Enhancing inclusive education through family - school partnership in assessment of language and literacy development: A model for preschool setting in Vietnam

334 ENHANCING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION THROUGH FAMILY - SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP IN ASSESSMENT OF LANGUAGE AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT: A MODEL FOR PRESCHOOL SETTING IN VIETNAM Le Thai Hung, Tran Nguyen Thuy Giang1 Abstract: The study derives from a context of rapid evolution in the field of inclusive education to adapt to socio-economic status quo. Since the studies of Piaget (1936), Vygotsky (1978), Gardner (1989) and Dunn (1989), educators have acknowledged the uniqueness of learner’s need and diverse learning styles. In addition, they acknowledge the role of parents as co-expert and first educators of the students as well as the essential resources for evidence- gathering in assessment and planning for individualized support. However, this resource has been taken for granted in Vietnam as well as other countries. Upon unlocking the concept of inclusion and the role of parent-school partnership in the new era, we propose a model of parent-school partnership in assessment with a focus in language and literacy development. Further research will aim to build the instruments and implementing experiments within Vietnam preschool setting. Keywords: inclusion, family-school partnership, assessment, expressive language, preschool 1. “Inclusion” in the new era Inclusion issues arise from special educational needs and disability, however, the concept of inclusion then was set in a much wider context implying equal opportunities or equity was defined as the respectful meeting of needs, considering those from social class, socio-economic disadvantage (Boyle & 1 Faculty of Quality management; VNU University of Education; Email: ntra0024@student.monash.edu. 335 Topping, 2012). In addition, the rights and entitlement of children in education have received increasing attention in recent years endorsed by UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as UNESCO in the Salamanca Statement and the United Nations’ call for Education for All. As a result, inclusive education has been evolved into a multifaceted field. More recently, many systems have implemented national curricula framework with specific learning outcomes. It is the reality that there will always be a percentage of students who will find it difficult to attain the set standards. All these changes lead to a different notion of disability in term of socially constructed disabilities, emotional and behavioral disruption and autism spectrum disorder (Salvia, Yseldyke, & Bolt, 2007). In education, it is widely accepted that the definitions of disability lie in three categories of functional, medical and socio-political limitations (Loreman et al., 2005). This study focuses on the socio-political approach as viewing the diversity of the students to whom the environment might fail to adapt, not the limitations of a person based on their functioning or health- related conditions (Jeon & Haider‐Markel, 2001). 2. Assessment as a mean of exclusion “Assessment is the process of collecting data for the purposes of making decisions about individuals and groups” (Salvia & Ysseldyke, 2007, p.4). Within inclusive education, assessment is designed to determine a quality or condition whereas evaluation uses the assessment information to individualize the program. Standardized tests are popularly used to determine the learning progress and categorize students with needs (Loreman et al., 2005). In many studies of cognitive abilities, it can be concluded that children with high IQ scores tend to earn higher grades, do better at achievement tests, and are likely to earn tertiary qualifications (Pendarvis, Howley, & Howley, 1990). However, Ceci (1990) argues that environmental and social influences are far more powerful determinants of future professional and economic success than IQ. Furthermore, standardize tests only provides us with indices on some cognitive skills and knowledge, whereas there are other areas to make the whole child learning experience. In another perspective, labelling of students by categories of disability is controversial. There are practices among professionals attribute labelling children with disabilities or delay preliminarily step to address the students’ specific needs. On another hand, many professionals believe that labels are associated with negative stereotypes (Amatea, 2013). As a result, educators assume that the diverse abilities reflect low expectation such as slower rates, inability to perform required assessment tasks. ENHANCING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION THROUGH FAMILY - SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP IN ASSESSMENT... PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE EDUCATION FOR ALL KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TẾ: GIÁO DỤC CHO MỌI NGƯỜI 336 3. Family-school partnership in assessment to enhance inclusion As the changes in educators’ perception, ethnicity and legislation of inclusion were put into practice, previous ways of assessing educational needs were challenged. Parent involvement became the key to a successful inclusive environment in term of building environments to promote the protective factors, developmental assets, resources and supports that students need to succeed (Mitchell & Bryan, 2007). To be an effective tool for inclusion, assessment should be based on an integrated holistic developmental model where children’s functioning is interdependent. In addition, the model should take into account not only what the children can do but also their motivation and context which are gathered in natural settings (Assessment Reform Group 2002). Hence, without assessing the child in their daily life activities, the validity would be affected. The collaboration with parents provides teachers with richer and more accurate information and helps parents understand the assessment role in students’ learning and motivation. 4. Expressive language assessment in preschool children In all the areas of development in preschool children ages of 3 to 5, expressive language delay is a concern that parents commonly cite as taking the developmental evaluation. Preschool language problems have a significant association with language impairment, learning difficulties and other behavioural disorder (Bishop & C.Adams, 1990). There are considerable obstacles to make language assessment as a tool for inclusion such as class size; lack of resources and professional support for teachers; teachers are not trained and prepared for the inclusive teaching strategies. All learners come to school with a particular cultural heritage from their family. In all likelihood, one of the most vital barriers recognized is the atomistic assessment process which in many cases, either miss out on the language problems the child encounter, either label the child with language delay. It is suggested that the assessment process need to reach out of these limitations and appreciate the learners within the context of family. The idea of parent-teacher partnership in assessment is not emergent. As early as 1990, Fredericks and Rasinski emphasize parents’ involvement as an essential element of assessment. In the same context, Brink (2002) proposes an Intervention program for children diagnosed with delay. However, he takes another approach in which parents are not viewed as co-expert but rather as supporters. Inheriting the tenet of Brink, Orillosa and Magno (2013) once again highlighted the essential role of parents in the assessment of young learner. However, it is necessary to provide a clear model of involvement, communication tool and instrument for parents 337 to follow considering the diverse background of families and their constraint of time. In more recent research by Birbili and Tzioga (2014), the authors present an intervention program in the Greek early childhood context to encourage parent involvement in education in general and assessment in particular. Even though the study shows positive co-operation from families and gained considerable insight into parent and teacher’s perception and reflection on the partnership, it lacks a practical model for partnership. There is no report on the validity of the instruments and its effectiveness to support learning. Key aspects of the assessment partnership in this study include: 1) Assessment in the context of daily activities at home to leverage the unique perspective of parents on the child’s developmental status, needs, interests, and preferred learning styles; 2) Clear model of partnership in term of paradigm, communication and roles; 3) Appropriate instruments which are valid, explicit yet friendly for parents. 5. Model of parent-teacher assessment partnership 5.1. Collaborative paradigm The goal of the model is to design opportunities to get to know one another and establish a partnership to support the child in learning and success at school. In addition, the model is proposed with a high emphasis on cooperative planning and problem-solving between family and school to maximize the resources for children’s learning and socio-emotional development. Therefore, the model is set in the collaborative paradigm. The collaborative paradigm of family-school relations emphasizes the equal authority which merits attention, decides a necessary solution, figures out the level of students and families involvement. The communication is therefore reciprocal, two-way and aims to problem-solving goal. 5.2. Model of partnership in assessment Figure 1: Model of parent-teacher partnership in assessment ENHANCING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION THROUGH FAMILY - SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP IN ASSESSMENT... PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE EDUCATION FOR ALL KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TẾ: GIÁO DỤC CHO MỌI NGƯỜI 338 Within this collaborative model, teacher is viewed as a professional and resource person who shares leadership and power with family in assessment. Teacher is responsible for assessment activities in the school context. The school context indicates the locations and size of schools, the surrounding communities and a particular condition related to resource and culture. Parent has a co-expert role in assessment activities and is viewed as competent in deciding how to contribute to student’s learning or solve student problems. Family context encompasses various layers from the family values, rituals, structures, resources to surrounding communities. The student is valued as an active role in determining own progress, problems, and solutions. The child interacts within both contexts of school and family and involves in the assessment process as reflected in these contexts. 5.3. Indices of expressive language skill Expressive language skill in this study describes a person’s ability to communicate their wants and needs. It encompasses facial expressions, gestures, intentionality, vocabulary, semantics (word/sentence meaning), morphology, and syntax (grammar rules) (Bloom, 1974; Bowen, 1998). In preschool children age of 3-5, expressive language skills include being able to label objects in the environment, describe actions and events, put words together in sentences, use grammar correctly, retell a story, answer questions, attempt to write in any form (scribble, stamping, symbol, drawing). Expressive skills also encompass the ability to use facial expression, vocal expression combined with technical skills to perform in dance, drama, music. Consider the fact that both teachers and parents are trained, it is necessary to build the indices and indicators based on a transparent reconceptualization of expressive language. Based on the elaboration of Paris (2005) on highly and moderately constrained skills and unconstrained skills, a continuum of expressive language skills is proposed as followed. Figure 2: Continuum of constraint in expressive language 5.4. Assessment instruments for parents Instruments should be valid for the children based on their age, culture, ability, home language, and other characteristics, appropriate for the child’s age and characteristics, and aligned with standards which would need to align with the 339 curriculum and learning outcomes. Furthermore, assessment tools should be able to identify the child’s current and emerging strengths and competencies and focus on what the child can do. Practical assessment tools for parents includes Attitudinal scale, Observation sheet, Work sample, and Checklist. In parents’ perspective, the Observation Sheet could be characterized as the most demanding one since it consumes time and half structured by open-ended questions. Children’s work sample, on the other hand, was the easiest because it has no structure, just a simple task of recording. The Rating Scale Questionnaire was found as the most useful tool as it is well structured, transparent indicators which give parents an overview of the child’s learning and development (Birbili & Tzioga, 2014). 6. Discussion on the model in Vietnam context Inclusion in Vietnam is widely perceived as the education for children with medical disabilities, there is lack of research and actions basing on other approaches of contemporary inclusion. Preschool teachers are not familiar with the idea of asking parents to observe and document their child’s learning at home. There are also barriers from parents’ perspective such as role awareness, lifestyles, and preference for verbal communication over written communication in the relationship with school. On one hand, parents are not familiar with the role of co- expert in their children’s learning so assessment is a challenging concept for many parents. On the other hand, observing and assessing their child’s development can be an emotional process for parents, especially during their first attempts. Their feelings can range from pride, joy, and wonder to anxiety, guilt, and stress. It is, therefore, necessary to have the school’s resource and authority to bridge, support and mediate this partnership. Previous studies provide valuable epistemology about the insight of parents participating in the course of assessment for learning, suggestions on how parents should participate and effective instruments. However, they are conducted and implemented by researchers without any viable model to be extended and modified for schools, teachers and parents in practice. In addition, we acknowledge the need to combine the data collected by parents and teachers as well as schools’ experts in order to evaluate and make decisions. Another notion is that language and literacy development is a broad field to be assessed. Hence, the instruments used by parents necessitates a focus on the information that is unlikely to be observed in schools. Inheriting all the quintessence and learning from the constraints of the past research, the model of assessment partnership can be elaborated as below in an interconnected partnership between parent, teacher and the school (principal or director) for the goal of language and literacy development. ENHANCING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION THROUGH FAMILY - SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP IN ASSESSMENT... PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE EDUCATION FOR ALL KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TẾ: GIÁO DỤC CHO MỌI NGƯỜI 340 Figure 3: Model of Assessment Partnership for the Child’s Language Development. As the mediator, the school provides administration for the whole assessment process to assure its validity, reliability, and viability. The success of the model lies in the resource facilitated by the school including the experts or consultant essential for training. In addition, any decision made from evaluation needs should be put into action. Regarding the assessment tool, the school might need to invite experts for one on one norm-referenced tests to double check with the result gained from partnership assessment. Parents and teachers are co-experts in the assessment partnership and share responsibilities in planning for assessment, documentation, evaluation and decision-making. However, each has a different context and perspective toward the child. Literature suggests that parents can gain valuable evidence for assessment with the tools of Observation sheet, Rating scale Questionnaire, and Child’s language sample. While teachers, depending on the target indicator of language development, should take the assessment in various methods such as Photos, Videos, Child’s language sample, Checklist, Rating Scale, Portfolio, Learning Stories. 341 The involvement of parents in family-school partnership has proved its essential role in the development of the children’s language and literacy. Parents’ involvement shows correlation with children’s academic motivation (Pavalache- Ilie & Tirdia, 2015). In other words, children are encouraged to try and thrive in academic skills as supported by family. As parents involve in the assessment process and gather evidence themselves, they enrich the children’s language experience in authentic social interaction (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). Besides, the assessment process provides parents with information about what is the strengths, weaknesses and level of language to expect from their children to have ideas for modelling them in future language situation. There are considerable obstacles to the success of the model, but it is hard to deny the benefits for the child’s language and literacy development. In the near future, the model of assessment partnership between parent and teacher under the facilitation of the school is expected to be implemented. The analysis from the experimental data then will be utilized to enhance the model for viable in practice. Reference Amatea, E. S. (2013). From Separation to Collaboration: The Changing Paradigms of Family-School Relations. In Building Culturally Responsive Family-School Relationships. United States: Pearson Education, Inc. Assessment Reform Group. 2002. Assessment for Learning: Research-based Principles to Guide Classroom Practice: 10 Principles. wordpress.com/2012/ 01/10principles_english.pdf. Birbili, M., & Tzioga, K. (2014). Involving parents in children’s assessment: lessons from the Greek context. Early Years: An International Research Journal, 34(2), 161–174. Bloom, L. (1974). 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A., & Howley, C. B. (1990). The abilities of gited children. The United State: Prentice Hall. Salvia, J., Yseldyke, J. E., & Bolt, S. (2007). Assessment in special and inclusive education. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. 343 TĂNG CƯỜNG HIỆU QUẢ GIÁO DỤC HÒA NHẬP THÔNG QUA SỰ HỢP TÁC CỦA GIA ĐÌNH - NHÀ TRƯỜNG TRONG ĐÁNH GIÁ SỰ PHÁT TRIỂN NGÔN NGỮ: MÔ HÌNH ÁP DỤNG CHO VIỆT NAM TS. Lê Thái Hưng1 Trần Nguyễn Thùy Giang Tóm tắt: Nghiên cứu ra đời trong bối cảnh khái niệm giáo dục hòa nhập đang biến đổi nhanh chóng để kịp thích ứng với thực trạng kinh tế xã hội. Từ những công trình của Piaget (1936), Vygotsky (1978) và Dunn (1989), các nhà giáo dục nhìn nhận người học với nhu cầu riêng biệt và phong cách học tập phong phú. Vai trò của phụ huynh trong việc kiểm tra đánh giá trẻ cũng ngày càng được nhấn mạnh. Tuy nhiên, thực trạng giáo dục Việt Nam cho thấy nguồn lực này chưa được quan tâm đúng mức. Dựa trên giải mã khái niệm giáo dục hòa nhập và vai trò của mối quan hệ gia đình-nhà trường trong thời đại mới, chúng tôi đề xuất một mô hình hợp tác giữa phụ huynh-giáo viên trong việc đánh giá sự phát triển ngôn ngữ trẻ mầm non. Những nghiên cứu trong tương lai sẽ tập trung vào việc xây dựng bộ công cụ đánh giá và tiến hành thực nghiệm tại một số trường mầm non ở Việt Nam. Từ khóa: hòa nhập, mối quan hệ gia đình-nhà trường, kiểm tra, đánh giá, ngôn ngữ biểu đạt, mầm non 1 Trường Đại học Giáo dục; Email: ntra0024@student.monash.edu.