Ashford 4: – Week 3 – Discussion 2

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Developmentally Appropriate Assessment Practices

This discussion is your opportunity to write position statements and create an audio version of your statements to share with the class using the Vocaroo tool, which is a useful tool to learn because you can use it to send audio messages to students or parents in your actual practice as a young child educator! According to Jaruszewicz (2013), a primary goal of a developmentally appropriate approach to assessment is to inform practices so that the curriculum you implement matches the developmental needs and interests of the children in your classroom. According to NAEYC’s (2009) guidelines for developmentally appropriate practices, the job of an early childhood educator has five connected components, as illustrated in the following image.

To prepare for this discussion, review the Week Three Instructor Guidance and required readings and then consider the following scenario: As part of a planning meeting, your supervisor has asked you to develop a position statement related to the NAEYC developmentally appropriate practices to assessment, including how you will foster these five areas in the classroom. Next, use the instructions below for creating your initial post and replies. 

Initial Post: Create five position statements that are two to three sentences each. You will need one position statement for each of the five areas of the NAEYC developmentally appropriate approaches. Use the NAEYC Position Statements resource for support. Write your position statements in a document and then, using Vocaroo, create an audio file of these five statements. In your initial post, include the text as a transcript of your five position statements and the link to your Vocaroo recording. If you are unable to use Vocaroo, you can use any audio software of your choosing. Just be sure to either provide a link to your recording or attach the audio file to your initial post along with your message, including the text version of your statements. For help with Vocaroo, refer to the Vocaroo audio recording video tutorial about Vocaroo recordings. If you cannot create an audio file, please inform your instructor by email about the reason why before Day 3 of Week Three.