Standardized assessment: Developmental challenges of preschoolers and socioemotional functioning

Standardized assessments are used in K-12 education to determine school readiness, strengths and weaknesses, and current performance levels. These assessments are important because they guide researchers, practitioners, and educators in determining child needs and curricula focus. However, important questions remain about the appropriate use and interpretation of findings for children with socio-emotional problems, specifically preschoolers. The administration of assessments among preschoolers with socio-emotional functioning deficits has received little attention in the literature. Assessment testing alone may not predict children’s strengths and weaknesses if socioemotional problems are present (e.g. withdrawn, emotionally reactive, or anxiety/depression). The current study examined the cognitive performance and socioemotional functioning of African American Head Start preschoolers across three time points. Results indicated that children whose teachers rated them as anxious/depressive, aggressive, and as having oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) scored significantly lower on perceptual, quantitative, cognitive, and verbal subscales. These analyses provide empirical support for the importance of understanding how socio-emotional functioning predicts performance on standardized assessments and how caution must be taken in interpreting these results as preschoolers “true” performance. Results emphasize the importance of utilizing a socio-emotional measure in conjunction with standardized assessment tests. These findings have implications about the use of standardized assessment testing with preschool children and teacher training.