Development and Assessment of Young Children

Developmental assessment of Young children 4 (1+3)

Lesson 2:Domains of Assessments

Assessment of academic achievement

Achievement tests are either screening devices or diagnostic devices.

• Screening devices are used to spot children who may be making too little or too much progress relative to others.
• Diagnostic devices are used to provide more specific achievement information usually in the form of a description of specific skill development strengths and weaknesses. These tests measure skills developed in academic content areas. Some measure skills developed in multiple content areas where as other forms on one content area.

Achievement tests are either norm referenced or criterion referenced.

Norm referenced	Criterion referenced
The child’s performance is compared to the performance of other children of same age or grade level. The child who performs less on the test compared to their age mates are said to be deficient in that area.	The child’s achievement is measured based on the extent to which individual or group have mastered specific curriculum content. Tests are developed by specifying the objectives to be measured like reading and mathematics. The child’s performance will be assessed to know his understanding or comprehension levels in the content specified.