Keywords
Abstract
This mixed-methods study investigated how teacher beliefs and assessment procedures relate to the implementation of early childhood curriculum reform. The research used validated questionnaires, interviews, and observation of teaching and learning episodes to gather data from 300 teachers in 36 preschools at various reform levels. The findings showed a strong positive relationship between innovative assessment practices and reform beliefs, with the strongest correlation (r=0.72, p<0.001) between child-centered beliefs and observation-based assessment. Of the variance difference, 42% was mediated by administrative support and resource availability. Standardized testing adoption fell from 65% to 23% monthly usage, while daily use of observation-based assessment rose dramatically from 22% pre-reform to 82% full implementation settings. Differential adaptation patterns predominated at several career stages, and younger teachers showed 15% higher belief-practice alignment scores than their older counterparts. The study has implications for enabling sustainable education transformation at the early childhood education level and helps to translate teaching beliefs and belief-practice through institutional resources.
References
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