Abstract:

Evaluation is a process used in various sectors of a society. The actions that could be evaluated are numerous and so the projects that are altered because of them. Therefore, assessment in education must also be taken into consideration. In all grades of the education system the evaluation is required and thus the young children’s education should be no exception.
The evaluation as part of the teaching-learning process involves the use of diverse techniques and tools of observation and record that enable to organize the information collected in order to adapt the process to the several children. The assessment involves the planning, collection and interpretation of data and the adaptation of educational practices. It also allows know the children with whom you are working with, which should be a constant concern for any educator.
According to many theorists the evaluation process is crucial at all levels of education. Being the young children’s education the “poor sister” of education in Portugal and even with less importance the education of children from 0 to 3 years old, the evaluation process will facilitate the attribution of credibility to this level of education and improve the quality of the service in the country.
Scriven pointed out in the sixties the concept of formative evaluation assigning the following points as key ideas for achieving a practical formative assessment: regulation (of the process); reinforcement (success); measurement (difficulties). These three areas involve the use of procedures that allow clarify what is considered important to learn, to place the child in those areas of learning and identify the source of difficulties and the most appropriate means to remedy or enrich the children’s learning. The procedures of formative assessment use practices that guide children towards the targets that were set, so towards the desired learning. The procedures of formative assessment also use practices that permit teachers / educators learn ways of planning early guidelines. So, its main role is to report the achievement of the objectives determined before and assist in the decisions regarding the processes to achieve those objectives. It is, therefore, to understand assessment as a means to improve the learning processes (in Leite & Fernandes, 2002).
Evaluate is thus an act that requires a pedagogical attitude and specific knowledge aimed at promoting appropriate strategies for each child and for the group. Related to the assessment is the learning: we asses to learn and to decide on the instigator conditions and modes of that learning. Cortesão (1993) considers that the formative evaluation involves a diverse set of practices; integrated in the teaching-learning process and that contribute to a greater possession of learning.
Leite & Fernandes (2002) also emphasize that for the achievement of the intentions that guide the formative evaluation this needs to be systematic and continuous throughout the whole training process. It doesn’t make sense that the formative evaluation is only used in static and separated moments. The assessment does not exist separately and it is not a neutral process, it regulates the pedagogical practices and the processes that result from them.
The use of the evaluation process by education professionals is an indicator of quality. Through the implementation of this element appropriate practices are being met for the children’s development in daycares.

Keywords:

Evaluation, personal and social development, day-care centers.