The teaching and learning process involves assessing and evaluating children's achievement in relation to the outcomes of the provincial curriculum. The assessment of children should encompass the whole child and involve evidence gathered over time.

Effective educators continuously assess the degree to which children are achieving the curricular outcomes. Evidence is gathered through observing, documenting, and interpreting to reveal what children have learned from experiences both inside and outside the classroom. This evidence of children's learning is analyzed and conclusions are drawn about what the child knows, understands, and is able to do, as well as the breadth and depth of a child's understanding.

Educators assess children for interrelated purposes:

• to collect evidence to guide daily planning (assessment for learning)
• to assist children in becoming aware of their thinking (metacognition) and to make it visible by documenting the learning process (assessment as learning)
• to record evidence of children's learning to report to caregivers and to in-school and school division administrators (assessment of learning).

Assessment for learning includes the educator's reflections and interpretations regarding children's progress to determine what each child needs. Based on this analysis, the educator can design learning experiences that provide a scaffold to new learning.

Educators support assessment for learning by:

• observing the developmental steps undertaken by children
• constructing an understanding of children's insights and development
• analyzing how individuals and groups construct their knowledge
• making informed decisions about program planning
• thinking about what children/educators learned in the experience
• asking questions about the meaning of the experience
• supporting children in relating new experiences to previous experiences
• considering new ways to support children in understanding and representing ideas

Children become curious and interested as they review their experiences and describe the knowledge and processes that evolved during that particular experience. During the Kindergarten experience, the educator encourages the children to:

• pose questions about the ideas and events
• offer deeper explanations or theories
• persevere in their efforts to participate or complete a project or activity
• reflect upon their learning and how they learn (metacognition).

Metacognition is defined as the ability to think about and reflect on one's own thinking and learning processes. Metacognition helps children monitor their own understanding and develop strategies for lifelong learning. When children verbalize their thinking as they develop or revisit ideas, they reveal their understanding giving educators insights to children's development. Knowledge of personal strategies and processes are important for children in order to help them learn. Metacognition involves the following:

• an ability to reflect on one's own performance

• an ability to plan, monitor success, and correct errors when appropriate

• knowledge of individual learning strengths and needs.

Assessment of learning provides evidence of the children's learning in order to make judgements about children's achievement. It also provides an opportunity to report evidence of achievement related to subject area outcomes. Assessment of learning occurs at the end of the learning cycle using a variety of tools such as rubrics, checklists, anecdotal notes, performance tasks, self-assessment tools, and portfolios.

The assessment strategies used must measure children's learning and progress, provide children with feedback, guide the learning process, and provide a valid means to document and record children's learning.

Documentation provides a transparent process of how children make meaning of ideas and develop theories. Documentation provides information about children's learning and progress.

Documentation can assist educators to evaluate:

• the degree to which children are achieving the provincial curricular outcomes
• how children are developing holistically
• the ways that children approach an investigation, solve a problem, and interact with each other
• children's learning and understandings of concepts and processes which inform the next steps in children's learning.

Documentation can be used to make children's learning visible. As the educator prepares the documentation, children may be invited to offer their ideas about important aspects of the process. Documentation of the children's work provides:

• opportunities to focus on children's metacognition
• evidence of children's strengths and capabilities
• information for caregivers and colleagues about children's learning and growth in relation to the curricular outcomes
• a record of children's learning and growth
• a direction for conversations about children's learning and development

Evaluation compares assessment information against criteria based on curriculum outcomes for the purpose of communicating to students, teachers, parents/caregivers, and others about student progress and to make informed decisions about the teaching and learning process. Reporting of student achievement must be based on the achievement of curriculum outcomes.