When I Think of Child Development

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child" - Dr. Seuss

"Children are great imitators.  So give them something great to imitate" - Anonymous

"The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith" - Billy Graham

Testing For Intelligence?

Although I do not agree with all the standardized tests children have to take, I do think assessing children’s skills are important.  It is important to know what children understand and what they need more help in understanding.  For example, my preschoolers practice the skill of counting all the time.  Usually this practice takes place in a small group or whole group. Having the children count together is great but sometimes I need to take children aside and really assess whether they know how to count on their own without other children counting with them.  I need to do this assessment to know whether counting is something they need work on.  Sometimes I might do my assessment by just having them count for me or by observing them counting during lab time.  

I do not agree with all of the computer tests children have to do these days.  I think that children need to be able to answer assessment questions in their preferred learning style.  Many children need more hands on opportunities to really be able to answer questions.  There needs to be different ways for children to show what they really know about a topic.  I believe teachers need to be able to assess children by observation and not always by a standardized test.  

Since 2010 New Zealand has had a curriculum for the years 1 – 13, which is typically ages 5 to 13.  For primary education (1-8 years) they follow national standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers are expected to assess children in regards to the standards and regularly report the progress to parents.  New Zealand’s education system is highly inclusive in regards to special education.  Children from year 3 to 10 take the Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) each year.  This test is taken at the beginning of the school year and maybe at the end but it is not taken more than two times a year.  This test has four different parts that measures reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and mathematics.  The data from this test can be compared to other children taking the test.  Each one of these tests takes approximately 25 to 45 minutes.  Other tests children take in New Zealand are the STAR test, which is a reading test and the AsTTle, which stands for Assessment Tool for Teaching and Learning.  This test is a numeracy and literacy assessment tool. 

The PAT test sounds a lot like the NWEA test our elementary students take at least twice a year.  The NWEA is done on the computers and tests different areas such as reading and mathematics.    

References

Nusche, D., Laveault, D., MacBeath, J. & Santiago, P. (2011).  OECD Review of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: New Zealand.  Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/school/49681441.pdf

NZCER.  Understanding PATs – for parents and the community.   Retrieved from http://www.nzcer.org.nz/tests/understanding-pats-parents-and-community