In a climate of increasing concern with educational accountability and quality, it has been important to reappraise the issues of assessment and evaluation in relation to early childhood care and education. This document is comprised of three papers describing approaches to assessment and evaluation used in Te Whariki, a national curriculum statement and framework for early childhood education and care in New Zealand. The first paper, "An Update of Te Whariki, The New Zealand National Early Childhood Curriculum," describes the overall principles, strands, and goals for all early childhood programs, focusing on the fundamental principle of empowering children and outlining some implementation issues for early childhood centers. The second paper, "Project for Assessing Children's Experiences in Early Childhood Settings," outlines a three-phase research project to provide assessment guidelines for practitioners implementing Te Whariki: (1) developing an integrated structure of outcomes called the Learning Story framework; (2) implementing the framework in a variety of early childhood settings; and (3) developing resources for professional development. The third paper, "Developing a Framework for Self Evaluation of Early Childhood Programmes," outlines the policy context of evaluation and quality in New Zealand, describes an ethnographic study focusing identifying the key elements of program quality in relation to Te Whariki strands and goals which should be the focus of evaluation, and discusses how the Teaching Stories provide a focus for reflection and appraisal. Each paper contains references. (Author/JPB)