A Child without education,
                                                        is like a bird without wings.
                                                          ~~~ Tibetan Proverb~~~

Testing

I have no problem with testing but I believe that so many test make children stressed and nervous. I feel if the child is passing all of their classes that’s measurement enough because they are retaining information and using that information. There are so many different test that are required for assessing and measuring children. I can remember my oldest daughter would be sweating bullets before she went to school on test day. I would try everything to calm her down and nothing worked, she got butterflies and would feel nauseous. I think the test measures the child’s mind but the whole child has to be looked at. All children are different and should be treated as such. A child can be a straight A student but clam up on test day and does not do well on the test at all. Does this mean the child is a failure because they did poorly on standardized test? Most schools use standardized test to see what the child has learned academically.

International comparisons as well as disparities within the United States led to passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, a federal law promoting high national standards for public schools (Berger, 2016). On December 10, 2015 the NCLB Act was replaced with Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA) this was to help reduce the amount of standardized testing. Earlier  this year my daughters school had a parent meeting for parents of 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade students. In the past when my oldest daughter was in 4^th grade students had to pass the test with a certain percentage as well as pass all classes or they would not be promoted to 5^th grade. Fast forward to now in the meeting we were told that the test is not a pass or fail test anymore so as long as your child pass their classes they will not be required to pass test in order to be promoted to the next grade. This took the stress level down for so many parents and I was one of those parents. The standardized test children are taking now in 4the grade is to assess the student, and the teacher who is teaching the student. They want to know what is the child learning by being taught by that particular teacher and the school receives a score as well. Before we got out for summer break my center manager told the staff that now for the upcoming school year when the classroom is being observed instead of receiving a number grade we will get a letter grade from A to F and the center will receive a grade instead of stars.  

In Germany they don’t penalize children for poor performance and they do not make school level test scores public like the United States does. Germany’s reform efforts included the creation of national standards and standard based test for students in grades 3-8, which sounds like the U.S. approach (www.theatlantic). Germany have test called OECD and since 2000 the test scores have increased dramatically. Germany ranks 20^th for math proficiency, the U.S. ranks 49^th behind Turkey. Are these test really needed if the child pass all classes and the teachers knows the child understands all information that was discussed in class the entire school year? If a teacher knows the child can do the work, and can actually do it with little or no help then why test children on standardized test.

 

References

Berger, K.S. (2016). The Developing Person through Childhood (7^th ed.) New York, NY: Worth Publishers

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/11/great-german-scool-turnaround/413806/