Listening to Learning

Assessing and Teaching Young Children

Effectively assess learning in the most critical years of a child's development

Young children’s learning in preschool and childcare settings sets the foundation for the elementary school years to come. Skills in speaking, listening, reading, math, science, and the arts develop inside everyday instructional routines that teachers and childcare providers make available to children. How can educators be sure of what their children are learning and how to support their progress?

Listening to Learning provides pre-service and in-service teachers and childcare providers working with young learners with an innovative and practical way to assess children’s learning while they are engaged in daily instructional routines. This book offers:

• Methods for observing, documenting, and analyzing what and how young children are learning
• Strategies for monitoring children's progress across various areas, including sciences, arts, mathematics, language arts, and play
• Approaches for making informed instructional adaptations that address the developmental needs of young learners from diverse home and community settings
• A framework that shows how instructional routine activities can be used to bridge classroom assessment with the teaching and learning process

With years of expertise and a thorough analysis of assessment techniques, the authors effectively showcase the power of instructional routines as a tool for understanding and enhancing student learning in these most formative years of development.