Ongoing Assessment: Purposeful and Strategic

Ongoing assessment occurs continuously and in the context of the child’s functioning within everyday activities and routines.  Ongoing assessment includes processes to collect information to monitor the child’s progress, both towards individual outcomes or goals and toward the 3 early childhood outcomes for program evaluation.  Ongoing assessment has the purposes of program planning for the child and family, monitoring child progress, and program evaluation.  Ongoing assessment is required for 6 month and annual IFSP reviews as well as for IEP reevaluations.  It provides information necessary to determine progress toward outcomes or goals, continued eligibility, and whether modifications of the outcomes, goals, or services are needed.

Purposes of Ongoing Assessment:

• Program planning (considering ongoing and new child and family needs) – Ongoing assessment allows practitioners to stay aware of the child’s current activities and interests so that program planning matches the child’s current situation.  Considering a child’s abilities and goals related to the 3 early childhood outcomes and embedding in the program planning process is critical.
   
• Monitoring child progress – Ongoing assessment includes determination of child progress toward IFSP outcomes or IEP goals.   Child progress should be monitored to determine whether the strategies being used are working and to determine whether goals/outcomes have been met.  IFSP outcomes and IEP goals must have a connection to the 3 early childhood outcomes to ensure that they are functional for the child.
   
• Program evaluation – Another aspect of ongoing assessment is reviewing the child’s progress related to the 3 early childhood outcomes measured by all early intervention and preschool special education programs for program evaluation.  Practitioners must summarize child functioning in these 3 early childhood outcome areas at entry and exit for reporting purposes, but consideration should be given to reporting progress at least annually on the 3 early childhood outcomes.

Ongoing Assessment Should:

• Be based on how all children learn throughout the course of everyday life, across environments (at home, at school, in the community, etc.);
• Focus on naturally occurring learning opportunities, rather than contrived, specialized instruction;
• Help families adapt interactions, actions, routines, environments, and schedules as key strategies for achieving IFSP outcomes and IEP goals;
• Support primary caregivers and practitioners to provide children with learning experiences and opportunities that strengthen and promote a child’s competence and development;
• Support learning that occurs in the context of the experiences that have high levels of interest and engagement for the child (and family);
• Incorporate opportunities to reflect with the family on what is working and where additional problem solving may be needed as a means of enhancing the family’s capacity and competence
• Involve documentation of children’s functional skills related to the 3 early childhood outcomes which will facilitate their maximum ability to participate and succeed in daily routines and activities at home, at school and in the community.
  (Hanft, Rush, & Shelden, 2004)