The Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care last week unanimously approved a measure to align the Massachusetts Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) grant program with the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) that the commonwealth launched in January 2011. (See UPK-QRIS PowerPoint.) The board also approved the annual report to the Legislature from the Department of [...]
Archive for the ‘Assessments’ Category
At the February EEC Board Meeting
Posted in Assessments, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Family engagement on February 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
In Quotes
Posted in Assessments, Quotes on January 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“We know that waiting until the end of third grade to acquire a systematic picture of how well children are learning is a mistake. We must use early childhood assessments to drive efforts to provide enriched, engaging, and intensive learning opportunities to every child, and prevent or minimize achievement disparities right from the start.” Council [...]
Considering Kindergarten Entry Assessments
Posted in Assessments, Early Learning Challenge on January 5, 2012 | 1 Comment »
With the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge stressing kindergarten entry assessment among its goals, the question of how to assess young children in a developmentally appropriate manner has been getting a lot of attention. In its successful Early Learning Challenge application, Massachusetts committed to establishing a system of developmentally appropriate assessment of [...]
In Quotes
Posted in Assessments on October 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
“I know assessments can be a hot-button issue. What I would hope the assessment will give us is good information about where children are, so we are able to match resources to help those children.’’ Amy O’Leary, Early Education for All, Boston Sunday Globe, October 2, 2011
MA Developing Kindergarten Readiness Assessment
Posted in Assessments, Early Learning Challenge, Federal on October 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Efforts to introduce a statewide system of developmentally appropriate kindergarten readiness assessment was front page news in yesterday’s Boston Sunday Globe. “Kindergartners – who are not expected to know how to read or write – would not be filling in bubble sheets or answering essay questions,” the Globe reports. “Instead, teachers would measure students’ early [...]
At the September EEC Board Meeting
Posted in Assessments, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early Learning Challenge, Federal, QRIS on September 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The September meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care opened on a somber note, with a moment of silence in memory of Gabriel Josh-Cazir Pierre, the toddler who died earlier in the week after being left unattended for hours in a van. In the wake of the tragedy, EEC is reviewing its [...]
No Improvement in MA Third Grade Reading
Posted in Assessments, Reading proficiency on September 8, 2011 | 1 Comment »
In 2011, 39% of Massachusetts third graders scored below proficient in reading, compared with 37% in 2010, according to MCAS results released this afternoon by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Performance has remained stagnant since 2001. And the achievement gap widened for African-American, Latino and low-income children. Among the ethnic and racial [...]
Ready for School in Maryland
Posted in Assessments on August 4, 2011 | 3 Comments »
A new study from Maryland reports marked increases in kindergarten readiness over the past decade, with more than four-fifths of children “fully ready” for school, up from fewer than a half in 2001-02. The statewide Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) assesses children’s school readiness in seven domains: language and literacy, mathematical thinking, physical development, [...]
The State of Kindergarten Assessments in the States
Posted in Assessments, Early Learning Challenge, Federal on July 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
States applying for funds from the $500 million federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge must address how they assess – or plan to assess – children at entry to kindergarten, according to draft criteria released earlier this month. For a look at how states conduct kindergarten assessments, check out the August 2010 [...]
Why and How Should We Assess Young Children?
Posted in Assessments, Reading proficiency on February 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In Massachusetts, the third grade MCAS test is the first statewide assessment of children’s progress. Yet we know that the path to mastering reading by the end of third grade begins at birth. In a column in the Ashland Tab, Patricia White, director of the Ashland Preschool Program, makes the case for developmentally appropriate assessments [...]
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Eye on Early Education focuses on the twin goals of ensuring that Massachusetts children have access to high-quality early education and become proficient readers by the end of third grade. CHECK US OUT
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