Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Curriculum-based approaches for educational assessment and pre-referral support are continuously gaining attention as being more meaningful to school communities, than classic psychometric approaches. Consequently, curriculum-based evaluation provides a common language, which is sufficiently comprehensive to students, teachers, parents, counselors and specialists (e.g., therapists). Thus, it directly facilitates a common ground for educational and instructional decisions. The purpose of the present study was to examine preschoolers’ participation in curriculum-derived activities. In accordance with the Greek preschool curriculum, pupil’s participation is being evaluated in five core axes, namely play, explorations, class routines, daily situations, and learning. Teachers rated contents of these axes (in total, 40 items) using a six point rubric, which highlights pupil performance and teacher enrollment. Subsequently, teachers judged, if each pupil was to be referred a) to a pre-referral intervention program, b) to an educational diagnosis process, or c) not to be referred at all. Our sample consisted from 160 pupils, with modal ages of five and six years, who attended mainstream kindergartens. Classification And Regression Tree (CART) analyses of the data revealed that teachers’ ratings could correctly predict pupils’ group membership. Depending on the group targeted, the prediction accuracy varied from 90% to 100%. Curriculum axes and items had different statistical significance to group predictions. Results are being critically discussed on the basis of economically screening new pupils and planning intervention programs, where needed.