ECC to assess 4-year-olds' readiness for primary education

JAMAICAN children who turn four years old in 2014 are likely to form the first batch at that age to be assessed for their readiness to move on to the primary school system.The Early Childhood Commission (ECC) says its design of the Age Four Readiness Assessment is well advanced and should be ready by the end of 2013.[Hide Description] Richard Williams (foreground), manager, early childhood services at the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), speaking during yesterday’s Observer Monday Exchange. Also photographed are (from 2nd right) Michelle Campbell, acting executive director of the ECC; Professor Maureen Samms- Vaughan, chair of the ECC; Shellyon Butler, a Parents Club member and beneficiary of the EEC’s programmes; and Jervis Knight, ECC development officer for region six. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)[Restore Description]1/1"By the end of next year we will have this evaluation developed, and by the end of the following year, we will have this evaluation implemented," ECC chair Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughan told reporters and editors at the Observer Monday Exchange yesterday."The purpose of the evaluation is to determine whether the children have the skills and resources to meet the needs of the grade one curriculum," she said, adding that waiting until primary school to determine children's needs is waiting too long."Grade one is too late for evaluating children's readiness," she said, and pointed to international standards that are hinged on research showing a child's pre-school years determine, to a great extent, his/her academic and social development in later years.However, she was careful to note that although this new pre-school assessment/inventory adds another dimension to the Government's national school-based assessment system — which includes the Grade Four Literacy and Numeracy Assessments — it is not an exam for toddlers."This is not a test. I want to make that very clear. We don't test four-year-old children. We assess their readiness against where their development should be," Professor Samms-Vaughan said."Children have roughly three years in pre-school in Jamaica, whether it be basic school/infant school; the three-year-old year, the four-year-old year, the five-year-old year; then they start the primary level in their six-year-old year. So children should be left to learn and to explore their environment and to have their facilitated learning environment for their three-year-old year and their four-year-old year, using a curriculum that is child-friendly and child-centred," she explained.Professor Samms-Vaughan said that this assessment will take time, and that the last year before heading off to primary/prep school is critical to identifying children who need help.These children would include those with vision, hearing, cognitive problems and those who have nutritional and other issues of circumstance, such as being from impoverished or abusive home environs."At the end of their four-year-old year is when we evaluate the children's readiness. The importance of evaluating readiness at that point is to determine, over the next year, whether the child needs special interventions or not," said the ECC chair.The commission's readiness evaluation is designed to identify and place children into three categories, namely:* the child who has met the readiness standards and needs no additional support in the primary environment;* the child who has not quite met readiness standards and is going to need some support while in the grade one environment — that child may need additional one-to-one intervention; and,* the child who is unlikely to meet the needs of the regular grade one environment and needs to be in the special educational environment.International research has shown that problems affecting achievement among primary-level students is usually already present at kindergarten.A Profiles Project research from the Department of Child Health at the University of the West Indies has shown that achievement gaps for children from the lower socio-economic groups widen as the children move to primary school.The Age Four Assessment is being developed in line with the National Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Development in Jamaica, 2008-2013.Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/ECC-to-assess-4-year-olds--readiness...