When thinking about children as a “whole child”, and consider what should be measured or assessed, I think first about who the child is and where they come from. What is their family situation? What is their home life like? Do they have siblings? Are they healthy? Do they live in a safe environment? Are they being raised by a parent, parents, grandparents or some other person? After getting a good glimpse into what their life is like, then I think you need to look at assessing or measuring what they know. Through carefully observing these children, we can tell a lot about what kind of learners they are. When children enter school, we need to make sure they are healthy and that they feel safe so they are ready to learn. When a student feels connected to their school, they are more likely to stay in school.
One thing that I think we need to look at is each child as their own individual. Children do not learn the same way and therefore we need to carefully observe and think about how we can best meet their learning style. Do they learn better through:
Ø hands on activities
Ø visual – pictures, graphs, diagrams
Ø music – turn lessons into lyrics
Ø interaction with peers
I think that we have to identify our children and include all types of learning styles when we are assessing or measuring the success of our children. I do think that we over assess our children. We will soon be testing our kindergarten children with a Brigance test, SAT-10 test, and STAR test. First and second not only has the SAT-10 test and the STAR test, but also will be taking their nine weeks tests. Third, fourth, and fifth will be taking TCAP, STAR, a 6th grade placement test and a Math Common Core (CRA) test. All these tests begin April 23rd and will be completed by May 9th. I do think that we need to measure and assess our children, but I think that we may over assess our children to some degree. Children are more than a test score.
School age children in Mexico are assessed by teachers who give examinations five times a year in each grade. The tests must cover the national curriculum, but are developed locally. There is a national examination at the end of the school year, and students who score less than 6 out of 10 on the test are retained in the same grade level for the coming year (McLaughlin, 2003). Many children will drop out after primary grades (1-6) or secondary grades (7-9) as Mexico deals with a high rate of education failure. Only about one-third of the children in Mexico who start school complete a high school-level education and one-tenth complete a post-secondary university or technical degree (Stein, 2004).
References
McLaughlin, J. H. (2003). Schooling in mexico: A brief guide for u.s. educators. ERIC Digest,
Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org
Stein, R. (2004). Mexican and u.s. schools: A world apart. The Term Paper, 3(1), Retrieved from http://www.piton.org
I completely agree that there should be different ways of testing. Bubbling in circles and reading multiple choice questions is not the way every child can be assessed. The examples you gave like hands on activities and music are all a great way to assess these children and see them as a whole.
ReplyDeleteHi Amy,
ReplyDeleteYour report on Mexico is very interesting. I think it is sad that only one-third of the children who start school finish at the high school level.
Great ideas! The whole child includes more of their environmental factors than anything else. Many people don't realize, but the way a child environment is determines the way the child thin, learn, and grow. Children that live in positive, loving environments are more prepared in dealing with learning in a classroom environment. On the other hand children who lack care, nurture, structure to mention a few, struggle with coping in the classroom environment.
ReplyDelete