2008 Assessment Workshop

The Languages of Assessment: It’s All About Children and Families

The 6th Annual Workshop on “The Languages of Assessment: It’s All About Children and Families” drew from our participants’ ideas of what needs to be taken into consideration in early childhood assessment. Dr Hillel Goelman, Senior Scholar at the Human Early Learrning Partnership and a Faculty member in Education and Pediatrics at UBC, presented a unique, sensitive and inspiring overview of the topic through his morning keynote on “The Many Languages of Assessment.” Following Dr Goelman’s presentation, graduate students from The CHILD Project, directed by Dr Goelman, took this opportunity to present Dr Goelman with a plaque “in gratitude” for the opportunities given through this unique interdisciplinary project. Researchers, community partners and graduate students have presented – and continue to present– their work at Assessment Workshop events since 2003. Dr Lori Irwin, Deputy Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership, presented the closing keynote with a provocative and dynamic presentation on the different lenses of assessment from a population-based perspective. Lorraine Aitken of the Comox Valley Child Development Association and Vi-Anne Zirmhelt of the Early Childhood Educators of BC (ECEBC) shared the final words in closing this event.

This year had the highest number of sessions since our first workshop in 2003, with a total of 18 presentations. Presenters’ workshops covered important aspects related to the different languages of assessment. These included early intervention models focusing on early recognition and response at a population’s level; the identification of learning differences and remediation of special needs in targeted groups of children; issues on health related quality of life for children and their families; issues regarding early child development program evaluation; evaluation standards and measurement in the early child development assessment process. As in previous years, presenters’ backgrounds represented different research and professional fields, including developmental psychology, early child development, education, pediatrics, counselling, psychometrics, and social and family work, among many others. We were especially privileged for Diana Elliott’s presence not only as a new member to our Organizing Committee (as part of her role as the Provincial Advisor of the Aboriginal Infant Development Program), but as a presenter in the workshop Languages of Assessment—Do We Speak the Languages of Families and Cultures?

This year we were grateful to add Tanya Brown, the newly appointed Advisor to the Supported Child Development Program of BC (SCDP of BC), as a new member to our Organizing Committee. Lorraine Aitken, former Advisor of the SCDP, stepped down earlier on this year, but continued to be an integral part of this Committee from her new role as the Director of the Comox Valley Child Development Association.

As we mentioned in this year’s Welcome, early childhood educators, family support workers and many others in the early child development field play a key role in connecting families to the right screening or assessment and intervention supports. We thank you once again, early childhood educators, family support workers and many others in the early child development field, for the work that you are doing with young children and their families. It is the most important work in the world. We count on you to continue to express your interest in this important field and expect to see you back in May 2009 for our next “Assessment Workshop.”

Our Organizing Committee continues to rely on participants’ informative feedback through their evaluations of the workshops and of the event as a whole. Details regarding the 2009 overall topic, presenters and sessions will be announced in the late Fall 2008.

You fill find the description and links to the presentations in the sections that follow.

We would like to thank:

The Early Childhood Educators of BC (ECEBC) and their Board of Directors, in particular Violet Jessen and Dianne Tannahill, together with Vi-Anne Zirnhelt, President and Toni Hoyland, Past President
Joyce Branscombe, Nicky Byres, of EventAbility
Dana Brynelsen, Provincial Advisor, Office of the Infant Development Program of BC
Aitken, Director, Comox Valley Child Development Association and past Provincial Advisor of the Supported Child Development Programs of BC
	Tanya Brown, Provincial Advisor, Office of Supported Child Development Programs of BC
Diana Elliott, Provincial Advisor, Office of the Aboriginal Infant Development Program of BC
William McKee, Dierctor, The Psychoeducational Training Centre at UBC
Clyde Hertzman, Lori Irwin and staff from HELP and The CHILD Project
…for their support and enthusiasm in presenting this exciting event
We gratefully acknowledge the administrative, logistical and onsite volunteering support provided by:
Esther Shackelly, Office of the Provincial Advisor, Aboriginal Infant Development Program of BC
Ann Silberman, ECEBC
Dr William McKee The Psychoeducational Training Centre, Faculty of Education, UBC
Lesley Richardson and Lauris Williams, EventAbility
Adrienne Ho, Sophia D’Amato, Ellen Larcombe, and Ginny Chu HELP
Barbara Goyer, CHILD Project Coordinator with HELP
Adrienne Ho, Sophia D’Amato, Ellen Larcombe, HELP
Amelia Mathison, Office of the Provincial Advisor, Infant Development Programs of BC
Sandi McDonald, Office of the Provincial Advisor, Supported Child Development Programs of BC
Warm thanks to our enthusiastic and committed student Volunteers:
Riann Batch, Elisa Benson, Claire Freyvogel, Maya Goldstein, Zhen Li, Paulina Moreno, Ladda Prasertsintanah, David Wu (Graduate Students, Faculty of Education), and Carolina Rolando, Undergraduate Student, Faculty of Arts, UBC