The formative assessment practices of early childhood teachers

This study aimed to investigate early childhood teachers' perceptions and implementations on formative assessment. This study which was carried out by qualitative research method fullfilled with phenomenological study. The study group of this research involves 15 teachers in Ankara and Istanbul from different preschools. The major data gathering tool of the study was semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers. Content analysis was utilized to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that teachers prefer observation as an assessment method. While the teachers are observing, they say that they notice the developmental characteristic, interest and need, negative behaviours, and social relation and according to these they give their feedback. Besides, the teachers also say that they encounter difficulty wth assessment because of the fact that the high number of students in classes, the iadequency of the time and over work load. Key words: early childhood education, formative assessment, assessment of young children