Iris is a preschool special education teacher who works with 12 children between the ages of 2 and 5. To informally assess children’ s learning, she begins each day by observing their play.“ I bring my assessment binder to them,” she shares with colleagues.“ Rather than interrupting their play, I join them in their chosen activity, extend their play, ask questions, and collect data on the spot.”
This approach allows Iris to capture knowledge and skills in real time and in authentic situations as she extends play and asks questions. By leveraging children’ s motivation during their preferred activities, she can introduce learning goals and intentionally track the progress they are making.
For example, when Minh shows an interest in train tracks, Iris introduces activities that allow her to assess the receptive and expressive language goals articulated in his IEP. During a 15-minute session using Minh’ s preferred play sets, Iris asks him to identify objects like the train tracks or to imitate environmental noises like“ choo.” She documents Minh’ s nonverbal imitation, such as his ability to roll a car or open a gate. She also provides verbal prompts to evaluate his understanding of prepositions(“ Can you drive the train over / under / in the bridge?”), recording whether Minh completes the tasks independently or requires a gesture or verbal prompt. She collects constantly and without interrupting Minh’ s engagement during this time.
Iris’ s experience illustrates how educators can forefront observation, child choice, and responsiveness to align with individualized learning goals. By embracing children’ s interests and assets, teachers can intentionally plan and carry out assessments that inform instructional decisions to benefit each learner.
( Re) claiming Assessments as Advocacy Tools for Learners
By exercising their agency and advocating for equitable assessment practices, educators( re) claim assessment as a tool for inquiry, empowerment, and instructional insight. This is an ongoing, reflective, and knowledge-seeking process( Xu & Brown 2016; Cui et al. 2025). To begin, we suggest reflecting on the following practices:
› Start with the child. Educators can engage with families to gain insights about children’ s strengths and to plan assessment materials that connect to their lived experiences. Interest surveys, family interviews, and observations are helpful ways to learn about each child’ s preferences and backgrounds and to build assessment opportunities around these preferred materials and activities.
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