Early learning assessment is a necessary mechanism for understanding skills children possess and to inform their instruction. Assessing early learners is different in many aspects than assessing older students. Considerations such as mode of assessment, supports necessary to obtain instructionally relevant data, and the impact of feedback for engaging students in assessment must be afforded. This study focused on the use of a tablet-based app as a digital means of assessment that lent itself well to the necessary considerations when assessing early learners. Based on the data collected in this study through the assessment app, observations and student and teacher interviews, students as young as 44 months demonstrated the ability to self-administer and remain engaged in the assessment activities incorporated within the app. Teachers described use of the reporting interface as instructionally informative and easy to use. The paper concludes with a discussion of supportive attributes of digital platforms in the assessment of early learners and areas for future research in the field.

早期学习评估是理解孩子掌握的技能并为他们的指导提供信息的必要机制。评估早期学习者在许多方面与评估年龄较大的学生有所不同。必须考虑诸如评估方式，获得与教学相关的数据所必需的支持以及反馈对于让学生参与评估的影响。这项研究的重点是使用基于平板电脑的应用程序作为数字评估手段，该评估手段很适合评估早期学习者时的必要注意事项。根据通过评估应用程序在本研究中收集的数据，观察结果以及学生和老师的访谈，年仅44个月的学生表现出了自我管理并继续参与应用程序中包含的评估活动的能力。老师将报告界面的使用描述为具有指导性的信息，并且易于使用。本文最后讨论了数字平台在早期学习者评估和该领域未来研究领域中的支持属性。