If assessments are to be done you must look at the whole child and continue to do assessment because over time children change (Berger, 2009). I work at an elementary school in the second grade department and they give assessment four times of year. As a second grade assistant we always look at the attitude the children on testing day. Some of children home situations are not ideal, they could be sick, or there just not in the mood for testing, and this can have a great affect on the assessment scores for that day. I believe assessments are good to have in place, because it give you an ideal on type of program to have in place in the classroom, but we must keep in mind that the results aren’t always accurate. That is why more and more testing has to be done because these tests can have an affect on a child’s performance in the classroom.
China School and Education
The Chinese education system has a long history. The empires of China have for thousands of years used a bureaucracy system of government and gaining position in it traditionally involved testing. All children in China are required to attend school for at least nine years and the federal government regulates how schools are run and what is taught (McCune, 2011).
Testing
Testing is the be-all and end-all’ of Chinese education. Test scores determine a Chinese student’s entire future and university spots are highly sought after, so most student’s free time is devoted to studying and preparing for university entrance exams (McCune, 2011).
As I said earlier assessment of children is needed to give educators and ideal of what programs to put in place to meet the needs of the children. I do feel that children should be given the opportunity to grow and their entire development shouldn’t be base on the score they made on a test. There are some children who are average but are great test taker. Then you have other students who excel academically, but perform poorly on standardized test. I know in my case I hated standardized testing. I would freeze each time I had to take a test and I would always perform poorly. But, I knew I was a good student. I believe that it Is important to educate the whole child, not look at just one thing you have to consider the total package.
References:
McCune, J. (2011). China schools and education. eHow. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/fact_
6075263_china-schools-education.html
Berger, K.S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York. NY: Worth Publishers
Tonetta,
ReplyDeleteI test the children at my daycare, not by standardized tests, of course, but with observations. I like your theory of first observing the child for stress and health factors. Many of our children come from less than ideal home situations, and stressors could make a big difference in our observation results. I will have to remember to observe the general health of the child before performing any type of assessment.
I never had any problem with standardized tests, but I know many that do. It would be wonderful if teachers could use observations instead of tests. Doing the observations for my small daycare is very time consuming. We would have to have much smaller class sizes to make the observation method practical. Due to financial reasons, schools are increasing class sizes, not decreasing them. We need some advocates to work out a solution for the children!
Mary L.
Tonetta,
ReplyDeleteI too suffer from test anxiety. I have never felt good after leaving a testing environment and would stress for days prior to the test. I feel it is important to get a whole picture of a child. There are many ways that children learn and testing does not always show how much a child knows. I think if we observe children, ask them questions in school, actually talk to them during the day and instruction time instead of just lecturing to them and testing on their retention we may find that our students know more than the tests show.
Amy
Tonetta,
ReplyDeleteYou gave me a lot to think about when it comes to assessing. I never really thought about what is going on with a child personally during a day when assessing arises. I have not been teaching long and never with this age group. It is nice to read posts and blogs from people that have different backgrounds and experiences. Thak you!
Hi Tonetta,
ReplyDeleteIt has been a worthwhile experience having you as a colleague. Thanks for sharing your ideas and for your comments which are encouraging. I hope you too enjoyed the course as I did. Catch you in future courses at Walden.
Best wishes.
Shola.