The screening test, which can be administered individually or in small groups, consists of 30 items to identify children who might benefit from more intensive assessment. The primary use of the screening test is with kindergarten and first grade children. Thus, relational concepts, along with concepts in other skill areas such as color knowledge and letter identification, are included
Circus
This test was developed to provide prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers with comprehensive assessment information to help them diagnose children's instructional needs and evaluation programs. Circus consists of 17 instruments. Six of these assess basic concepts along with other concepts and areas of understanding.
The Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery, Second Edition
The CSAB was developed to provide a profile of strengths and weaknesses of the prekindergarten and kindergarten child in the cognitive skills area and simultaneously a profile for the class as a whole. The skills areas included cover orientation to one's environment; large muscle and visual motor coordination; discrimination of similarities and differences; auditory, visual, picture, and story memory; comprehension; and concept formation. Each task area is divided by levels of difficulty, providing teachers important information for program planning. Some relational concepts are included in the multiple directions task.
Tests of Basic Experiences-2
The purpose of this group-administered test is to assess the child's conceptual understanding to plan curricular experiences. It has two overlapping levels, one appropriate for preschool and kindergarten, and the other for kindergarten or grade 1. Each level consists of a battery of four tests: Mathematics, Language, Science, and Social Studies. Each of the four area tests includes a breakdown of concepts and skills. Throughout the focus is on the child's conceptual understanding gained through experience rather than on facts.
Developmental Tasks for Kindergarten Readiness II
The test was developed to screen children for purposes of instructional planning. It consists of 15 subtests that cover four skill areas (Oral Language, Visual-Motor Skills, Cognitive Skills, and Social Development).
Source: Bracken, 2004, pp. 194-195.
Although each of the foregoing instruments can provide educators with some valuable feedback concerning the extent to which children are prepared to make the transition into kindergarten, Boehm (1991) advises that a multiple-step approach may be more appropriate for gauging basic concepts; this multi-step approach includes the follow:
1. Standardized testing that covers the broad range of relational concepts and is used as a starting point for interpretation including those concepts the child knows and may not know.
2. Review of errors to identify patterns.
3. Observation over time of the child's use of concepts in everyday activities of the classroom environment.
4. A brief post-test interview to identify the strategies children use to arrive at answers.
5. A mini-teach to help determine how ready the child is to acquire the concept.
6. Observation of children's use of concepts as tools of thinking such as combining concepts and using them for comparing, classifying, and problem solving (p. 658).
While the construct of "school readiness" remains relatively recent in the relevant literature, there is a growing body of evidence that points to certain individual characteristics, the family as well as the community environment in which young children are raised that relates to their readiness for school. Ceteris paribus, the following indicators have been shown to be relevant to children's readiness levels for the transition into kindergarten:
1. Children living in poor families are likely to be less 'ready' than children living in non-poor families;
2. Children who have had experience prior to kindergarten in formal, group care (child care center, family day care home, Head Start, etc.), assuming it was of good quality, are likely to be more 'ready' than those who had not had such experience;
3. Children who have significant learning-related disabilities are likely to be less 'ready' than those who do not (Murphey, p. 37).
A population-based, school readiness study conducted by Weiss and Fantuzzo (2001) examined the impact of multiple environmental and social risk factors on the academic and social development of children initially entering public elementary school in a large urban center. These researchers determined that almost 80% of the children who were entering first grade had experienced at least one major factor that placed them at higher risk of failure (Weiss & Fantuzzo). According to Fantuzzo, Rouse, Mcdermott, Sekino, Childs and Weiss (2005), "Many of these risk factors were evident from birth, such as exposure to lead, low birth weight, birth to a teen parent, poor prenatal care, and out of home placements....
Kindergarten Classroom Management The most effective classroom environment is one in which there is a sense of trust, advocacy for the student, engaging learning activities, and a sense of regular adventure. Students should be encouraged to actualize, to participate, and to think of their classroom as a community. Because each individual is unique in their learning style, classroom success is based on flexibility and the willingness to adapt and evolve on
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Ethnic/racial and socioeconomic factors would not be considered. Children would not need referral from any social services agency. This would eliminate the stigmatizing that accompanies enrollment in current programs, including Head Start. References Derezotes, D.M., & Hill, R.B. (n.d.). Examining the disproportionate representation of Children of color in the child welfare system. Race Matters Consortium, Casey Family Programs. Dettlaff, a.J., & Rycraft, J.R. (2010). Factors contributing to disproportionality in the child welfare
Physical Activity Sociological Aspects of Physical Activity Sociological Aspects of Physical Activity of Children Sociological Aspects of Physical Activity of Children Sociological Aspects of Physical Activity of Children Physical activity patterns among children are affected by aspects pertaining to individual, school, and community levels. At the individual level, physical activity participation is highest among boys, and socioeconomic differences are less consistently reported. Some degree of socialization is necessary for voluntary participation in physical activity to
First, Spanish sounds different from English in terms of vowel sounds, sentence stress, and timing. (Shoebottom, 2007, Spanish). In addition, Spanish speakers can confront grammar problems when learning English, "although Spanish is a much more heavily inflected language than English, there are many aspects of verb grammar that are similar. The major problem for the Spanish learner is that there is no one-to-one correspondence in the use of the
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