allows teachers to document how children react at different points in
time and then make informed decisions about directed, intentional help
and support.
In the Teaching Strategies GOLD assessment tool there are 38 objectives
of development and learning. Each objective is broken into
developmental progressions and teachers are able to use the online app
or cloud based tool to quickly and efficiently add documentation
including notes, photos or videos, against individual or groups of children.
Over time the data begins to form a picture of where an individual child
or a group of children are in their development. (Please refer to Picture
1B). Research into early childhood development tells teachers what
widely held expectations are for different skills – for example, the blue
band in the diagram shows what students should be able to do in a 4 -5
year old class. The dates in the image correspond to evidence that
teachers have collected and to what level they assess the skill to be at. In
the example below, the child is working on demonstrating gross motor
manipulative skills but is using writing and drawing tools confidently. This
information will help professionals working with this student to plan
activities and experiences that will support gross motor development.
The tool demarcates assessment periods or ‘checkpoints’ three times a
year, where teachers finalize levels against each objective for each
individual student. This provides a snapshot in time of where students
are in their development.
Picture 1A
