Using Preschool Assessment Evidence to Plan Next Steps: From “What We Saw” to “What Happens Tomorrow”

By Thursday afternoon, a Pre-K teacher has a folder that looks like good practice. There is a photo of a block tower, three sticky notes about sorting, a drawing of a family and a few lines from a conversation at the water table. On Friday she writes next week’s plan. It looks almost the same as this week’s.

Nothing in the folder was wrong. The evidence simply had no route into the plan. This is a quiet failure in many early years assessment systems, and it is usually a design problem, not a teacher problem.

Why evidence piles up without changing anything

A US federal review of 173 studies on teachers’ use of ongoing assessment found the picture incomplete and largely limited to early elementary language and literacy. The related brief says the research lacks scope and rigour, though a small body of evidence links ongoing assessment with better child outcomes. One pattern is familiar: practitioners see the value of ongoing assessment but do not consistently collect the data or use it to individualise instruction (Tailored Teaching: Teachers’ Use of Ongoing Child … +3). The two barriers named were skill in using results and depth of content knowledge.

The framework behind that review treats ongoing assessment as a repeating cycle. Its final step is making and implementing instructional decisions (ResearchGate). It is easy to build a system that supports the first three steps and leaves the fourth to chance.

Collecting more is not the fix either. England’s EYFS framework says assessment should not pull practitioners away from children for long periods or create excessive paperwork. It also says practitioners are not required to prove their judgements through physical evidence. If teachers are not short of evidence, and should not be drowning in paperwork, what is missing is a decision routine.

How much evidence does a teacher really need before a pattern becomes meaningful?

Possibly less than most systems ask for, provided it has been seen in more than one context.

Start with the decision, not the data

NWEA’s Chase Nordengren begins with a question worth borrowing: what are you hoping to accomplish before you assess? He describes three uses of assessment data: differentiating by readiness within the zone of proximal development, setting goals, and evaluating programmes and targeting professional development (nwea). The post is about school-age interim testing (MAP Growth), so the tool does not transfer to a three-year-old. The sequence of thinking does.

In a Pre-K setting, those three uses become three planning decisions: what this child needs next, what this group needs next, and what the curriculum or teacher support should change (NAEYC). NAEYC’s position is close to this: observations and assessment results should inform daily curriculum planning, communication with families and programme evaluation. Planning is one decision point inside a wider [Blog 2.1] | Early Years Assessment Framework.

What does it mean to use assessment evidence to plan next steps in preschool?
It means comparing what a child did, said or made with a learning objective, judging whether the behaviour is emerging, supported or independent, and changing one thing in the next experience: time, support, context or challenge. Then you watch again.

What the decision looks like in practice

These four examples are illustrative.

What the teacher sees	Reasonable interpretation	Possible next step
A block tower collapses twice. On the third try the child widens the base without being prompted.	Problem-solving strategy emerging, with growing independence	Add a constraint (“Can it be taller than the shelf?”) and ask what she changed. Look for the same strategy in another context, such as building a ramp.
A child sorts buttons by colour only when the teacher names the rule. Alone, the groups look random.	Sorting secure with support, not yet independent	A short small-group session where children choose the rule. Then return the sorting tray to free play.
A child names happy and sad faces correctly but draws the same face for every story character.	Emotion words secure. Linking feelings to situations still developing.	Pause a story: “How does he feel now? What happened?” Follow with a role-play card.
Across the class, most children count five objects in the counting corner. Few use numbers during play.	Group pattern: the skill is present, transfer is not yet	Move counting into role play (a shop, snack time) before extending the number range.

Look at what the four next steps share. They are small. They change the experience rather than label the child. Each includes a second look, which matters because one observation is only a starting point. Gathering [<<Blog _V6.1>>] Evidence of Learning Through Play  across different moments turns it into a pattern. [<<Blog_v3.1 >>] Developmental Progress Tracking then shows over several weeks whether the step worked.

Sizing the step is its own skill. NAEYC advises educators to consider typical learning progressions when deciding the sequence and pace of experiences. Head Start guidance describes using children’s interests and progress to shape whole-group, small-group and individualised experiences (NAEYCHead Start). NWEA describes short-term goals that add up to a larger target, with students gradually setting goals themselves. For a four-year-old, that may simply mean choosing between two activities.

Where the system breaks for curriculum leaders

Most failures happen upstream of the classroom. If evidence is not tied to [Blog_v5.1] Learning Objectives , a teacher can describe what happened but not say what it means.

The recording tool matters as well. A checklist can confirm that a behaviour appeared. A rubric with descriptors shows what “more independent” looks like, and that is what a next step needs. [Blog_v9.1] Observation Checklists vs Rubrics explores that choice.

Time is the quiet variable. The research framework lists adequate time for teacher reflection and planning among the factors that shape whether assessment gets used. If the weekly plan has no slot for reading evidence, evidence will not reach it.

Group-level patterns need a home too. Head Start guidance suggests aggregating and analysing data at several points in the year, for individuals, classrooms and beyond (Head Start). A recurring class pattern is information about the curriculum, not only about children.

Finally, the decision reaches the child through language. [Blog 13.1] Constructive Feedback (“You made the bottom wider. What happened?”) carries the next step to the child. “Good job” does not.

Questions curriculum teams can ask:

• Can a teacher point to the objective each piece of evidence relates to?
• Does the planning template have a place for “because we saw…”?
• Would two teachers reading the same descriptor choose a similar next step?
• If an observation never changes what happens on Thursday, what was it for?

The plan is where assessment becomes teaching

The more useful question may be “what did we change?” rather than “what did we record?” As programmes add digital tools, the test stays the same.

Does the next step become easier to see, or only the evidence easier to store?

Evidence becomes valuable when it changes an adult’s next move, and the [Blog 18.1] Assessment Cycle only closes when it does.

Where KODEIT Pre-K fits

Imagine one KODEIT Pre-K lesson built on the PLAY framework. Its Yield stage already includes a simple assessment (thumbs up or down, a drawing response, an exit-ticket question) and a quick home-connection suggestion. The Teacher Book adds an Assessment & Observation section with rubrics, checklists and reflection tools, plus Differentiation Tips for each activity. So the next step has somewhere to land: a Practice Book activity for reinforcement, a choice among two or three Activate tasks, or a Home Extension Activity. The Teacher Reflection Sheet and the Weekly Unit Lesson Planner give teachers a place to record and act on the decision. How a school records and reviews evidence remains a local choice.

FAQs

How many observations do I need before I change my plan?
The sources used here give no fixed number. Because the EYFS does not require physical proof for judgements, a better test is pattern over count. Has the behaviour appeared in more than one context, and with how much support? This is editorial guidance, not a rule.

Does planning next steps mean grouping children by ability?
Not necessarily. A next step can be more time, a new context, a different entry point or an extension. If groups form, they should change as new evidence arrives.

Can children help choose their next step?
Yes, in age-appropriate ways: choosing between two activities, pointing, or selecting a piece of work they like. See [Blog 12.1] Child Self-Reflection for more on child voice.