Development and implementation of a performance-monitoring system for early childhood education

This paper describes the conceptualization, development, and implementation procedures for a performance-monitoring system designed to evaluate the progress of young children, with and without disabilities, in an inclusive early childhood education program. A total of 20 early childhood educators from one preschool participated in a 10-month, professional development program designed to advance their knowledge and understanding of performance assessment, and to enable them to develop their own performance-monitoring system entitled "Changing, Learning, and Growing" (CLG). This paper provides an overview and rationale for performance monitoring, and explains the five-step process through which participating teachers were guided in their development of CLG. © 2001 Human Sciences Press, Inc.