Newswise — What should kids, ages two to four, know as they gear up for kindergarten? And, given what science tells us about how children learn, how do we best measure what they know?
Nowhere are those issues more important than on Capitol Hill this winter, when lawmakers weigh the future of the 38-year-old federal Head Start program--which provides preschool experiences to over 900,000 U.S. children—and consider its reauthorization.
On Monday, Dec. 15, Temple University researchers Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Nora Newcombe, Anita Kochanoff and Aquiles Iglesias will lead a group of some of the country's top child development experts as they hold a briefing for legislators and journalists to discuss what the latest scientific research tells us about what kids should know--and how tools currently available to assess that knowledge measure up (or don't).
"The state of assessment is not where the science is," says Hirsh-Pasek, a cognitive psychologist and an expert in child language development who notes that measurement tools are vitally important as lawmakers assess Head Start against the backdrop of President Bush's No Child Left Behind initiative.
"There are people doing tests on preschoolers which we think are the wrong assessments to use."
The researchers, who also will include Herbert Ginsburg of Columbia University and Mark Greenberg of Pennsylvania State University, will meet with lawmakers to discuss serious problems they've identified regarding the use of current assessment tools. Additionally, they'll recommend the development of new tools that would require assessing the process of children's learning, rather than performance outcomes, which is the current focus.
The briefing, Preschool Assessment: Closing the Gap Between Science and Practice, marks the release of Using Science to Inform Preschool Assessment, a report generated by the Temple University Forum on Preschool Assessment, held earlier this year.
The forum included participation by 20 of the nation's most recognized scientists in the area of early childhood development. To access the complete Temple Forum report, go to: http://www.temple.edu/circl/CIRCL_PreSchAssesmt.pdf.
Monday's briefing will be held from 2-3:30 p.m. in Mansfield Room S207 of the Capitol Building.
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