Several methods exist today that can provide the type of as
sessment that occurs over time and in interaction. They contain
not only a joint focus on the child’s status and the characteristics
of the child’s educational setting, but they also encourage individual
planning, programming, and evaluation. The Work Sampling
System, designed for preschool-grade 5 (Meisels et al., 1994;
Meisels, 1996b), is one example of an assessment system designed
to achieve these goals.