"A good observer is a good teacher," declares education coordinator Theresa Collado. This bon mot is validated as we explore a variety of authentic assessment techniques used in pre-school settings to document the mental growth of young children. We show observations, work samples, story dictation and pictures of the youngsters mingling in their own environment. Teachers share effective systems of observation they've created in collaboration with their colleagues, and are shown interacting with children in ways that best allow them to observe the social/ emotional, physical, cognitive and language development of their students. They then discuss their use of assessment results in the development of their curricula, and how they have been able to use these assessments to effectively individualize instruction for the children in their class.