Whenever
the topic of standardized testing comes up I tend to cringe. Unfortunately, I believe that are schools
have become to test happy. Do to these
test teachers are no longer as creative as they used to be when teaching the
children. When I spoke with a teacher
recently who happens to be a neighbor, that teaches second grade in one of our
local public schools, she mentioned that she really wanted to teach for a few
more years, but she feels teaching just is not what it used to be! Everything is based on the Standards of
learning test (SOL’s). She feels that they are made to teach to the test, therefore, there is little time to focus on a topic, she is forced to
move forward at a rapid pace as there is so much information that the children
need to know for SOL’s. As technology
advances so does the way these tests are administered.
Last year many of the test were taken on a computer instead of with
paper and pencil. This too presented another issue. Not all children are relaxed when using computers, so now they
are forced to test, which is stressful and now the majority is being done on
the computer. Standardized testing places
a lot of unneeded pressure on students and teachers. I believe that assessment
should be more ongoing. Standardized testing tends to require children
to participate in rote memorization and skill and drill review, which clearly does
not represent the best way young children learn to retain information (Southern Early Childhood Association, 2000). Children learn better when they are given the opportunity to experience what they are learning (Southern Early Childhood Association, 2000). Further, as our society becomes more diverse, standardized
tests may not account for the variety of cultural aspects that are present in
the classrooms such as languages, ages, and developmental capacities (National Association for the Education of Young Children,
2003). In my children's current school, children that did not perform well on SOL tests that were taken last year are now participating in tutoring in order to help boost their test scores
for the upcoming year. Therefore, they
are missing out on the current class time.
This may make children feel that they are different from their
classmates. It is sad that are education
system has fallen prey to teaching to the test.
Children are missing out on many creative learning opportunities. I believe that children should be assessed on
an ongoing basis and all areas of development should be considered. I also believe that children would have more
opportunities to learn more, if the teachers were not so stressed about having
to teach to the test.
In
Japan the early years are test free and the children are learning happily from
creative caring teachers. However, this
all changes when the children reach their middle school years, they quickly
become familiar with standardized testing (JapanToday, 2010). Clearly they have
let the child leave the early childhood field and enter middle childhood before
they are faced with the dreadful standardized test. They are tested at the end of their sixth and
ninth grade years and only the averages of scores are released to the public, however
the test scores still cause pressure (Takayama, 2012). One thing is clear that
standardized testing causes a lot of pressure for our children and our
teachers!
References
Japan
Today, (2010, June 16). Japan and its standardized test-based education system.
Japan
Today.
Retrieved from http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/japan-and-its- standardized-test-based-education-system
National
Association for the Education of Young Children. (2003). Early Childhood
Curriculum,
Assessment,
and Program Evaluation Building an Effective, Accountable System in Programs
for Children Birth through Age 8. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/
naeyc/file/positions/CAPEexpand.pdf
Southern
Early Childhood Association. (2000). Assessing Development and Learning in
Young
Children. Retrieved from
http://www.southernearlychildhood.org/upload/pdf/Assessing_
Development.pdf
Takayama,
K. (2012, April 17). National Testing in Japan and Australia: To Publish or Not
to
Publish Scores? Asia Pacific Memo
Retrieved from http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/
