Abstract
This validity study examined the validity of Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System, 2nd Edition (AEPS®), a curriculum-based, authentic assessment for infants and young children. The primary purposes were to: a) examine whether the AEPS® is a concurrently valid tool for measuring young children's language, literacy and pre-math skills for accountability purpose and b) explore teachers' perceptions on using authentic assessment and standardized tests. This was accomplished through implementing both quantitative and qualitative methods. Findings from the study indicated (a) the AEPS® is a concurrently valid (b) there were both advantages and disadvantages of using authentic assessment such as the AEPS® and using standardized tests based on teachers' perceptions, however, the practical issues of using the authentic measure can be addressed by providing in-depth trainings to teachers and increasing teachers' familiarity with their children; and (c) families preferred authentic assessment such as the AEPS® because it is easier.
Highlights
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the public’s push for using standardized tests to hold k-12 schools accountable has become a noticeable phenomenon (Dorn, 1998)
This validity study examined the validity of Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System, 2nd Edition (AEPS®), a curriculum-based, authentic assessment for infants and young children
Findings from the study indicated (a) the AEPS® is a concurrently valid (b) there were both advantages and disadvantages of using authentic assessment such as the AEPS® and using standardized tests based on teachers' perceptions, the practical issues of using the authentic measure can be addressed by providing in-depth trainings to teachers and increasing teachers' familiarity with their children; and (c) families preferred authentic assessment such as the AEPS® because it is easier
Summary
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the public’s push for using standardized tests to hold k-12 schools accountable has become a noticeable phenomenon (Dorn, 1998). When using standardized tests to report accountability data, pressures force teachers and school administrators to spend a lot of planning time preparing children to do well on test items instead of devoting time to teach children competencies that are beneficial to their lives in the real world (Hatch, 2002; Mintrop, 2004) This practice narrowed the curriculum by overemphasizing basic skills and neglecting higher-order thinking (Hatch, 2002; Shepard et al, 2001; Kellaghan and Madaus, 2001; Shepard, 1991). Authentic assessment provides information for program planning, is linked to curriculum, and is flexible in terms of the way data are collected It can serve as an alternative method for reporting young children’s outcome data for accountability purpose. Three research questions were examined in this study: 1) Is the AEPS® a concurrently valid measure for assessing young children’s competence in the cognitive domain for accountability purposes? 2) Is the AEPS® a concurrently valid measure for assessing young children’s competence in the communication domain for accountability purposes, 3) What are teachers’ perceptions on using authentic assessment and standardized tests?
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