This comprehensive guide to alternative, authentic assessment in early childhood education provides discussions of the most current research and practical ways to integrate assessments into teaching. It shows assessment as a process that teachers can use in their own classrooms, using the latest procedures, such as portfolios, standards, benchmarks, and rubrics, and it includes guides for organizing assessment, with forms that can be adapted or duplicated. This edition contains expanded material on portfolios, child psychology, standards, cultural diversity, and dynamic assessment as well as guides for interpreting and using assessment information once it has been collected. The following chapters are included: (1) "Assessment in Early Childhood: A Work in Progress"; (2) "Legal and Ethical Responsibilities in Assessment"; (3) "Why, What, and When To Assess"; (4) "Documenting: Collecting Information"; (5) "Documenting: Recording Information"; (6) "Compiling and Summarizing Information"; (7) "Interpreting Assessment Information"; (8) "Using Assessment Information"; (9) "Organizing for Assessment"; (10) "Communicating about Assessment Processes and Results"; and (11) "Contemporary Considerations in Assessment." Appendixes present assessment and analysis guides and a list of developmental red flags for children aged 3 to 5 years. (Contains 62 figures and 243 references.) (SLD)