Teacher Perspectives and Practices of Assessment in Play-Based Kindergarten Classrooms

• In Event: Teachers, Teaching, and Classroom Assessment

Abstract

Recent curricular and pedagogical reforms to kindergarten education require teachers to integrate assessments throughout their instruction to support academic learning while leveraging developmentally appropriate pedagogies such as play-based learning. Despite these reforms, comparatively little research has been conducted on teachers’ assessment practices within play-based instructional contexts. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ approaches –– perspectives and practices –– to assessment in play-based kindergarten education. Data were obtained from 77 Ontario kindergarten teachers via (a) an electronic survey, (b) in-depth interviews, and (c) classroom observations. Overall, data from this study suggest a misalignment in teachers’ perspectives of the purpose of play and what teachers assess during periods of play. Specific examples of assessment during periods of play are described.

Authors

• Christopher DeLuca, Queen's University - Kingston

• Angela Pyle, University of Toronto - OISE