Samuel J. Meisels
on Standards, Curriculum, and
Assessment
Sam Meisels spoke at the closing plenary session of NAEYC's 15th National Institute for
Early Childhood Professional Development in San Antonio in June 2006. His talk is not available
for publication, but we have included a list of his publications that provide insight into his views on
assessment, standards, and curriculum.
Samuel J. Meisels, EdD, is president
of Erikson Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He came to Erikson in January 2002 after 21 years at
the University of Michigan, where he is now an emeritus professor. One of the nation's
leading authorities on the assessment of young children, his research focuses on the
development of alternative assessment strategies for young children, the impact of
standardized tests on children, and developmental screening in early childhood. Recently, he
completed work on the development of The Ounce Scale, an observational assessment for
children from birth to three years and their families.
A former preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teacher, Meisels is a former president of the board of
directors of ZERO TO THREE: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families and is
an advisor to the national Head Start Bureau. He was a member of the National Academy of
Science Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy, and he has served as a senior investigator
for the national Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort and for the Center for the
Improvement of Early Reading Achievement.
To learn more about work related to his thinking on standards, curriculum, and assessment,
refer to the following recent publications:
Meisels, S.J. 1999. Assessing readiness. In The transition to kindergarten, eds. R.C. Pianta & M. Cox, 39–66.
Baltimore: Brookes.
Meisels, S.J. 2001. Fusing assessment and intervention: Changing parents' and providers' views of young children.
Zero to Three 21 (4): 4–10.
Meisels, S.J. In press. Accountability in early childhood: No easy answers. In School readiness, early learning, and
the transition to kindergarten, eds. R.C. Pianta, M.J. Cox, & K. Snow. Baltimore: Brookes.
Meisels, S.J., & S. Atkins-Burnett. 2005. Developmental screening in early childhood: A guide. 5th ed.
Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Meisels, S.J., & S. Atkins-Burnett. 2006. Evaluating early childhood assessments: A differential analysis. In The
Blackwell handbook of early childhood development, eds. K. McCartney & D. Phillips, 533–49. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Meisels, S.J., S. Atkins-Burnett, Y. Xue, J. Nicholson, D.D. Bickel, & S. Son. 2003. Creating a system of
accountability: The impact of instructional assessment on elementary children's achievement test scores. Education
Policy Analysis Archives 11 (9). Online: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v11n9.
Meisels, S.J., D.D. Bickel, J. Nicholson, Y. Xue, & S. Atkins-Burnett. 2001. Trusting teachers' judgments: A
validity study of a curriculum-embedded performance assessment in kindergarten–grade 3. American Educational
Research Journal 38 (1): 73–95.
For more information and a detailed list of publications, visit the Erikson Institute Web site:
www.erikson.edu/research.asp?file=faculty_meisels
Copyright © 2006 by the National Association for the Education
of Young Children. See
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