| anecdotal record | A documentation method that briefly describes an activity, a snatch of conversation, a chant, and so on. Anecdotal records can be based on reflection or written on the spot.
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| authentic assessment | A method of assessing children according to what they know, can do, and are interested in, which can then be applied to ongoing curriculum planning. Authentic assessment avoids comparing children to a norm or grading them. It also avoids standardized testing, which measures isolated skills and bits of knowledge out of context.
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| developmental checklist | A method of documenting and assessing a child's development. A developmental checklist might be broken down into specific categories, such as physical, psychomotor, cognitive, social-emotional, and language.
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| environmental checklist | A method of documenting the setup and/or use of the environment in an early childhood program. An environmental checklist can be used to assess a specific child's use of the environment, or it can be used to assess the effectiveness of the setup itself.
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| incidents reports | A method of documenting a particular type of repeated occurrence from beginning to finish. Sometimes called "event sampling," incidents reports focus on one of a variety of behaviors, such as aggressive incidents or parent-child separations.
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| mapping | A method of documenting how a specific child functions in the early childhood environment. Using a map of a room or area, the recorder plots the path of the child and records such activities as interactions with other children or with adults. Start and end points are notated as well as the duration of the observation. Mappings can also be used to assess the use and effectiveness of the environment itself.
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| portfolio | One of the tools of authentic assessment. Portfolios are collections of samples of children's work; they assess both process and product. Teachers, children, and parents can all contribute to portfolios in order to broaden the assessment to reflect developmental progress in the home as well as the early childhood setting.
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| running record observation | A method of documenting that gives a blow-by-blow, objective, written description of what is happening while it is happening. A running record can include adult interpretations about the meaning of the observed behaviors, but it must separate objective data from subjective comments.
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| time sample | A documentation technique that involves collecting samples of targeted behaviors of small groups of children within a specific time frame as a way to learn about individual and group patterns.
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