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Pre-School Children
Introduction
The purpose of assessment with pre-school children typically is two-fold: the first focus is on screening groups of children and the second is on programme planning for identified children, both with the overall goal of improving developmental outcomes. Developmental progress is a primary concern in the assessment of young children and includes a focus on cognitive, motor, and social development. While assessment of specific areas of concern are important, our focus here is on a general area of concern relevant for the broader population of pre-schoolers – the skills and knowledge essential to early school success: specifically, basic developmental skills and social behaviour. Assessment of these skills can be conducted at the screening level and at the programme planning level.
Basic Skills and Knowledge
Contemporary approaches to assessment with pre-school children emphasize the use of a convergent model in which assessment is a process of collecting information in a variety of ways, from a variety of sources, and in reference to a variety of domains (Bagnato, Neisworth & Munson, 1997). Global assessment typically involves a broad range of basic skills and knowledge, promoting a comprehensive evaluation of a child's functioning. Assessments may be conducted through observation, direct assessment, and informant reports. The three global assessment tools reviewed here demonstrate adequate technical characteristics, promote family involvement, and meet the unique needs of assessment with young children (see Table 1).
American Guidance Service's Early Screening Profiles
American Guidance Service's Early Screening Profiles (Harrison et al., 1990) is an individually administered screening tool intended to identify children who may warrant further assessment. While not specifically linked to a curriculum, the skills and knowledge assessed are consistent with basic concepts essential to early school success. The tool consists of three profile measures and four surveys. Some measures are administered directly to the child; others are questionnaires completed by parents and/or teachers. Administration of component measures is flexible and determined by the assessment purpose.
The Cognitive/Language Profile consists of four sub-tests: Verbal Concepts, Visual Discrimination, Logical Relations, and Basic School Skills. The Motor Profile assesses gross and fine motor skills. The Self Help/Social Profile provides a measure of the child's communication, daily living skills, socialization, and motor skills. The Articulation Survey assesses quality of speech production. The Home Survey and the Health History Survey provide information about the child's home environment, parent-child interactions, and health problems. Finally, the Behaviour Survey rates a child's behaviour during the test administration.
The Early Screening Profiles provide two levels of scoring. The first level yields six ‘screening indexes’ and three descriptive categories. Screening index scores are matched to a normative distribution. Professional judgement is used to determine criteria for referral based on Screening Indices. Level II scoring consists of standard scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalents and allows for a range of interpretations for broad sub-scales and total scale as well as for more detailed analysis of patterns.
Bracken Basic Concept Scale – Revised (BBCS-R)
The Bracken Basic Concept Scale – Revised, BBCS-R (Bracken, 1998), is an individually administered, norm-referenced tool that measures foundational educational concepts and receptive language. Stated uses of the BBCS-R include speech-language assessment, cognitive screening, school readiness screening, curriculum-based assessment, and clinic and school research. The BBCS-R is directly linked to the Bracken Concept Development Program, increasing its utility as a criterion-referenced and curriculum-based measure.
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- 1. Theory and Methodology
- Ambulatory Assessment
- Assessment Process
- Assessor's Bias
- Automated Test Assembly Systems
- Classical and Modern Item Analysis
- Classical Test Theory
- Classification (General, including Diagnosis)
- Criterion-Referenced Testing: Methods and Procedures
- Cross-Cultural Assessment
- Decision (including Decision Theory)
- Diagnosis of Mental and Behavioural Disorders
- Diagnostic Testing in Educational Settings
- Dynamic Assessment (Learning Potential Testing, Testing the Limits)
- Ethics
- Evaluability Assessment
- Evaluation: Programme Evaluation (General)
- Explanation
- Factor Analysis: Confirmatory
- Factor Analysis: Exploratory
- Formats for Assessment
- Generalizability Theory
- History of Psychological Assessment
- Intelligence Assessment through Cohort and Time
- Item Banking
- Item Bias
- Item Response Theory: Models and Features
- Latent Class Analysis
- Multidimensional Item Response Theory
- Multidimensional Scaling Methods
- Multimodal Assessment (including Triangulation)
- Multitrait-Multimethod Matrices
- Needs Assessment
- Norm-Referenced Testing: Methods and Procedures
- Objectivity
- Outcome Assessment/Treatment Assessment
- Person/Situation (Environment) Assessment
- Personality Assessment through Longitudinal Designs
- Prediction (General)
- Prediction: Clinical vs. Statistical
- Qualitative Methods
- Reliability
- Report (General)
- Reporting Test Results in Education
- Self-Presentation Measurement
- Self-Report Distortions (including Faking, Lying, Malingering, Social Desirability)
- Test Adaptation/Translation Methods
- Test User Competence/Responsible Test Use
- Theoretical Perspective: Cognitive
- Theoretical Perspective: Cognitive-Behavioural
- Theoretical Perspective: Constructivism
- Theoretical Perspective: Psychoanalytic
- Theoretical Perspective: Psychological Behaviourism
- Theoretical Perspective: Psychometrics
- Theoretical Perspective: Systemic
- Trait-State Models
- Utility
- Validity (General)
- Validity: Construct
- Validity: Content
- Validity: Criterion-Related
- 2. Methods, Tests and Equipment
- Adaptive and Tailored Testing
- Analogue Methods
- Autobiography
- Behavioural Assessment Techniques
- Brain Activity Measurement
- Case Formulation
- Coaching Candidates to Score Higher on Tests
- Computer-Based Testing
- Equipment for Assessing Basic Processes
- Field Survey: Protocols Development
- Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS)
- Idiographic Methods
- Interview (General)
- Interview in Behavioural and Health Settings
- Interview in Child and Family Settings
- Interview in Work and Organizational Settings
- Neuropsychological Test Batteries
- Observational Methods (General)
- Observational Techniques in Clinical Settings
- Observational Techniques in Work and Organizational Settings
- Projective Techniques
- Psychoeducational Test Batteries
- Psychophysiological Equipment and Measurements
- Self-Observation (Self-Monitoring)
- Self-Report Questionnaires
- Self-Reports (General)
- Self-Reports in Behavioural Clinical Settings
- Self-Reports in Work and Organizational Settings
- Socio-Demographic Conditions
- Sociometric Methods
- Standard for Educational and Psychological Testing
- Subjective Methods
- Test Accommodations for Disabilities
- Test Anxiety
- Test Designs: Developments
- Test Directions and Scoring
- Testing through the Internet
- Unobtrusive Measures
- 3. Personality
- Anxiety Assessment
- Attachment
- Attitudes
- Attribution Styles
- Big Five Model Assessment
- Burnout Assessment
- Cognitive Styles
- Coping Styles
- Emotions
- Empowerment
- Interest
- Leadership Personality
- Locus of Control
- Motivation
- Optimism
- Person/Situation (Environment) Assessment
- Personal Constructs
- Personality Assessment (General)
- Personality Assessment through Longitudinal Designs
- Prosocial Behaviour
- Self-Control
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Presentation Measurement
- Self, The (General)
- Sensation Seeking
- Social Competence (including Social Skills, Assertion)
- Temperament
- Time Orientation
- Trait-State Models
- Values
- Weil-Being (including Life Satisfaction)
- 4. Intelligence
- Attention
- Cognitive Ability: g Factor
- Cognitive Ability: Multiple Cognitive Abilities
- Cognitive Decline/Impairment
- Cognitive Plasticity
- Cognitive Processes: Current Status
- Cognitive Processes: Historical Perspective
- Cognitive/Mental Abilities in Work and Organizational Settings
- Creativity
- Dynamic Assessment (Learning Potential Testing, Testing the Limits)
- Emotional Intelligence
- Equipment for Assessing Basic Processes
- Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
- Intelligence Assessment (General)
- Intelligence Assessment through Cohort and Time
- Language (General)
- Learning Disabilities
- Memory (General)
- Mental Retardation
- Practical Intelligence: Conceptual Aspects
- Practical Intelligence: Its Measurement
- Problem Solving
- Triarchic Intelligence Components
- Wisdom
- 5. Clinical and Health
- Anger, Hostility and Aggression Assessment
- Antisocial Disorders Assessment
- Anxiety Assessment
- Anxiety Disorders Assessment
- Applied Behavioural Analysis
- Applied Fields: Clinical
- Applied Fields: Gerontology
- Applied Fields: Health
- Caregiver Burden
- Child and Adolescent Assessment in Clinical Settings
- Clinical Judgement
- Coping Styles
- Counselling, Assessment in
- Couple Assessment in Clinical Settings
- Dangerous/Violence Potential Behaviour
- Dementia
- Diagnosis of Mental and Behavioural Disorders
- Dynamic Assessment (Learning Potential Testing, Testing the Limits)
- Eating Disorders
- Health
- Identity Disorders
- Interview in Behavioural and Health Settings
- Irrational Beliefs
- Learning Disabilities
- Mental Retardation
- Mood Disorders
- Observational Techniques in Clinical Settings
- Outcome Assessment/Treatment Assessment
- Palliative Care
- Prediction: Clinical vs. Statistical
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Quality of Life
- Self-Observation (Self-Monitoring)
- Self-Reports in Behavioural Clinical Settings
- Social Competence (including Social Skills, Assertion)
- Stress
- Substance Abuse
- Test Anxiety
- Thinking Disorders Assessment
- Type A: A Proposed Psychosocial Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Diseases
- Type C: A Proposed Psychosocial Risk Factor for Cancer
- 6. Educational and Child Assessment
- Achievement Testing
- Applied Fields: Education
- Child Custody
- Children with Disabilities
- Coaching Candidates to Score Higher on Tests
- Cognitive Psychology and Assessment Practices
- Communicative Language Abilities
- Development (General)
- Development: Intelligence/Cognitive
- Development: Language
- Development: Psychomotor
- Development: Socio-Emotional
- Diagnostic Testing in Educational Settings
- Dynamic Assessment (Learning Potential Testing, Testing the Limits)
- Evaluation in Higher Education
- Giftedness
- Instructional Strategies
- Interview in Child and Family Settings
- Item Banking
- Learning Strategies
- Performance
- Performance Standards: Constructed Response Item Formats
- Performance Standards: Selected Response Item Formats
- Planning
- Planning Classroom Tests
- Pre-School Children
- Psychoeducational Test Batteries
- Reporting Test Results in Education
- Standard for Educational and Psychological Testing
- Test Accommodations for Disabilities
- Test Directions and Scoring
- Testing in the Second Language in Minorities
- 7. Work and Organizations
- Achievement Motivation
- Applied Fields: Forensic
- Applied Fields: Organizations
- Applied Fields: Work and Industry
- Career and Personnel Development
- Centres (Assessment Centres)
- Cognitive/Mental Abilities in Work and Organizational Settings
- Empowerment
- Interview in Work and Organizational Settings
- Job Characteristics
- Job Stress
- Leadership in Organizational Settings
- Leadership Personality
- Motor Skills in Work Settings
- Observational Techniques in Work and Organizational Settings
- Organizational Culture
- Performance
- Personnel Selection, Assessment in
- Physical Abilities in Work Settings
- Risk and Prevention in Work and Organizational Settings
- Self-Reports in Work and Organizational Settings
- Total Quality Management
- 8. Neurophysiopsychological Assessment
- Applied Fields: Neuropsychology
- Applied Fields: Psychophysiology
- Brain Activity Measurement
- Dementia
- Equipment for Assessing Basic Processes
- Executive Functions Disorders
- Memory Disorders
- Neuropsychological Test Batteries
- Outcome Evaluation in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Psychophysiological Equipment and Measurements
- Visuo-Perceptual Impairments
- Voluntary Movement
- 9. Environmental Assessment
- Behavioural Settings and Behaviour Mapping
- Cognitive Maps
- Couple Assessment in Clinical Settings
- Environmental Attitudes and Values
- Family
- Landscapes and Natural Environments
- Life Events
- Organizational Structure, Assessment of
- Perceived Environmental Quality
- Person/Situation (Environment) Assessment
- Post-Occupancy Evaluation for the Built Environment
- Residential and Treatment Facilities
- Social Climate
- Social Networks
- Social Resources
- Stressors: Physical
- Stressors: Social
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