Testing
for Intelligence?
In examining how children should or should not be measured or assessed, I believe children should be provided the learning tools that can help them succeed in and out of their school environment. By succeed, I mean to be able to provide in their own words what information they do understand with in the learning environment. I believe that children should be measured on what they can do, and the information they can connect with. Therefore not necessarily on what they do not know or can not do. In order words if it is something that they can not do, when being assessed, why not say they are in progress of learning what ever it is they have not mastered yet. Why should we just plain out say children can not do something when we as educators understand that every child learn at their own pace.
In all reality some children respond and develop on how we as adults, teachers, and professionals view them and express our beliefs in them. When we praise children for what they can do, children then have the self confidence to strive to do their best in all areas of development.
In assessing how school-age children are assessed overall in other parts of the world I wanted to do some comparison of the United States to other countries. “The chart below presents the findings of this Report Card in summary form. Countries are listed in order of their average rank for the six dimensions of child well-being that have been assessed.1 A light blue background indicates a place in the top third of the table; mid-blue denotes the middle third and dark blue the bottom third”(Unicef, 2007).
Also if you would like to view and compare other countries I have provided the link below.
Reference
An
overview of child well-being
in rich countries - Unicef
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/ChildPovertyReport.pdf|
Dimensions
of
child
well-being
|
Average
ranking
position
(for
all 6
dimensions)
|
Material
and
well-being
|
Health
and
safety
|
Educational
well-being
|
Family
and
peer
relationships
|
Behaviours
and
risks
|
Subjective
well-being |
|
Canada |
11.8 |
6 |
13
|
2
|
18 |
17 |
15 |
|
Sweden |
5 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
15
|
1 |
7 |
|
United States |
18 |
7 |
21 |
12 |
20 |
20 |
-
|
Furthermore, when measuring or assessing school-age children by the information provided in the chart we see that children are assessed in every area of their well-being. I believe each of these areas some times play an important part on how a child develop with in their learning environment. Therefore I feel the question that should be asked to those developing standardized testing, based on one child fits all, how can we test a child's abilities in varies areas of learning with out knowing the whole child themselves?
Edith, Excellent post. I agree with you 100%, each child learn differently and having them being test in one way, it is absurd. We all learn in different way and as well will understand the lesson differently and my classmate next to me. Now days, the children and teachers are living under pressure to pass the tests, the child to pass to the next grade and the teacher to have a secure job. A child should be test on the things he knows and how he can explain it, not on a test, but in a conversation and if the child wants, with examples. Like a science experiment, something that they feel comfortable on and not stress about it. nice post.
ReplyDeleteHi Edith,
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said. I was not a good test-taker at all. I would get nervous and always question myself. I would change my answers and of course I would change them from the correct answer to the wrong answer. Luckily I got through all my years of schooling before the age of No Child Left Behind and the world wind of all of these high-stakes standardized test. I do believe if my abilities were based solely on the tests of today I would not be able to graduate high school. Though I am not a good test taker, I have other abilities that allow me to demonstrate my knowledge.
Edith,
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more! The knowledge a child has cannot and should not be measured by rote knowledge alone. I do know that rote knowledge has its purposes, but it should not be the ultimate way to measure a child's knowledge. It has become so bad that teachers cannot even supplement which not only helps students, but also allows the teacher to use their strengths and creativity. This is detrimental, I believe to the field of education.
Jocelyn