Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: explain the purposes of assessment in early childhood and how infants and young children are assessed; describe elements of a comprehensive assessment system for children of all ages; explain how assessment results are used for instruction and evaluate the instructional program; discuss how the assessment process should be implemented during the school year with school-age children; describe how test scores are reported and how and when they should be shared with parents; evaluate the pros and cons of standardized testing, as well as other types of objective assessments; discuss development and maintenance of checklists, rating scales, and rubrics; descibe types of assessments used with pre-school and primary grade children; relate the crafting of quality portfolio assessments used with pre-school and primary grade children; relate the crafting of quality portfolio assessments; and describe model portfolio assessment and reporting systems. .