How does HighScope assess children?
HighScope assesses children’s development with comprehensive observations rather than narrow tests, using the Preschool Child Observation Record (COR). Observing a broad range of behaviors over several weeks or months gives us a more accurate picture of children’s true capabilities than tests administered in one-time sessions. Using the content areas as a framework, teachers record daily anecdotes describing what children do and say. Two or three times a year, they review these anecdotes and rate each child at the highest level he or she has demonstrated so far on 30 items in six areas of development: initiative, social relations, creative representation, movement and music, language and literacy, and logic and mathematics. Children’s COR scores help teachers design learning opportunities tailored to their level of development. The COR is also used to explain children’s progress to parents during conferences. Instead of only giving parents abstract scores, teachers share anecdotes illu
