Just recently my 10 year-old daughter was sent home with a letter talking about a type of intelligence assessment mandated by North Carolina school board officials. After receiving the notification explaining the how the test were conducted, as well as my daughters percentile placement, I suddenly realized that although my daughter does well academically, not placing high in percentile would really mess with her self confidence and possibly motivation to continue being successful.
Intelligence and achievement test focus on cognitive skills, abilities, recalling, and problem-solving. Although I understand certain assessments are necessary in pinpointing the level of development each child is at, as well as areas they need to work on, however, I feel as though there is all ready pressure placed on the children and teachers in terms of the End of Grade testing, measuring for intelligence will add extra stress, as well as place negative message to the child that he/she is not smart in comparison to other children across the board they have never met.
Throughout this year I have been really interested in learning about the South/West African cultures. Just recently, I read an article that talked about how schools in South Africa have an integrated approach to early child development, the school try to provide rich learning experiences from children birth to school-age, however the children's performance levels are much lower than other countries. The reasons for the low achievements are due to poor school attendance, missing adolescents, lack of running water, school violence, and a severe lack of resources to provide libraries and text books.
The type of assessment that measures the children's abilities is known as the; Annual National Assessment. This type of assessments measures children's numeracy and literacy skills.
As I stated before, there are assessments that can be a strong tool for educators to help children in all of their developmental domains, such as High Scope assessments, and Teaching Strategies.
Tests that are designed to help and not hinder students can help build their self confidence and motivation to continue to work hard,and also certain assessments can help detect any learning delays early on, so that services can be provided.
Reference:
UNICEF South Africa- Education and Adolescent Development. Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/education_344.html
Hello, Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteGreat post I agree that assessment and results, like with your daughters are a great way for us to know our child’s strengths and weakness. Giving us the tools we need to help a child be successful. I also think there is too much pressure placed on children academically and the use of assessments too measure for gain does send a negative message to children. I truly believe that the use of assessments should only be used to show if the child need assistance in a particular subject, not to measure their percentile. I also agree with your comment about Teachers Strategies, I use it at my job and it is very good. The situation in South/West African school system is very sad.
Cynthia I hear what you are saying some testing can be a detriment to children confident or self-esteem especially if they don't do so well. Lots of testing can be over the top in the way they word the question and in the way it should be answered. I believe some tests should not be given to children. I heard on the news how some schools/teachers refuse it give children that ISAT test, because they feel it was not necessary. Some children are not good test taker and should not be penalize for it(retain in the same grade level). In College I felt like that is happening with that exit examine we had to take after taking the English course. So many people did well during the course, but fail the course when they could not making during the exit examine. The exit examine and other tests should be done away with.
ReplyDeleteHi Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteI agree that intelligence tests could hamper a child's self-esteem and motivation, and cause undue stress. I think that schools should focus on students' growth throughout the school year instead of requiring them to take such tests.