Intended for use by early childhood practitioners who select and use early childhood assessment instruments, this guide provides information needed to judge instrument appropriateness and technical quality. The guide focuses mainly on standardized, broadly available instruments. Criteria for selecting instruments include publication after 1979, wide use, and provision of technical information. Other criteria concern whether the instrument targets children of 4-8 years of age and requires limited professional training for administration. The guide offers: (1) an overview of issues in early childhood testing; (2) a discussion of criteria for selection of instruments in general, and specifically, of those appropriate for developmental screening, readiness assessment, or instructional planning; and (3) discussions of the state of the art and prospects for the future, reviews of assessment instruments, and ways to choose an Early Childhood Education test. Appendices provide a code of fair testing, a list of reference works for early childhood assessment, and reviews or descriptions of over 50 early childhood assessment instruments. Reviews briefly describe the purpose of the instrument, test contents, administration format and procedures, scoring, norms, validity, reliability, utility, and availability. About 45 references are cited. (RH)