Teaching Strategies GOLD® Objectives for Development and Learning: Birth through Kindergarten shows the sequence of steps children take as they master skills in all areas of development. These widely held expectations detail typical skills and behaviors for children in various age groups. The teachers use a modified version of this tool to complete a comprehensive assessment of each child’s development 2 times a year.

All children are assessed through developmentally appropriate methods such as daily observations, checklists, rating scales, and samples of children’s work. These methods provide information across the 4 developmental areas of social-emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development, as well as assessment of the content areas of literacy and mathematics. Assessment occurs in the fall and spring, and the information gathered about your child is shared with you during Parent-Teacher Conferences which are formally held twice a year and allow for home and school collaboration. All child records are kept confidential.

• We conduct these ongoing assessments of all children we serve for the purpose of informing instruction and program policies related to improvement of curricula and materials. Child assessment results are also used for other purposes which can include:
• Making suggested referrals for developmental screening and/or diagnostic assessment when indicated
• Identifying children’s needs and interests
• Describing the developmental progress and learning of children in relation to our program goals and developmental expectations
• Improving curriculum and adapting teaching practices and the environment
• Planning program improvement
• Communicating with families