Observation-based assessments…

…in the foundational years.

Hello all. Welcome to the 141st edition of TEPS Weekly!

As per the NEP 2020, the Foundational Stage spans five years, from Pre-K to Grade 2. It specifies that during this period, the pedagogy must be flexible, multilevel, play based and activity based. The NCF for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) emphasises holistic development, stating clearly that learning in the foundational years spans multiple domains – including physical-motor, cognitive, language and literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional-ethical, and cultural and artistic development, not just reading and writing.

Observation-based assessment means watching students during daily routines and activities and noting what they can do (achievements) and how they are growing (progress) across all these domains. Very importantly, it is a planned and purposeful way to understand their learning – not random observations.

Why observe to assess?

Before we dive into the what and the how of observation-based assessments, let’s understand the why.

When we think of assessments, even in the foundational years, we imagine printed question papers and sheets of written answers that receive marks out of 10, 50 or 100. While written assessments do have a place – for checking emergent writing skills or simple recall – they capture only a very small part of a young child’s learning. Many foundational skills cannot be shown through writing at this age. Let’s understand this better with some examples across developmental domains. Which of these skills can be assessed through observation-based assessments and which through written assessments?

All of these skills need to be observed by the teacher and cannot be assessed through written assessments. For example, scribbling from left to right is an important pre-writing skill that children need to practise in Pre-K. However, a teacher cannot just look at a finished worksheet and determine if the child scribbled from left to right or from right to left. She must actually observe a student scribbling to check if they are mostly scribbling in the right direction.

Equally importantly, students in this age group do well with familiar routines and comfortable settings. One-off assessments are unfamiliar situations that may cause stress to students, and so observing students as part of regular classroom activities is the best way to assess their achievements and progress.

How to plan and carry out observation-based assessments

The NCF-FS has introduced the Holistic Progress Card (HPC). The HPC requires teachers to gather evidence of learning across all developmental domains during everyday activities. 

Teachers observe students and document what they see using:

1. anecdotal records – short, factual stories of a specific moment observed to capture rich details about how a student learns, solves problems, behaves or interacts in a real situation, with a focus on quality

2. checklists for quick skill checks – a readymade list of skills where you mark whether a student has, is developing, or has not yet achieved each skill

3. event sampling – a structured way to track a single behaviour (interrupting, cooperating, sharing) over a short period of time across multiple incidents to identify patterns in behaviour

Teachers also collect artefacts of student work. Together, these help build a complete and accurate picture of each child’s progress. [For a detailed understanding, learn with the online, self-paced TEPS Course ‘National Curriculum Framework: Foundational Stage’.]

Teachers we have spoken to over the past couple of years have shared some obstacles in the way of conducting and documenting observations of each student – mainly, large class sizes, lack of time and lack of training especially in writing anecdotes and event samples. These are very real concerns that need to be addressed. So, let’s go step by step.

First, you must decide what kind of observation tool (examples of each given further down in this article) you will use for each domain of development. We recommend the following:

Second, you must decide your focus for the week – domains and students. For example, you can decide to focus on the domains of ‘Cognitive Development’ and ‘Numeracy’ for a particular week. At the same time, you can decide to focus on 5 specific students in that week. It is best to create this plan at the beginning of the academic year to ensure that you observe all students for all domains several times across the year.

Third, you must standardise how you use and record observations in each observation tool.

1. Anecdotal Records

   1. Write quick notes as you observe, using the student’s name and key words, like ‘Fatima – pattern’ and ‘Aarav – skip counting’. This will help you write the anecdotal records in more detail once the activity is completed.

   2. When you write the anecdotal records in more detail, use standard sentence starters like ‘The student attempted…’, ‘The student responded by…’ and ‘The student chose to…’.

   3. Describe only observable actions like ‘placed blocks in colour groups’ not judgments like ‘was confused’ or ‘was careless’.

So, an anecdotal record can finally look like this: ‘Aarav counted sticks in twos during the activity, saying “2, 4, 6…” He paused at 8, recounted from the beginning and corrected himself independently.’

2. Checklists

   1. Create and finalise the checklists together with all teachers of your grade so that everyone uses the same indicators, the same wording and the same symbols.

   2. Add small icons or pictures next to each skill so that the checklist is easier to understand at a glance.

   3. Use simple, standard symbols to keep recording quick and consistent, like:

✓  = achieved

△ = emerging

○  = not yet

So, a filled-in checklist can finally look like this:

3. Event Sampling

   1. Identify and track only one behaviour at a time, like ‘interrupting’ or ‘turn-taking’.

   2. Observe only 10–15 minutes of a planned activity, not the entire class, to prevent overload.

   3. Use a simple four-column format (Time / What happened / Who was involved / Context) to avoid heavy writing.

   4. Collect samples for only 2–3 days to identify a pattern, then stop.

So, a filled-in event sample table can finally look like this:

The more you plan in advance and standardise observation tools and language, the easier it will become over time. Observations give you clear, nuanced data about student achievements, progress and behaviours and enable you to support their holistic development in the foundational years.

If you’d like customised trainings for your teachers on how to conduct observations in foundational years classrooms, reach out to us at info@things-education.com or +919898469961

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Edition: 4.48