Meeting Kids Where They Are Through Play-Based Assessment | ASU+GSV Summit 2024

Jarrett Laughlin (Founder & CEO, Sprig Learning), Elizabeth Mokyr Horner (Senior Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Chris Purifoy (Cofounder, CEO, Learning Economy Foundation), Michelle Kang (Chief Executive Officer, National Association for the Education of Young Children), Amena Sengal (Deputy Director of Measures for Early Success Initiative, MDRC), and Alison Bryant (Chief Impact Officer, Sesame Workshop) at the ASU+GSV Summit.

There’s a growing market for personalized learning for young kids that includes assessment, both in terms of the number of children who need this and the opportunity for revenue in this area. The ECE (PK-2) assessment market is underserved compared to K-12, extremely burdensome on already taxed, under-resourced providers, lacking cultural and linguistic context for underserved populations, and focused on assessing deficits, instead of child strengths. At the same time, there are more opportunities for informal learning of critical skills and play- or game-based assessments available for kids both in and outside of school. This panel will focus on early childhood assessments -- the challenges facing this market and the opportunities for improvement and global scaling through new technologies and innovative partnerships.