Focused Portfolios: A Complete Assessment for the Young Child

Focused Portfolios offers an innovative method to accurately document children's growth and development by observing them in the midst of their everyday activities. Used for years in programs across the country, this easy-to-use system has recently been updated to reflect current best practices in observation and assessment using portfolios, include information on apps and other digital tools to create portfolios for individual assessment and parent engagement, and incorporates individual state standards to develop portfolios that reflect the child's performance.

Gaye Gronlund, MA, is an early childhood consultant and trains educators, administrators, and policymakers across the country. She is a former preschool, kindergarten, and primary teacher of both regular and special education. Gaye holds a master's degree in adult learning and early childhood education. She is the author of Saving Play, Focused Observations, Early Learning Standards and Staff Development, and Developmentally Appropriate Play.
Bev Engel taught and consulted in the field of Early Childhood Education for over thirty years. After beginning her career as a preschool teacher, Bev became a tenured faculty member of the Early Childhood Education Department at Vanier College in Montreal, where she taught early childhood curriculum design and implementation and supervised students in fieldwork practice. Bev received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education from Sir George Williams University (Montreal), a Master of Arts in Organization Development and Leadership from Goddard College (Vermont) and a Graduate Diploma in College Teaching from McGill University (Montreal). She passed away in 2014.