First Steps Toward Self-Regulation: The Role of Assessment in Kindergarten Learning

• In Event: One More Step: Bridging Self-Regulated Learning and Classroom Assessment

Abstract

Objectives
Cultivating self-regulation skills to promote independence has been identified as primary aim of kindergarten and early years education, as independent learning has been linked to later school success (Corter, Janmohamed, & Pelletier, 2012; Panadero, 2017). As such, researchers have worked to identify promising pedagogies to support kindergarten students’ (ages 4 and 5) self-regulation skills. In upper years education, assessment has been identified as a powerful pedagogy to support self-regulation (Earl, 2014); yet few studies have explored its value in the kindergarten context. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how kindergarten teachers leverage assessment to support children’s self-regulation. Research questions were:
1. How do kindergarten teachers conceptualize the linkages between assessment and self-regulation?
2. What assessment practices do kindergarten teachers use to promote students’ self-regulation?
3. What are the implications for future research and practice for productively supporting self-regulation through assessment pedagogies in early years contexts?

Perspectives
This paper draws on two bodies of literature – self-regulation and assessment – to frame the study within the current context of kindergarten education. Self-regulation is the capacity to think and behave in ways that enable an individual to attain their goals (Zimmerman, 2000). Self-regulated learning specifically denotes thoughts and behaviours focused on learning. To support the development of children’s self-regulation, varying assessment approaches are suggested, including assessment for learning (AfL) and assessment as learning (AaL). AfL includes approaches in which teachers cultivate understandings about student learning to make learning explicit and to make better instructional choices (Klenowski, 2009). As a sub-component, AaL focuses explicitly on sharing an understanding of student learning with students to support their self-regulation (Earl, 2014). AaL provides direct feedback on what students are learning and, more importantly, how they are learning (Clark, 2012).

Methods
Qualitative data were collected from 20 kindergarten classrooms in Ontario, Canada. Teachers participated in a 1-hour interview focused on their assessment approaches to promote independent learning and four hours of video recorded classroom observation. 10 teachers were then purposefully selected for prolonged observations (10 hours) and a video-elicitation interview (Masats & Dooly, 2011). Two raters analyzed data for emergent themes (Patton, 2014).

Results
Results revealed how teachers support self-regulated learning within a wide range of assessment practices. Based on diverse teacher conceptions of self-regulation, data pointed to a complex system of support for SRL through assessment. The focus of assessment (e.g., academic, social skills) were mapped to their assessment practises (e.g., checklists, conversations), and their intended purposes of assessment (i.e., AfL, AaL) in relation to their conceptions of self-regulation. Five main approaches to assessment to promote self-regulation were identified. Teachers also raised three challenges and areas of implication: (a) discomfort sharing observations with students; (b) data rich but information poor context of assessment, and (c) a developmental approach is not academically adequate for assessment.
 
Significances
Findings provide empirical evidence on the relationship between kindergarten teachers’ assessment practices and students’ self-regulation development. Findings shed light on how kindergarten teachers are productively using assessment to promote independent learning and implications for future research and practice.

Authors

• Christopher DeLuca, Queen's University - Kingston

• Angela Pyle, University of Toronto - OISE

• Heather Braund, Queen's University - Kingston

• Laurie Faith, University of Toronto