ECE 200: Observation and Assessment

C-ID Descriptor

ECE 200 C-ID Course Descriptor Links to an external site.

Complete OER Textbook

Observation and Assessment by Gina Peterson and Emily Elam (College of the Canyons)

Original available in Word Download Word

 and PDF Download PDF

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Generic Derivative for use by other colleges available in Word Download Word

 and PDF Download PDF

This book is available in LibreText Links to an external site..

Additional OER/ZTC Options

The following are some additional resources that faculty can use to teach the course. Some may be OER and others may copyrighted resources faculty can use to teach the course with no associated costs for digital access (often referred to a Zero Textbook Cost, or ZTC).

• Early Head Start's publication, Observation: The Heart of Individualizing Care Links to an external site.provides information on what observation is, goals of observation, using observation, setting up systems to support observation, reflecting on observation, responding based on observation. Although it is targeted toward use with infant and toddlers, it provides information that can reused, revised, and remixed to address observation more broadly as it in the public domain.
• A Guide to Assessment in Early Childhood: Infancy to Age 8 Links to an external site., by Washington State provides a thorough look at assessment and provides descriptions of dozens of (mostly proprietary) assessment tools. It is copyrighted, but may be freely reproduced without permission for non-profit, educational purposes with proper citation.
• The following chapters from an Education Psychology wikibook are written about education psychology in general (and therefore may be more applicable to elementary education), but as is licensed CC BY SA 3.0 Links to an external site. so it can revised and remixed as needed.
  • Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-made Assessment Strategies/Selecting Appropriate Assessment Techniques, Part 2 Links to an external site.. This chapter briefly addresses observation, questioning, and record keeping. 
  • Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-Made Assessment Strategies/Adjusting Instruction re Assessment. Links to an external site. This chapter addresses how use assessment results to adjust instruction, communicating with families, and the cycle of planning.
• The Observation, Assessment, and Documentation module Links to an external site. of the Early Education and Care in Inclusive Settings: ECE Core Competencies by Mary Lu Love (a UMass Boston OpenCourseWare course) provide an audio presentation, PowerPoint slides, list of supplemental readings, and self-assessment. It is licensed CC BY NC SA 3.0 Links to an external site..
• The following resources from the California Department of Education have helpful information within (they are not focused on observation and assessment, but provide information on them in context). They are copyrighted, but permission has been given through the California Department of Education to use them to create OER.
  • The Integrated Nature of Learning: Best Practices for Planning Curriculum For Young Children Links to an external site.This portions of this book that would particularly relevant include Part III on reflective planning and Part V on assessment.
  • The curriculum planning process is reflected in each of the following documents
    • The Preschool Program Guidelines Links to an external site. (at the end of Part Two)
    • Preschool Learning Foundations Links to an external site. (in the introduction section of each volume)
    • Preschool Curriculum Framework Links to an external site. (in the introduction section of each volume)
    • Infant/Toddler Curriculum Framework Links to an external site. (in the introduction section with additional reflections on documentation, assessment, and planning)
  • The Observation Screening, Assessment, and Documentation competency area of the California Early Childhood Educator Competencies Links to an external site. provided professional expectations for observing and assessing young children.
• Videos of children are an important part of this course. Here are two sources of videos:
  • Videos provided for observation practice Links to an external site. by the Colorado Department of Education (be sure that you choose only the ones that are captioned to ensure accessibility). These are not openly licensed and have specific terms of use.
  • Benchmark videos Links to an external site. from the Illinois Early Learning Project. These are captioned (and have transcripts and have explanations of how the children featured meet various 2013 Illinois Early Learning and Development benchmarks). These videos are copyrighted.
  • Here are the captioned videos Links to an external site. from Focused Observation by Redleaf Press. They are copyrighted.
• Additional resources can be found in the Observation and Assessment thread Links to an external site. on the Early Childhood Education OER Collaboration Google Group. The licensing of these resources varies and should be confirmed before use.