Children's Self Assessment

Through children's self-assessment, teachers and parents have the opportunity to clarify what the children see as their strengths in learning, whether the learning goals that teachers and parents set for a child are shared by the child, and what skills the child feels he or she needs to improve. This paper examines how young children's self-assessment is positively influenced by the experience of engaging in project learning. Children ages 3 to 5 years who were enrolled in a preschool housed in a midwestern university whose curriculum was based on the Project Approach were interviewed to determine whether they would self-assess, how they self-assess, and to what degree they might self-assess. While the children appeared to effectively engage in self-assessment in the classroom context, in the after-school interviews, the children initially showed little evidence of engaging in self-assessment or supporting their responses with standards and criteria while self-assessing. After the interview design was changed pairing the children and offering Legos to manipulate during the interview the children were more willing to respond in depth. Data indicated that the children might have responded more comfortably in the context of the classroom during typical class routines rather than in formal interviews held after school