Communicating with parents/families about the assessment process requires ongoing effort, support, and collaboration. As you have been learning, parents/families should be partners throughout the assessment process; with the professional ensuring that everyone fully understands the purposes of assessment, what is being assessed, and how this information can be utilized to support the child’s development and learning.
In Part 4 of your Child Observation Project, you developed a Portfolio Plan that specified additional assessment data that you would need in order to develop a holistic picture of the development and learning of the child whom you selected for your Child Observation Project. For Part 5 of your Project, you will develop a hypothetical Reporting Plan for sharing the results of the data gathered in the Portfolio Plan.
Note: You are not required to implement this plan.
Plan
- Review the Portfolio Plan that you developed during Week 4.
- Review pages 201–204 of your course text and think about the strategies presented regarding conducting effective parent conferences and how you can use this information to develop a plan for communicating the results of your Portfolio Plan to parents and family members.
- Download and print the Reporting Plan.
Implement
- Complete the Reporting Plan.
Reflect on the development of the Reporting Plan and what you have learned this week about effective communication and collaboration. With this in mind, complete the following:
- What did you learn from developing your Portfolio Plan that will assist you in communicating and collaborating with parents/family members about assessment results?
- Imagine yourself in the role of the parent/family member during a portfolio conference. What specific communication techniques do you feel would be effective and received well?