At present, Arizona is a leadership state in Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career, or otherwise known as “PARCC” (Underhill 4). The purpose of PARCC is to develop a K-2 assessment to be able to determine the status of education in Arizona. In fact, its state leaders are controlling the work in order to provide a feedback to the PARCC consortium concerning the requirement for a diagnostic element for the first quarter of school (Underhill 4). The present Arizona school districts made use of various methods in order to assess the literacy in kindergarten. However, no common kindergarten assessment had been adopted by the Arizona Department of Education (Underhill 4). The goal of Arizona is to conduct a state-wide assessment that will give the kindergarten teachers the ample information they will need for individualized instruction. At the same time, it will provide the system stake holders with the information they will need to ensure the efficiency of preschool programs (Underhill 5). This move will connect the existing grade three to grade twelve assessments to achieve K–3 efficiency. Currently, the state leaders are trying to develop a series of recommendations for submission to the Arizona State Board of Education for the purpose of adopting a kindergarten entry assessment intended to be used at the beginning of the year 2014 (Underhill 5).
The assessment being used by the state is the formative assessments and screening measures which are integrated in the Quality First Point Scale. These measures fall as part of the requirements to implement the Early Learning and Development Programs that had been rated with 3 to 4, and 5-star levels based on the Quality First Point Scale (Underhill 3). The present programs are mandated to give an assessment of the growth and development of the children, which are included in a portfolio assessment together with the screenings, work samples, anecdotal records, and other developmental checklists (Underhill 3). The state of Arizona implements a common child-level formative assessment system for early childhood programs that received funding from the Arizona Department of Education or otherwise known as the ADE. The state of ensures that young children will learn and gain knowledge by promoting active exploration within the school environment. At the same time, the state sees to it that the school will comply with the proper balance of self- discovery, adult-initiated learning activities, and intentional planned experiences for the benefit of the students. The teachers are reminded to be respectful of the child, the family where they came from, their language, and culture. This will allow the students to develop a sense of empowerment and curiosity to make individual choices through their daily school routines (Arizona Department of Education).
On the other hand, the K-12 standards that are being implemented in the state of Arizona allow the teachers to ensure the professional development, instructional resources, and information will fully support the implementation of the state’s College and Career Ready Standards in subjects such as math, English language, arts, history, science, social sciences and other technical subjects (Arizona Department of Education). The K-12 academic standards must be complaint to the standards for elective High School Humanities Course and must include the subjects such as history and literature of the biblical era.
Works Cited:
Arizona Department of Education. k-12 Academic Standards. Web. Retrieved on
http://www.azed.gov/standards-practices/.
Underhill, Cory. Arizona State Profile. Build Initiative.org. Web. Retrieved on
