Early LiteracyAssessment Systems:Essential Elements
by Jacqueline Jones
POLICY INFORMATIONPERSPECTIVE
Research & Development
Policy InformationCenter
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June 2003
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Increased Awareness of the Importance of Early Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Achievement Gap at Kindergarten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Concern About the Effectiveness of Public Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Issues in Literacy Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Issues in the Assessment of Young Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Elements of Effective Early Literacy Assessment Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Multiple Forms of Evidence of Early Literacy Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Role of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Teacher Professional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
An Effective Early Literacy Assessment System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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PREFACE
As part of the No Child Left Behind Act,increasing attention is being paid to early lit-eracy achievement. Even pre-kindergartenprograms such as Head Start are being heldaccountable for the learning of very youngchildren, most particularly with respect toearly language and literacy acquisition. Andcertainly, we know that the achievement gapbetween those of different economic and eth-nic/racial groups begins to evidence itself atthe outset of formal education. My colleagueRichard Coley presented a very fine analysisof the Early Childhood Longitudinal Surveylast year in his Policy Information CenterReport, An Uneven Start: Indicators of Inequal-ity in School Readiness.
If we are to improve early literacy for allour young people, we are going to have towisely make use of assessment. In Early Lit-eracy Assessment Systems: Essential Elements,Jacqueline Jones carefully describes howassessment can support policy, teaching, andlearning of those literacy skills that are thekey determinants of individuals future edu-cational success.
Jones has worked with schools in SouthBrunswick, New Jersey, and New York Cityto develop systems that help teachers gaininsight about their students progress andmake instructional decisions that improve stu-dent learning. For our youngest students, sheconvincingly urges us to avoid the seductive
trap of relying on any single test to provide allthe critical information needed to have aneffective and accountable educational system.Rather, she helps us see how different infor-mation sources can be used together to fulfilldifferent roles in providing critical informa-tion needed by different stakeholders in thesystem. But ultimately, she focuses most onhow assessment can assist teachers in helpingtheir students develop literacy skills.
Though this report focuses on assess-ments of early literacy, the lessons Jones pro-vides are worth attending to for older studentsas well. We need fundamentally differentforms of assessment to provide informationappropriate to different needs. The granular-ity of assessment information needed by teach-ers is far different from that needed bypolicymakers. The qualities of educationalleadership that are so compelling for schoolsinhabited by 5-year-olds are just as necessaryfor those attended by teenagers. If we canmake the recommendations of JacquelineJones a reality in all our schools, we havethe chance of achieving fully accountable,high-quality learning environments forall our students.
Drew GitomerSenior Vice PresidentResearch and DevelopmentEducational Testing Service
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report was reviewed by Ted Chittenden,Richard Coley, Drew Gitomer, and Irv Sigelof Educational Testing Service; John Love ofMathematica Policy Research; Willa Spicer ofthe South Brunswick, New Jersey SchoolDistict; and Ed Greene, Montclair State
University. Lynn Jenkins was the editor; CarlaCooper provided desktop publishing; andMarita Gray designed the cover. Errors of factor interpretation are the responsibility of theauthor.
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4 EARLY LITERACY ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS
INTRODUCTION
The ability to read and write is essential tosuccessful participation in our society.
Extraordinary attention is currently beinggiven to early childhood education, with anemphasis on early literacy acquisition. Acrossthe country, politicians, educators, andresearchers are attempting to ensure thatyoung children are provided with the mostfavorable opportunities to develop strong lit-eracy skills. The desire to hold early childhoodeducators accountable for childrens literacyacquisition is strong, and the accountabilitymethods themselves have become a focusof discussion. This report will outline a sys-tem-wide framework for monitoring the lit-eracy development of children in preschoolthrough 2nd grade. Specific early literacyassessment instruments and instructionalapproaches will not be suggested. Rather, thisreport will focus on some of the essential ele-ments of an assessment system intended tomonitor the progress of young childrens lit-eracy development.
As a starting point, it is helpful to focuson two major factors that have led to the cur-rent emphasis on early literacy developmentand teacher accountability:
Increased awareness of the importance ofearly development, and
The achievement gap among kindergart-ners.
Increased Awareness of the Importance ofEarly Development
Although U.S. public education has longbeen committed to K-12 education, there is arecent and growing emphasis on the impor-tance of the first five years of life.1 Merelyproviding a safe and nurturing environmentfor young children is no longer adequate.Greater attention is being paid to early cogni-tive development, with an emphasis on lan-guage and literacy. This shift has resulted fromnew insights into the extraordinary amountof learning that takes place during the firstyears of life. A subcommittee of the NationalResearch Council and Institute of Medicineset out to update the state of knowledge onearly development. Their final conclusionsand recommendations were grounded on fourbroad themes:
All children are born wired for feelings andready to learn.
Early environments matter, and nurturingrelationships are essential.
1 Committee for Economic Development, Preschool for All: Investing in a Productive and Just Society, New York, 2002;National Research Council, Eager to Learn: Educating our Preschoolers, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.
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Society is changing, and the needs of youngchildren are also changing.
Interactions among early childhood sci-ence, policy, and practice are problematicand demand dramatic rethinking.2
In sum, children enter the world tryingto make sense of communication systems,rules of social interaction, and how thingswork. As a result, early childhood educatorsare now challenged to ensure that young chil-dren receive enriched cognitive, linguistic, andsocial-emotional stimulation even prior to thetraditional age of compulsory education
The Achievement Gap at Kindergarten
This new understanding of the impor-tance of early learning opportunities has beenaccompanied by the realization that socioeco-nomic status can be an important factor inearly language development. Economicallyadvantaged children often demonstrate a sig-nificant lead in language development overtheir less economically privileged peers. Mostdisturbing has been the finding that these eco-nomically based discrepancies in languagedevelopment can persist throughout theschool years, resulting in overall poor literacyacquisition.3
Using data from the Early ChildhoodLongitudinal Survey (ECLS-K),
