| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立新竹教育大學 === 人資處幼稚園教師教學碩士班 === 97 === Abstract
This study was designed to explore the changes of young children’s assessment in a public kindergarten and factors inducing these changes. The results were compiled and analyzed from three different periods, namely, before, during and after the counseling. Data pedagogy including records from counseling meeting, teachers’ meetings, children’s assessment documents and in-depth interviews of participating teachers. A thorough study and analysis of these data was conducted, complemented by in-depth interviews to learn more about the reasons for change. The results were as follows:
The four classes, identified as Red, Orange, Yellow and Green, in the Rainbow Kindergarten, during the one-year mentor period, underwent assessment changes from the checklist approach used before mentoring to extensive descriptions of the core abilities of a single domain during mentoring, and returned to a combination of checklist and extensive description after mentoring, All classes attempted new formats of assessment. changes in the evaluation form and the combination of teaching and learning. After the mentoring, a major difference in assessment was detected from the way teachers in each class integrated their own original form with the new methods of learning assessment.
New paradigms were adopted to explore the changes in young children’s assessment by utilizing five indicators: "text description and photos of evidence in sync ", "observation and assessment to focus on core abilities", " integration of teaching and evaluation", "a systematic approach to see the child", "multiple assessors". The study found that two indicators, “text description and photo of evidence in sync” and "observation and analysis to focus on core abilities," are the most common changes in each class, while "a systematic approach to see the child," and "multiple assessors " are the hardest to achieve.
Eight factors can be attributed in influencing teachers’ decisions about assessment change seven of which is external and one is internal. Of those external factors, "time" and "labor" are the most influential, perhaps because the new assessment focusing on observation and analysis methods is more time-consuming and laborious, and, for a busy kindergarten teacher, whether the assessment changes can be familiar, easy to operate, time-saving and human power-saving are important considerations. "Parents" is also an important factor in influencing the teacher. The preferences of parents about the content of the teacher's assessment can make determining changes on the teacher, while at the same time, an affirmation of and support from parents is also a source of teacher motivation.
Change of assessment is related to what the teachers believe in assessment. When the new assessment methods are in conflict with teachers’ personal values or beliefs, it is much more difficult to change the assessment. Teachers facing the new attempts in changing the ways to assess children are under the influence of various external and internal factors. The combination of different factors can bring about changes in different styles. In the course of changing, new concepts of assessment collides with the old experience of the teachers. After the assimilation and adaptation of cognitive process, each class seems to have developed their own evaluation methods.
Keywords: young children, assessment, change, kindergarten teachers, mentor program.
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