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Teaching to the Child,
Not to the Test:
Implications of New Research Data
on Designing Curriculum for the
Preschool Classroom
Andrea Sambrook, MA
Owner, Annette’s Preschool
Former Director of Research and Education,
Gesell Institute of Child Development
Learning Objectives
1) Understand the basic ages and stages of child development
for children ages 3-5, and name the factors which influence it
2) Describe the difference between chronological age and
developmental age
3) Use the preliminary results of the Gesell study and apply
them to practice in the classroom
Gesell Institute
of Child Development
Dr. Arnold Gesell
Gesell Institute of Child
Development
310 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT
www.gesellinstitute.org
Brief History of Arnold Gesell
and Gesell Institute
• Arnold Gesell, PhD, MD, 1880 - 1961
• 1911 founded Yale Child Study Center
• 1950 Gesell Institute was established
• First to systematically document and study child
development and discover stages of development
using cinematography
• “Father of Child Development” and “Father
of School Psychology”
• Origin of Gesell Developmental Observation tasks
“If we use effective tools,
the child reveals himself to
all who will stop and listen
to what he says, and who,
with seeing eyes, will
watch what he does.”
-- Dr. Arnold Gesell
Overview
• Characteristic behavior of 3-5 year olds
• Role of assessment in child development
• GDO-R / national study
• Data implications for practice
• Apply the findings to your curriculum
Questions…
• How does your present curriculum
recognize the ages and stages of
development?
• List 3 major goals you have for 3/4/5
yr olds in your program.
• List some activities with 3/4/5 yr olds
that you use to support these goals.
Gesell’s Ages and Stages of
Development
Ages 3 to 5
Characteristic Behavior
Gesell’s Spiral of
Development
Alternating patterns of
Equilibrium
and
Disequilibrium
approximately every 6
months in preschool
3 Years
• Leaving the “Terrible Two-and-a-half Year” old stage, children now love to conform: much more self controlled
• Cooperative and want to do things right
• Highly social time – more interested in other children than activities
• Uses the word “yes” and “we”
• Gives as well as takes
• Likes to share: objects and experiences
• More secure in his/her relations with others
Equilibrium
3 Years
• Increased motor abilities--likes running around and is good at it
• Has fun with language--tremendous increase in vocabulary and in ability to use language
• Moves positively to meet each new adventure
• Can adapt behavior according to environment
• Does not understand passage of time
• Becomes concerned if another child gets hurt
• May begin to stammer/stutter
• Beginning of fears – masks, dark
3 ½ Years
• Tremendous change
• Period of marked insecurity, disequilibrium, poor coordination
• Stuttering may occur
• Vision is changing, depth perception is off, difficulty going up and down steps
• Tensional outlets may be exaggerated – likes to hold things close for security
• Relations with others may become difficult
• Separation problems-fearful if Mom leaves, must physically see her
• Frequent verbal disputes with other children – will seek adult help
3 ½ Years
• Crying, whining and frequent questioning and complaining
• Emotional extremes
• Vivid imagination & inventiveness—a real capacity for pretend play
• Friends important--moving out of parallel play and into cooperative play
• More imaginary companions than at any other age
• Loves to play with language, make up new words, whisper secrets
• Can get upset by changes in routines
4 Years
• Tireless bundle of energy!
• Full of ideas
• Overflowing with chatter and activity, may hit, kick, throw stones, break things and run away
• Enthusiastic and imaginative, stage of “tall tales”
• Can be boisterous, belligerent and boastful, is tough, swaggers, swears and defies
• Emotionally loud silly laughter alternates with fits of rage
• Verbally “out of bounds”
• Secure, comfortable and brashly confident
4 Years
• Runs, starts, stops, moves around
obstacles with ease
• Throws a ball overhand
• Builds a tower of 10 blocks and bridge
• Walks a straight line
• Hops on one foot, pedals & steers with
confidence
• Climbs, jumps over objects 5-6 in.
• Forms shapes & objects out of clay
• Reproduces some shapes and letters
• Can seriate from largest to smallest with 3-4 objects
4 Years
• Can distinguish same & different
• Uses prepositions “on, in and under”
• Consistently uses possessives: hers, theirs, baby’s
• Elaborate sentence structure
• Begins to correctly use past tense
• Moods change rapidly, age of extremes
• Highly imaginative
• Beginning cooperative play, now has “best friends”
4 ½ Years
• Oppositional, uncertain, inconsistent & unpredictable
• Trying to sort out real from make believe
• Becomes quite confused & often demanding
• More self motivating, stays on task more
• Great “discusser”
• Concerned with details, likes to be shown
4 ½ Years
• Improving control, perfecting skills
• Beginning interest in letters and numbers
• Aware of front and back, inside and out
• A period of catching up for some
• Play is less wild
5 Years
• A time of extreme & delightful equilibrium
• Calm, friendly, not too demanding
• Content to stay on or near home base
• Does not seem to need to venture into the unknown or try things that are too difficult
5 Years
• Realist: Tries only that which he/she can accomplish
• Mom is typically the center of his/her world
• To be good is something he/she intends and can accomplish
• Satisfied with self and others are satisfied too
Child Development
Principles
• All children grow through predictable and patterned stages of development
• Growth in one domain may support or inhibit growth in another domain
• “Earlier” and “Faster” in NOT better nor is it possible
Child Development
Principles
• Stages include negative and positive behaviors, both of which help the child to grow and develop
• Unique rate and pace for each child, thus profile may be uneven
• Rate and pace is influenced by a variety of
factors – Child factors (heredity, genetics, temperament)
– Family factors (childrearing practices, nutrition, medical care)
– School factors (home/school connection, teaching practices,
social relationships)
– Community factors (poverty, social support systems,
neighborhood)
What are the common
types of assessment?
What is an IQ test?
• IQ test measures a person's cognitive ability
compared to the population at large.
• IQ is a standardized test, and 100 is the median,
or average, score.
• IQ test is not something for which a person can
study.
• IQ test does not measure the quantity of
knowledge but rather measures a person's general
intellectual ability to understand ideas, reason,
process information, and particularly the ability to
store and retrieve it.
• Problems with cultural bias, reliance on language
and use with very young children.
What is a
Readiness Test?
• Product oriented.
• Skill acquisition to date.
• Used for class placement and curriculum planning.
• Focuses on child’s level of preparedness for
benefiting from a specific academic program.
What is Developmental
Screening?
• Brief procedure(15-20 min) to identify if a
child may have a possible learning problem
or disability, and should receive more
extensive assessment.
• Standardized protocol observes child’s
abilities in language, reasoning, fine/gross
motor and surveys personal/social areas.
• First step in prevention, evaluation and
intervention process to help children
achieve full potential.
Limitations of Screening
Instruments
• Screening results should not be used to
diagnose or label a child.
• Screening test is not a readiness test.
• Screening test is not an IQ test.
• Screening tests should not be used with
multicultural communities if instruments are not
sensitive to cultural differences.
• Screening should never be done in isolation.
What is Developmental
Assessment?
• Longer session, more in-depth (40 min+ or
multiple evaluations over weeks)
• Confirms or denies concern or delay in specific
areas of development.
• Identifies specific areas of strength and
weakness.
• Can determine what type of problem exists and
possible causes.
• Can help propose remediation strategies.
• Standardized protocol and evaluation team
meetings.
Screening and Assessment
Source: Developmental Screening in Early Childhood. Samuel J. Meisels & Sally Atkins-Burnett, 2005.
What Is the Gesell
Developmental Observation?
Published —1925, 1940, 1964, 1979, 2011
Gesell Developmental
Observation-Revised (GDO-R)
• A performance-based, criterion referenced
assessment system for children 2 ½-9 years
• Results provide a Developmental Age
• Comprised of 5 strands:
*Developmental *Letters/Numbers *Numeracy
*Language/Comprehension *Social/emotional/adaptive
• Results also provide a Performance Level Rating
for each strand (Age Appropriate, Emerging, or
Concern)
Developmental Age
• Age which best describes the child’s
overt behavior and performance on a
developmental scale
• Developmental Age may be equal to,
older than, or younger than the child’s
actual chronological age
• Examiners receive training (3-day
hands-on workshop) to learn how to
use the GDO-R to determine a child’s
Developmental Age
GDO-R Tasks and Measures
GDO-R Tasks and Measures
Purpose of the Study
• GDO last updated with technical data in 1979
• Former research did not meet today’s APA
standards
• At one time, close to 25% of all Kindergarten
children in the U.S. were assessed with the GDO
• Current state and federal standards mandate more
research-based child assessment instruments
• Necessary to re-establish the integrity and national
standing of Gesell Institute
• Age of children in study: 29 - 63
• Child data on 17 of the 19 GDO ©2007 tasks (167 items)
• Child data on 70 new pilot items
• Parent data on child’s Home/Health/History and
Social/Emotional/Adaptive skills (78 items)
• Teacher data on child’s classroom behavior and
Social/Emotional/Adaptive skills (45 items)
• Psychometric support and statistical analysis
provided by Mid-Continent Research for
Education and Learning (McREL)
Method
N=53 sites across 23 U.S. states
Site Sample: Eligibility for
Free/Reduced Lunch
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch Not Eligible for FRL
Children Eligible for FRL at GDO Study Sites
72%
28%
NOT Eligible
Eligible
Examiner Sample
• 101 Examiners participated
• 88% examiners hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s
degree
• Examiners were trained on standardized
administration and data collection procedures
for all GDO tasks
• Examiners possessed a mean of 7 years GDO
experience
• Sample n=1,287 children, age 3-6
• Sample of convenience (current GDO users)
Child Data Sample
Age Band
in GDO
Study Mean Age
(Years)
Chronological Ages of Children Included in Each Age Band
Sample N
3 3.08 2 years 9 months and 0 days – 3 years 2 months and 29 days
53
36 3.54 3 years 3 months and 0 days – 3 years 8 months and 29 days
131
4 4.00 3 years 9 months and 0 days – 4 years 2 months and 29 days
186
46 4.52 4 years 3 months and 0 days – 4 years 8 months and 29 days
264
5 5.00 4 years 9 months and 0 days – 5 years 2 months and 29 days
278
56 5.48 5 years 3 months and 0 days – 5 years 8 months and 29 days
221
6 5.97 5 years 9 months and 0 days – 6 years 2 months and 29 days
154
Child Data Distribution:
Sex
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
3 yrs 3 1/2 yrs 4 yrs 4 1/2 yrs 5 yrs 5 1/2 yrs 6 yrs
Male
Female
Pe
rce
nt
Age Band
Child Data Distribution:
Ethnicity
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Age 3 Age 3 1/2 Age 4 Age 4 1/2 Age 5 Age 5 1/2 Age 6
Not Reported
Other
Multiple Ethnicities
Hispanic
Caucasian (not Hispanic)
American Indian
African American
Pe
rce
nt
Age Band
Performance Level
Expectations
• Data Rubrics contain 3 Performance Level
Expectations by task
Not Yet Expected for age (< 50% age band)
Qualified Expectation for age (50-69.9% age band)
Solid Expectation for age (70% + age band)
• Refers to the percentage of children within each
age group that performed the task successfully.
• For reference purposes only; not used for scoring
Results: Performance
Expectations by Age Band
Results for three
GDO tasks
• Cubes: Gate
• Copy Forms: Triangle
• Incomplete Man: Body Line, Hair, Ear
Cubes Task
Gate
Results: Cubes
Results: Cubes
Cube Structure Built Solid Expectation
3 ½ years
4 years
5 years
• Manipulating a cube to create an oblique
angle is solid expectation by 5 years
Train
Bridge
Gate
Copy Forms Task
Copy Forms Samples
5 ½ yrs.
Results: Copy Forms
Form Copied Solid Expectation
3 years
4 years
4 ½ years
5 ½ years
Results: Copy Forms
• Manipulation of a pencil to reproduce a form requires
integration of fine motor and visual perception.
• Children still accomplish important developmental
milestones at same time; e.g., copying forms
• Can reproduce oblique lines of a triangle by 5 ½
Incomplete Man Task
Incomplete Man Samples
5 ½ yrs.
Results: Incomplete Man
Body Part Added
Spontaneously
Solid Expectation
Leg 4 years
Foot, Hand, Arm, Eyes 4 ½ years
Body Line 5 years
Hair, Ear 5 ½ years
Results: Incomplete Man
• Complex body parts such as Neckline, Hair and
Ear are added at 5 – 5 ½ years.
• Requires increasingly sophisticated manipulation
of pencil to add these parts to a pre-drawn figure.
Comparison of Selected
GDO tasks
GDO-R item Solid Expectation
Cubes:
Gate 5 years
Incomplete Man:
Body Line 5 years
Copy Forms:
Triangle 5 ½ years
Incomplete Man:
Ear and Hair 5 ½ years
Fine Motor:
Mature Pencil Grasp 5 ½ years
Results
• Three core developmental tasks on
GDO-R indicate that visual-motor
integration and fine motor skills
converge at 5-5 ½ years of age.
• These are developmental
prerequisites for the more academic
demands of school (reading, writing,
visual discrimination)
Conclusions
• Data renews the importance of
assessing developmental age in
order to design appropriate
curriculum in the classroom,
child by child.
• Demonstrates stability of
children’s growth through ages
and stages of development.
Conclusions
• Supports current brain research
which indicates that new
knowledge is built upon previous
knowledge as synapses are
strengthened.
Conclusions
• Confirms Arnold Gesell’s original
findings.
• Establishes reliability and validity
evidence for renewed use of the
GDO instrument.
Challenges
• N=4 states and the District of Columbia
still have late cut off dates for
Kindergarten entry (CA, CT, MI, VT)
• “Red shirting” or “holding out” a year
widens range of chronological ages
between students; may do the same
for distribution of developmental levels
• Training in use of assessment tools
varies across ECE programs
Implications for Educators
• Comprehensive assessments of
development provide critical baseline
information about a child’s capacity to
take on new academic challenges.
• Developmental observations of behavior
enable educators to predict “directional
signs” for each child’s growth in
synchrony with Common Core State
Standards.
Implications for Educators
• Sequence learning experiences
according to overall developmental level
of child, rather than chronological age
• Use developmental profile of child to
inform content and pace of curriculum
• Identify when a child’s visual perception
(oblique lines) and execution of fine motor
tasks (mature pencil use, completing
details of symmetry, copying a triangle
independently) converge to reveal a
developmental readiness
Implications for Educators
• Social and emotional behaviors can
be rated via Teacher and
Parent/Guardian Questionnaires to
promote appropriate and shared
expectations of the child’s
development at home and school
Questions…
• How might these findings impact the
goals you currently have for your
students today?
• How are the classroom activities in
your programs designed to
differentiate by developmental level?
Questions…
• How might these findings impact
your communication with parents
today?
Gesell Institute Today
• 2013 Educators Voice Award in the category of
Education Policy/Research. This award is presented by
the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences.
• National ECE Training with US Department of
Education, Fall 2011 and May 2012
• Early Childhood LEADership E-Kit, March 2012
Dr. Marcy Guddemi;
Dr. Jacqueline Jones, US DOE;
Linda Calarco, Board President
www.geselle-kit.org
Sources
Gesell Developmental Observation-Revised Examiner’s
Manual (2011). New Haven, CT: Gesell Institute.
Meisels, S.J. (2005). Developmental Screening in Early
Childhood: A Guide. 5th Edition. Washington DC: NAEYC.
www.gesellinstitute.org
Learning Objectives
1) Understand the basic ages and stages of child development
for children ages 3-5, and name the factors which influence it
2) Describe the difference between chronological age and
developmental age
3) Use the preliminary results of the Gesell study and apply
them to practice in the classroom