Running Head: FEDERAL EDUCATION PROPOSAL 1 FEDERAL EDUCATION PROPOSAL 10 Federal Education Proposal Cornelius Kealoha Ashford University Capstone Final: Federal Education Proposal: Early Childhood Education Introduction In the United States of America the demand for early childhood education and care programs continue to increase due to two reasons; high demand for out of home care for child and due to recognition that educational experience is very important during the early ages of development in a child (Blenkin, 2012). Research has indicated that high quality and appropriate early childhood set of programs lead to both short and long term positive impact on the child’s social and cognitive development. But with this understanding in mind, we see a program that is ill informed and with policies that are insufficient being imparted into the lives of the children. The programs that are existent in most cases have relied upon approaches that fragmented, and piecemeal to the complex matters that face children and their families at this early stage in their lives. Effective policies have not been frequently been funded at the most appropriate level in order to provide support to the families and the children (Gullo, 2014). It is my belief that currently United States is at crossroads, and it is important that we must be able to come up with an integrated system of early childhood care and education which is made up of comprehensive approaches which directly brings together families and communities in the design, evaluation and implementation. It is important to invest in a child at an early age and be able to rip benefits that involve cost saving in the future. If we fail to make this investment on early child education, it means that we will be facing an uncertain future as America that will be at risk of increased delinquency, lowered levels of productivity, lower adults ready to be productive and less economic development (Blenkin, 2012). Background of this paper After suggesting above that the early education system in the United States might be lacking in one or two areas, one area in which I find the system to have a big problem is in formative assessment. It is important that we should understand that there is a relationship which exists between assessment in early childhood education and teaching and learning (Gullo, 2014). i. Purpose This is a paper that is created to make a review of issues in early childhood education and make proposal when it comes to formative assessment. The findings of this paper is intended to better the early childhood education in United States since it will be used in support of the development framework for the early education and learning (Gullo, 2014). This is a paper that is created in order to answer questions that are related to formative assessment in early childhood education. ii. Curriculum relation to assessment Features of curriculum such as degree of formality and informality cannot be s.

1. Running Head: FEDERAL EDUCATION PROPOSAL
1
FEDERAL EDUCATION PROPOSAL
10
Federal Education Proposal
Cornelius Kealoha
Ashford University
Capstone Final: Federal Education Proposal: Early Childhood
Education
Introduction
In the United States of America the demand for early childhood
education and care programs continue to increase due to two
reasons; high demand for out of home care for child and due to
recognition that educational experience is very important during
the early ages of development in a child (Blenkin, 2012).
Research has indicated that high quality and appropriate early
childhood set of programs lead to both short and long term
positive impact on the child’s social and cognitive development.
But with this understanding in mind, we see a program that is ill
informed and with policies that are insufficient being imparted
into the lives of the children. The programs that are existent in
most cases have relied upon approaches that fragmented, and
piecemeal to the complex matters that face children and their
families at this early stage in their lives. Effective policies have
not been frequently been funded at the most appropriate level in
order to provide support to the families and the children (Gullo,
2014).
It is my belief that currently United States is at crossroads, and
it is important that we must be able to come up with an

2. integrated system of early childhood care and education which
is made up of comprehensive approaches which directly brings
together families and communities in the design, evaluation and
implementation. It is important to invest in a child at an early
age and be able to rip benefits that involve cost saving in the
future. If we fail to make this investment on early child
education, it means that we will be facing an uncertain future as
America that will be at risk of increased delinquency, lowered
levels of productivity, lower adults ready to be productive and
less economic development (Blenkin, 2012).
Background of this paper
After suggesting above that the early education system in the
United States might be lacking in one or two areas, one area in
which I find the system to have a big problem is in formative
assessment. It is important that we should understand that there
is a relationship which exists between assessment in early
childhood education and teaching and learning (Gullo, 2014).
i. Purpose
This is a paper that is created to make a review of issues in
early childhood education and make proposal when it comes to
formative assessment. The findings of this paper is intended to
better the early childhood education in United States since it
will be used in support of the development framework for the
early education and learning (Gullo, 2014). This is a paper that
is created in order to answer questions that are related to
formative assessment in early childhood education.
ii. Curriculum relation to assessment
Features of curriculum such as degree of formality and
informality cannot be separated from how we assess the
learning and development of children. The relationship between
the curriculum and assessment can be said to be sophisticated
and complex and the interplay between the two is very
important in ensuring effectiveness of either of the two. It is
important that a curriculum framework is developed for children

3. from birth up to the age of six. It should be a curriculum that
which embraces a certain view of the children in terms of
learning and how learning may be celebrated. In early
Childhood education, learning can be provided in four themes
that are complementary and broad and includes; well being,
thinking and exploring, communicating and identity.
The framework created should be able to rely upon certain
principles such as communicating and language, play and
experience at first hand, active learning, well created indoor and
outdoor learning environment and lastly holistic learning
associated with development. It is important that we should
have a curriculum that has assessment which recognizes the
uniqueness of early education in the development of the child. It
is important that the federal government should be able to learn
from countries that have longer and established history of
appraisal of assessment practices than that which is existent in
the United States. It is important to develop an assessment that
relies on set principles that are used in guiding practice and
policy on the child assessment.
Through the following ways, the proposed assessment will help
the child better achieve their goal in education. This assessment
will be specifically created for a certain specific purpose and it
should be fair and reliable. It is an assessment that will be age
appropriate, and parents will be utilized as a very important
source of information and audience for the results of the
assessment. This is an assessment system that is linguistically
appropriate, and recognizes that it appropriately measures
language
How the changes will work
Analysis of the legislative context
In most countries we have witnessed long history of informal
assessment of children who are undergoing early learning. With
the changing times most countries have found it necessary to
document early childhood education in ways that were not being
utilized before. The legislative requirement and desire by

4. practitioners has been important in advising the process of
documenting data in helping better understand the process of
learning at the early stages. It is important to understand the
contents of education act which is related to Early Childhood
Education.
It is a provision of this act that teachers must be able to
evaluate children and report the outcome of their evaluation to
their parents from period to period. The implication of the law
means that the schools and the teachers must be able to come up
with an assessment procedure which can be able to offer
accurate information on the progress of the children and their
achievement. The teachers must be able to create and maintain
the records of progress shown by the children during their time
attending school. At the end of the process they must be able to
provide the parents with the outcome of their assessment. It is
important to understand that currently the assessment process
that is being used in school does not ensure compliance with the
Equal Status Act due to the fact that it was not created in line
with the curriculum in order to make it all inclusive.
The child care regulations provide the adequate requirement and
regulation when it comes to all aspects of operations in a
preschool set up. This formative assessment model must be able
to ensure that the whole content it holds is part of the law
through this regulations and requirement. In order for this to be
possible the stakeholders must be able to engage when it comes
to making judgments that are deemed to very important in terms
of the development and learning. It therefore shows that
assessment must be able to take place within a framework that
is in line with the legislation of the country.
Importance of the model in learning and development
This model of assessment can have a number of functions in
early childhood education and this can be inclusive of being
summative, evaluative, and informative and ipsative. This
assessment in early childhood education has great potential to
support development and learning. Studies which have been
done in most countries have indicated that assessment is

5. important in meeting the needs of children and support of the
cognitive process in children. The main and ultimate purpose of
the assessment in early child education is to make the process of
learning more enjoyable and a success among the children
(Persky, 2011). Assessment must be able to work for children; it
is through this assessment that we can be able to enrich the
curriculum, provisions and interactions as a whole. The
assessment will be able to guide in terms of what the child will
learn next in order to extend and support that form of learning.
a. Nature of Early Childhood Learning
It is important for stakeholders to determine the characteristic
of early childhood learning and determine the main theoretical
constructs which will aid in assessment and learning among the
children. The theoretical consideration can be important in
development of this proposal on approaches that can be used in
assessment (Persky, 2011). In early childhood education,
children learn in various dimensions that include motor,
linguistic, emotional and physical development. This is very
variable means of learning in most dimensions. This kind of
learning occurs in rapid measures and is very susceptible to
certain changes in environment. It is such nature of early
childhood education that makes the whole process of curriculum
development and assessment highly challenging.
b. Complexity in early learning
There is evidence to suggest that early education is extensive
and complex. Early childhood educators in United States have
always attempted to convey the fact that early education is
complex, and through this they have shown that children
learning can be made better if only it can be approached in the
right way (New, 2007).Children display different proficiency
levels when it comes to learning at different context. Children’s
mind supports a certain schema at a certain period of time and
therefore means that any assessment that is created must be able
to contain all the schemas through which the child can be able

6. to learn. The levels of complexity shows that we can only rely
on important elements to come up with a means of assessment
and not a general daily observation of the children with no
periodical timeline.
Theoretical Considerations of this policy proposal
In current years especially in Western Europe, the government
and policy makers over there have undergone a process of
rethinking the construction process of the child. The rethinking
is being done and in mind they have several development and
learning theories such as psychology, philosophy, and
sociology. The post modern perspective looks at the child from
the sense of their start of life, and then the construction of own
life. This assessment theory that I have proposed tries to borrow
a lot from the perspective that was used by Malaguzzi in the
development of Reggio Emilia preschools that are based in Italy
(New, 2007). This was a rich theory as it did make use of the
understanding that the child needs to be equipped all from the
start in order to engage actively while they grow in the world.
This proposal will look at assessment from the different
perspectives which include ecological and socio-cultural.
i. Ecological Perspective
In most explanations of learning in early childhood development
socio-cultural and ecological theories have dominated in current
days. The biological and ecological models have been utilized
heavily when it comes to understanding development and
learning and the associated processes of assessment (New,
2007). The models are able to emphasize the role that the
ecology plays in human development and the different
environmental processes. There are several papers which have
been written and which have stressed the importance of
education and care in facilitating the overall development of the
child. Looking at it from this perspective it can be seen that
human development is taking place as a result of a complex and
progressive interactions which are also highly reciprocal
between the adults, young people and objects that are found in

7. the environment. The interactions take place in a very regular
basis over a long and extended period of time. The forms of
interactions that are enduring are taken as being key to the
learning and development process and this must be studied for a
long time alongside with observation of changes overtime.
ii. Socio-Cultural Perspective
Two decades ago socio cultural perspectives which highlight the
social and cultural nature of education and learning are being
used to give explanation of the ways that learning and
development takes place in early childhood and development.
Socio-cultural learning theories show that the learning process
is so much of a social construction as it is also an individual
one. The transformation of a child takes place in a number of
levels of development which must be considered by the federal
government when developing assessment of the early childhood
education. The assessment must consider that the child changes
with the level of involvement, role that they play in the entire
learning process and the ability to show and demonstrate
flexibility.
Conclusion
Research has shown that high quality early childhood education
can be able to offer short term and long term positive effects on
the children and the society. Proper early childhood education is
important when it comes to social and cognitive development.
Children who go through a stable and complex play can be able
to turn out being important adults in future. The academic
success of a child can be predicted through a high quality early
childhood education. In order to make the early education to be
effective, the federal government of United States should be
able to create a policy system through which a defined
assessment model can be created. If the early childhood
education can be able to come up with a well planned and
documented assessment process, then the problems that have
been witnessed in the past when it comes to compliance with the

8. law and the developmental needs of the child will be eliminated.
This proposal is very important and therefore needs to be taken
into consideration by the education stakeholders in the country
in order to better early childhood education.
References
Blenkin, G. (2012). Assessment in early childhood education.
London: Paul Chapman Pub.
Gordon, I. (2011). Early childhood education, Chicago: NSSE;
distributed by the University of Chicago Press.
Gullo, D. (2014). Understanding assessment and evaluation in
early childhood education. New York, N.Y.: Teachers College
Press.
New, R. (2007). Early childhood education: An international
encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Persky, B. (2011). Early childhood education (2nd Ed.).
Lanham: University Press of America;
Policies and procedures for early childhood directors. (2011).
St. Paul, Minn.: Early Childhood Directors Association: