Students can be assessed in accordance with state standards or learning frameworks by tracking developmental milestones attached to specific activities. Teachers can post activity observations to track a student's milestones. Staff can view the milestones from the assessment tab in the student's profile.
Assessment Framework Setup
Assessment frameworks are comprised of domains that represent crucial areas of learning and development for young children. Each domain includes specific developmental milestones.
Many states have assessment frameworks. Assessment frameworks can be selected from a student's profile. The assessment framework only needs to be added once.
Once it is selected on one student's profile, it will apply to all students at your center. Since these frameworks follow state curriculum guidelines, the domains and milestones included in them can’t be edited or customized.
💡 Assessment frameworks follow each state’s official curriculum guidelines. If your state isn’t listed, contact Playground Support. You’ll need to download the official curriculum documentation from your state’s education website and send it to us so our team can build the framework for you. Creating a new framework usually takes a few weeks. If the wrong state framework was selected, you’ll also need to contact support so we can reset it for your center.
From the web version of Playground, click My School and then Students.
Click any student's name.
Adding a lesson framework for one student will automatically apply it to all students at your center.
Click the Assessment tab in the student's profile.
Select the assessment framework you would like to add and then click Set Template.
Once the framework has been added, you will see the domains, as well as any milestones that have been recorded for the student (you won't see any milestones yet if you are adding the framework for the first time).
Click the age dropdown menu towards the right-hand side of your screen to view domains for a different age range.
💡 Now that you've selected a framework, you can add milestones to related activities and post student observations for those activities. Student observations will appear in the assessments tab on the student's profile.
Manage Curriculums/Frameworks
After selecting a state framework, you can add and edit domains, subdomains, standards, and milestones. If you don't have the option to do so, your role most likely doesn't have the required access.
💡 Changes made in one student profile will update for all students.
Manage Domains
From the web version of Playground, navigate to your My School -> Students tab and click into any student's profile.
Select the Assessments tab.
Click the Manage curriculum button to open the editing side panel.
Click the blue + Add button to add a new domain.
Enter a name for the domain and click Add domain to add it. You can also select the Add another checkbox to add an additional domain right after adding the first one.
Both previous and newly added domains can be deleted by clicking the trash can icon next to them. The names can also be edited by clicking the pencil icon.
Drag and drop each domain card in the top left-hand corner to adjust the order.
Manage Subdomains
From the web version of Playground, navigate to your My School -> Students tab and click into any student's profile.
Select the Assessments tab.
Click the Manage curriculum button to open the editing side panel.
Click into a Domain and select the # subdomain button under one of the domains.
Click the + Add button to add a new subdomain.
Enter a name for the subdomain and click Add subdomain to add it. You can also select the Add another checkbox to add an additional subdomain right after adding the first one.
Both previous and newly added subdomains can be deleted by clicking the trash can icon next to them. The names can also be edited by clicking the pencil icon.
Drag and drop each subdomain card in the top left-hand corner to adjust the order.
Manage Standards
From the web version of Playground, navigate to your My School -> Students tab and click into any student's profile.
Select the Assessments tab.
Click the Manage curriculum button to open the editing side panel.
Click into a Domain, Subdomain, and select the # standards button to edit standards within a subdomain.
Click the + Add button to add a new standard.
Enter a name for the standard and click Add standard to add it. You can also select the Add another checkbox to add an additional standard right after adding the first one.
Both previous and newly added standards can be deleted by clicking the trash can icon next to them. The names can also be edited by clicking the pencil icon.
Drag and drop each standard card in the top left-hand corner to adjust the order.
Manage Milestones
From the web version of Playground, navigate to your My School -> Students tab and click into any student's profile.
Select the Assessments tab.
Click the Manage curriculum button to open the editing side panel.
Click into a Domain, Subdomain, Standard, and then select the # milestone button to edit milestones within the standard.
Click the + Add button to add a new milestone. You can also select Add substandard to add a substandard.
Enter a Description, Code, Age range, and click Add milestone to add it. You should then see the milestone appear under the age range you entered.
Both previous and newly added milestones can be deleted by clicking the trash can icon next to them. The names can also be edited by clicking the pencil icon.
Drag and drop each standard card in the top left-hand corner to adjust the order.
Add Milestones to Activities
Milestones can be added to individual activities in the Learning Skills tab of the Edit Lesson Activity page.
From the web version of Playground, click the Lessons tab and then Activities.
Click an activity to open the Edit Lesson Activity page.
Select the Next: Select Milestones button in the top left-hand corner.
A list of the domains in your framework will appear. Click on a domain to view all its milestones.
Select the checkboxes next to the milestones that should be attached to the activity.
Click Save changes in the top right corner of your screen to save the changes made to the activity.
💡 Now that milestones are attached to activities, you can record observations to track students' progress through these milestones.
Record Activity Observations & Milestones
Student milestones are tracked by recording activity observations, which can be viewed from the Assessment tab on a student's profile.
🚨 Activity observations can only be recorded on mobile. However, the recorded observations can be viewed on web.
From the Playground mobile app, tap the + New Post button in the top left corner of the screen.
Select Observation as the post type and then select the checkboxes next to the student(s) for whom you want to record observations.
Tap Select an Activity from the top of the screen and choose the activity the students completed.
The milestones related to the activity will appear under the student's name. Select the rating for each student and add notes.
[Optional] Add a photo or video to the post.
Tap the blue Post button in the top right corner of the screen to post the observation(s).
💡 Now that you've recorded a milestone, you can view it in the Assessments tab of a student's profile.
Change Observation Rating Options
When recording an observation and adding milestones, you will be given 5 default rating options: Almost never, Rarely, Occasionally, Frequently, and Almost always.
If these options don't perfectly fit your needs, follow the instructions below to edit them:
From the web version of Playground, click into your Feed tab on the left-hand side of your screen.
Select Post types towards the right-hand side of your screen.
Click the pencil icon next to Observation.
Select Add rating to add a new rating to your list, or click into any text box to edit the current ratings.
Click the red trash can icon next to any rating to delete it.
Click Save when finished.
💡 You can add as many ratings as you would like. There is no limit.
View Student Assessments and Observations
🚨 Student assessments can only be viewed on the web version of Playground.
From the web version of Playground, click My School and then Students.
Click the student's name and then click the Assessments tab on their profile.
Click into one of the frequencies under a domain.
Select a milestone for more information and the observations recorded.
