Ensuring GDO-R Examiners are Reliable: Who should and should not assess children using the GDO-R?

Child assessment is an essential tool in tracking children’s development as well as for offering important information when considering the match between the expectations of a classroom and a child’s skills and abilities. While the choice of a valid assessment tool is key (see more about Gesell’s tools here), the tool is only as reliable as the examiner using it.

Gesell only approves two pathways 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. All examiners are also required to return for recertification every 5 years. Additionally, we encourage that there be more than one trained examiner within a school. Having a team of trained examiners allows your assessors to collaborate on observations and ensure high standards of fidelity to the approved process. Internal examiners are best equipped to make sense of the results of the assessment in relation to the unique expectations of their school’s classrooms.  

 

Hire Level 4 Examiners through Gesell. The only examiners that Gesell has vetted extensively and can approve to be hired by a school or a parent as an external examiner are Level 4 Examiners. Gesell strongly discourages using examiners who are not up to date on their certification, or have not attained a Level 4 status to deliver assessments for a fee. Send us an email and we are happy to inform you of an examiner’s level of training.

 

What makes an expert Level 4 Examiner?

The specific requirements to attain Level 4 status can be found here on our website. We ensure that our Level 4 Examiners possess qualities like 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?

1.     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.

2.     They are not up to date on continuing education and certification with Gesell. We are continuously revising our training protocols as well as our assessment process. Individuals who do not return for re-training regularly will not have up to date validity information and should not be hired as examiners.

3.     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 assuredly be able to provide a reliable assessment.

 

 

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