curriculum and the progress of each child’s development

5. “Play” as an Essential Early Childhood Framework
Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning – Fred Rogers
Play enhances a child’s social competence, creativity, language development and thinking capacity [2]

6. Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory
Zone of proximal development
What is known?
What is not known?
Skills too difficult for a child to master on his/her own that can be done through guidance and encouragement from a knowledgeable person

7. World of DiscoveryTM Curriculum Multiple Intelligence
Every child is unique….so is their intelligence profile – Howard Gardner
Courtesy: connectionsacademy.com

8. A new theme is introduced to the children every week
World of DiscoveryTM Curriculum How do we focus on Multiple Intelligence
A new theme is introduced to the children every week
Every activity in the World of DiscoveryTM curriculum is designed to cater to every child irrespective of their dominant intelligence
Rhyme
Musical
Counting or Puzzles
Mathematical
Craft
Kinesthetic

9. Cognitive Development – Counting Corner

11. Benefits of World of DiscoveryTM
Activities are designed to strengthen the following developments
Cognitive
Language
Social and Emotional
Physical
Circle time, Rhyme, Story
Rhyme, Story,
Pretend Play
Circle time, Group games, Activity corners
Scarf dance, Outdoor, Rhymes, Craft

12. Development parameters measured using the Assessment Tool
Physical development
Fine-Motor skills
Gross-Motor skills
Hand-eye coordination
Cognitive development
Memory
Attention span
Sorting
Symbolic Play
Perceptual reasoning
Comprehension
Counting
Comparison
Colors
Shapes
Language development
Recalls – ability to narrate
Communicates in words
Communicates in sentences
Social development
Co-operative play
Adherence to rules
Interaction with peers
Conflict Resolution
Emotional development
Empathy
Self-Control

13. Construction of an Assessment Tool for the World of DiscoveryTM Curriculum
5 point rating scale (1-need to catch up, 2 – Just there, 3- normal, 4-remarkable and 5- extraordinary)
Data were collected for a period of 3 months across 10 centres in Chennai, India
Average scores of 100 children aged between 2.5 to 3.5 years was collected
Norms were arrived at using Mean and S.D. of the data (µ value, µ+1 σ and µ -1 σ )
The tool renders a convenient framework to evaluate each child during the activity.

14. A snapshot of the Assessment Tool
Name of the child
Class
Days Present
Week Starting
Week Ending
Age
Parameters
Activity
Remarks
Circle Time
Rhyme Time
Story Time
Play Corner 1
Play Corner 2
Play Corner 3
Art and Craft
Scarf Dance
Group Games
Average
Cognitive Development
Memory
Attention Span
Sorting
Symbolic Play
Puzzles - Perceptual Reasoning
Understands Simple Instructions
Counting
Comparison
Colors
Shapes

15. Results – Cognitive Vs. Physical Development
A child’s physical development has positive effects on a child’s cognitive development and intellectual capability [3]

16. Results – Comparison of Average Scores
Based on these evaluation reports, a teacher can customize activities to a child’s ability

17. Conclusion
The Assessment Tool enables Early Childhood Educators to evaluate a child’s development and also to assess the quality of the program
Results indicated high correlation between Physical and Cognitive development
This result corroborated that ‘Play’ renders the basis for dynamic intellectual activity thereby establishing face validity of the tool
The average scores across centres indicated the subjective difficulty level of each activity
The individual difficulty level for each child can be increased or decreased by observing the performance of the child over time
The activities designed as part of the curriculum can be revisited based on the scores obtained in order to devise an efficient system that caters to the needs of the child.

19. Thank you ! For Further information, please contact: Divya Palaniappan
Curriculum Manager, Amelio Child Care
Mobile: (India)
Mailto:

20. References
[1] Simmons, T., & Sheehan, R. (1997). Brain research manifests importance of first years. The News & Observer
[2] Fromberg, D. P., & Gullo, D. F. (1992). Perspectives on Children. Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education, eds,
[3] Sibley, B. A., & Etnier, J. L. (2003). The relationship between physical activity and cognition in children: a meta-analysis. Pediatric Exercise Science, 15(3),