Child assessment helps track children’s development and provides important information about how a child’s skills and abilities match classroom expectations. While choosing a valid assessment tool is important, the tool is only as reliable as the examiner using it.
Gesell approves only two ways for valid examiners to use the GDO-R assessment system:
Train your school’s staff to administer the GDO-R. Gesell strongly encourages schools to train their own internal examiners. We also recommend having more than one trained examiner in each school. Having a team of trained examiners allows assessors to collaborate on observations and maintain high standards of fidelity to the approved process. Internal examiners are best equipped to interpret assessment results in relation to the unique expectations of their school’s classrooms.
Hire Level 4 Examiners through Gesell. Only Level 4 Examiners have been extensively vetted and approved by Gesell to be hired by schools or parents as external examiners. Gesell strongly discourages using examiners who are not up to date on their certification or have not attained Level 4 status to deliver assessments for a fee. Send us an email at gesell@yale.edu and we will inform you of an examiner’s level of training.
What makes an expert Level 4 Examiner?
You can find the specific requirements to attain Level 4 status on our website. We ensure that our Level 4 Examiners possess strong observational skills, excellent communication skills, cultural sensitivity, a child-centered approach, ethical conduct, in-depth knowledge of child development, the ability to build rapport with children, deep experience in Gesell assessment methods, and the capacity to accurately interpret and report observations.
What are the signs an examiner may be unequipped to offer a reliable GDO-R assessment?
They claim to be able to define a child as “ready for Kindergarten.” No assessment tool nor assessor can objectively tell you if a child is “ready for Kindergarten.” What assessments can do is offer a profile of the child’s development or academic skills. That analysis can then be compared to the expectations of the specific Kindergarten class being considered. This is one reason internal examiners are often best equipped to use the GDO-R for placement purposes.
They are not up to date on continuing education and certification with Gesell. We regularly revise our training protocols and assessment process. Individuals who do not return for retraining regularly will not have up-to-date validity information and should not be hired as examiners.
They have not achieved Level 4 Examiner status. When hiring external assessors, Gesell can only stand behind the vetting of Level 4 Examiners. No other assessors can reliably provide a reliable assessment.