How do teachers assess children in the early childhood center? Research has indicated that early educators and children benefit most from "formative assessment." Formative assessment provides teachers evidence to inform the curriculum. An assessment is considered formative when the feedback from learning activities is used to adapt the teaching to meet the learner's needs. "Summative assessment," like a report card, comes at the end of a term or project. Learning stories are formative assessments. The learning story assessment, adapted from the oral documentation traditions of New Zealand's indigenous Maori people, was formally developed by such researchers as Margaret Carr and Wendy Lee. The learning story assessment acknowledges the unpredictability of development and the perspective of the learner, as well as contributes to the child's dispositions and honors the early childhood setting as a learning community. Learning stories demonstrate the value of the narrative approach over benchmarks, as well as provide a multitude of opportunities for young children to self-assess.