Assessing all children’s educational progress is
great if we are assessing what the students have learned and how we can help
them to go above and beyond their learning ability. The only problem with the standardize test
that are given to our children is that our teachers will only teach what is on
that standardize test just to make sure the students get a higher score. Our education system uses these tests as a
basis of accountability for teachers and students. Early childhood students are assessed by using
the creative curriculum program which assessing each student in social,
emotional, cognitive, and physical domains.
The creative curriculum program is an assessment that shows where a
child is lacking in developments and is used as a key to early intervention for
each student. Not only does this help teacher provide early intervention it
allows the teacher to also help a child go above and beyond their learning
ability. As an early childhood
professional we all have learned that all developmental domains overlap each
other which focuses on the whole child.
But as children get older the assessments that are done on younger
children are not the same for the older children. Some test out their will show what a student
had learned but does it really show how a child is learning. Test like SAT/ACT shows academic intelligence
for student who want to go to college but the problem with this test is the
stress level of the students. Without a
21 or higher most students will not make it into a college of their choice, which
put stress on a student.
After
reading this news broadcast I was shocked to find out that, “the U.S. scored 14th in reading, 17th in
science and 25th in math, slightly higher than the last time the tests were
given. The really stunning news comes from China, and the province of Shanghai,
where students scored better than anyone else in the world after taking the
test for the first time.” I continued to
read this news broadcast and found out that the students and teachers all have
a high standard in education. These
teachers went above and beyond of what the students needed to learn and what
else can they learn by having the students go outside of their box. I was shocked that China and the province of
Shanghai had never taken standardize test that our children take every year in
school and scored the highest. That
should show our education system that they need to stop looking at just reading,
science, and math in order to see basic progress of our children. We as teachers need to stop teaching what the
students needs to know for the end of the year testing and challenge these
students to go outside of their box.
Resource:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40544897/ns/us_news-life/t/wake-up-call-us-students-trail-global-leaders/
It is very interesting that students who are not tested every year, like in China, have tested higher on our standardized tests. It has really gone overboard to me. I think that teaching to the test has taken away from educators ability to expand learning in other ways. This is limiting some types of learners from being able to grow to their potential. There needs to be another solution to the objective that they think they are achieving through testing.
ReplyDeleteHi Nina,
ReplyDeleteI am one of those people that panic's at any test. My stress level skyrockets and I second guess my answers and the questions so I seldom finish the test. It has never been an indication of how much information I retained or my intelligence in general. In my day there was never a holistic way of doing that, I've seen charter schools in my area able to accomplish this. I wonder if mainstream schools will be able to reach that goal?
Very surprising outcomes for the US education statistics!