March/April 2005

Maryland's Work Sampling System

A 2003 statement by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) called for a comprehensive approach to early childhood testing that takes into account a variety of children's developmental, cultural, and linguistic needs (see main article). Although the statement does not identify exemplary programs, one that appears to match many of the NAEYC criteria is Maryland's. There, state officials began by identifying a set of outcomes for young children and developed intensive professional development around those outcomes. The state then selected an assessment, known as the Work Sampling System, that was aligned to the outcomes.

The Work Sampling System assesses children's development on a range of dimensions, including language and literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, the arts, social and personal development, and physical development. Unlike traditional standardized tests, it relies on teachers' documentation of children's performance and behavior and portfolios of children's work. These components can be aggregated to provide information to policymakers and the public, and they provide useful information for teachers, notes Rolf Grafwallner, coordinator of the early learning office in the Maryland State Department of Education.

"If you look at the research on early childhood education, you look for children's performance in their natural learning situation," he says. "Over time, you have multiple points of information on children's learning. That's helpful to teachers."