Head Start Preschool Classrooms Prominently Emphasize Performance Essay

Head Start preschool classrooms prominently emphasize performance standards as a way to assess educational programs for young children. However, this approach is often criticized as not appropriate for the assessment of young children (Hallam et al., 2007). Standards outlined in the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework were developed as an assessment system in response to the need for increased accountability in early childhood care and education. The Child Outcomes Framework was developed in 2000 as an outline for outcomes that are expected for four-year-old children as they leave the Head Start program. The concern about this type of framework is that it potentially results in disconnect between appropriate assessment processes and outcomes.

Hallam et al. (2007) investigated the classroom quality associated with an intervention that linked authentic assessment practices with the Head Start child Outcomes Framework. These researchers conducted this study by observing twenty-six preschool classrooms involved in Head Start. The pilot and intervention classrooms used an approach to assessment that blended the development of portfolios in line with the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework and a curriculum-based assessment tool, and then integrated this child assessment information into instructional planning.The control group in the study contained comparison classrooms that used only the assessment approach of the Head Start program. This program included an agency-developed lesson plan and a standardized assessment tool.

Specifically, the intervention approach used in the study was Project LINK, a program that aimed to promote connections between curriculum, assessment, and outcomes for the enhancement of success in school for children involved in the Head Start program (Hallam et al., 2007). The program was intended to be utilized as a means for the documentation of accountability, and was designed as an intervention and evaluation to be used over two years, with the first year consisting of examination of quality in the classroom….....