Testing a children for academic skills is something that many do not agree on. I think a formal test or assessment should completed simply on a base level to understand where a child is but this test should not be the end all be all. Many children suffer from test anxiety or simply do not care to perform well on a required assessment. Also, there are a great many children who may have an undiagnosed learning complication which could hinder test/assessment performance. Thinking of this, it is important to compile this data with that of observations of a child to get a better picture and understanding of the child as a whole.
While the school setting and organization is quite different in Switzerland than that of the United States, children are still being assessed there. The assessments are more to help a child move to the next grade level according to the website Swiss Education. The website for Swiss Education goes on to explain that while most children will be assessed upon entering kindergarten, the tests at the end of each school year is optional for the children and "these instruments can be used to determine the current state of knowledge and skills or to assess the performance of the pupils and also allow the teachers to compare the learning success of their class with other classes"(2018). As we know this is quite different than how the schools within the United States uses tests and assessments within the primary grade school years. The Bell School explain even more how schools use these assesses to "provide feedback to parents regularly through a learning journal and parent meetings" and "we continually check each child's progress and help them move to the next level" (2018).
While I know assessments have a place in the primary school setting, I feel children should not be taught to perform well on these. Learning needs to be more content than how to properly take a mandated test and perform well. Too often children are not being taught basic skills such as how to read a clock because it is not on a mandated assessment. Hopefully a balance can come to our country soon and it will develop many great education skills for children.
Photo credit: scary mommy.com - https://www.bell-school.ch/en/nursery/teaching-approach
Standardized tests are a torture for many students because of the anxiety that it provokes to them. In my country Puerto Rico, the educational system is very strict with that practice. Meanwhile, countries like Finland does not use them at all or China that does not administer tests on early childhood students.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I am saddened that schools are forced to focus all their energy and curriculum teaching to a test, and it doesn't help the children become well rounded individuals! I hope we can move away form this in the future but hopefully after school programs and activities can help balance this.
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