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Reflection about assessments
Essays on the importance of assessment
Essays on the importance of assessment
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Perspectives The goal of education is to provide children with the opportunity to amass a wealth of knowledge, love for learning, and academic strength. Children go to school to read, write, and learn a variety of subjects. While education is meant to be exciting for children, there have to be standards in order to make sure that progress is being and those children are where they need to be in order to move onto the next phase of their education. Education builds as it grows, and students need a strong foundation in order to succeed and continue. Without those strong building blocks, students will continue to fall back and repeat the same material again and again. And so, testing and assessment come into play to make sure children are where they need to be. However, in early childhood settings testing is almost non-existent because of the stigma around testing. The current debate in our education system argues that testing is not a good measure of a child’s actual knowledge. Rather, assessment gives teachers a better picture of a student’s abilities and capabilities in the classroom. Thus, currently the debate continues over assessment versus testing in the classroom due to the demand for knowledge on whether or not testing is a good way of measuring a student’s progress in school. In the context of education, testing refers to “a method to determine a student’s ability to complete certain tasks or demonstrate mastery of a skill or knowledge” (Danuri 2012). Assessment is “the process of gathering information to monitor progress and make any decisions necessary” regarding curriculum and teaching (Danuri 2012). Assessment is a process that measures growth over time whereas testing is a form of evaluating what a student knows at... ... middle of paper ... ...ion. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from http://eyeonearlyeducation.com/2011/02/10/why-and-how-should-we-assess-young-children/ Snow, C. E. (2008). Early childhood assessment why, what, and how. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Solley, B. A. (2012). On Standardized Testing: An ACEI Position Paper. Childhood Education, 84(1), 31-37. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2007.10522967 Stipek, D. (2006). No child left behind comes to preschool. The Elementary School Journal, 106(5), 455-466. Understanding the difference between assessment and testing. (2008, January 2). The Faculty Center. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://facultycenter.stonybrook.edu/articles/understanding-difference-between-assessment-and-testing Zumwalt, C. (2012). Authentic assessment and early childhood education—an update and Resources. Little Prints, 6(1), 1-15.
Neill, Monty. "The No Child Left Behind Act Is Not Improving Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 162-68. Print.
Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.
Today, schools are making it a priority for teachers to follow the strict guidelines of a “one size fits all testing curriculum.” Educators must prepare students for the tests that could make or break their future. This curriculum is focused only on teaching students what they need to know in order to pass the test. “Because the test is based largely on the memorization of facts, teachers will have to teach their students these specific facts instead of teaching for deep comprehension and understanding of material.” (Martin, 309) As a result, students do not learn the true lesson. Although it is highly important that students pass “the test,” this strictly based curriculum is ignoring the important academic skills and fundamentals needed for their future, even beyond the years of high stakes testing; without these needed skills students will be left in the dark once they have graduated from high school. Students often learn on different levels and their educational requirements are not being met with the “one size fits all” approach. Those who create these tests tend not to include those who learn on a different educational level; rather their focus is pointed towards the money rather than on the success of all students. Children need to learn sk...
In this reflective analysis of NAEYC Standard three, Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support Young Children and Families, I will first reflect on my growth, as an early childhood professional, during my course of study. Secondly, I will address my strengths related to the standard and discuss areas in need of further professional development. Finally, I will outline my goals for future growth and development. Early childhood educators demonstrate professional competence by understanding the role of assessment and the various methods of assessing student learning, including observation, documentation and standardized testing. These assessment strategies, along with partnerships with parents, can support students in their development and growth, by informing instruction and evaluating instructional practices.
The use of standardized tests has led to decreased motivation in students, a totally inaccurate way to assess a districts success, and a curriculum that is focused to strongly on only few subjects. By looking at research we can see that testing reduces children’s intrinsic motivation to learn (...
Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.
Puckett, M., & Black, J. (2008). Meaningful assessments of the young child. (3th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Eliason, C. F., Jenkins, L. (2008). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (8th edition). New
Standardized testing remains to be a major controversial issue for the American society today. Exams are given to students at different levels in their educational career and are supposed to measure their academic knowledge, but are these tests really the best way to evaluate students? There have been numerous alternatives suggested to replace or be used in conjunction with standardized testing.
Assessments matter. They are a useful tool for teachers to use to inform daily literacy instruction. They provide clear pathways into what the child already controls, partially controls, and aren’t yet controlling in reading and writing. I am not just talking about any assessment tool, I am talking about the one that was reviewed and rated as a screening tool by the National Center for Response To Intervention, Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement (OS).
Morrison, G. S. (1976). Chapter 6: Early Childhood Programs APPLYING THEORIES TO PRACTICE. In Early childhood education today (10th ed., pp. 5-31). Columbus, Ohio: Merrill.
Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2000). Exploring your role: A practitioner’s introduction to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
As teachers, we have to monitor the progress our students make each day, week, quarter and year. Classroom assessments are one of the most crucial educational tools for teachers. When assessments are properly developed and interpreted, they can help teachers better understand their students learning progress and needs, by providing the resources to collect evidence that indicates what information their students know and what skills they can perform. Assessments help teachers to not only identify and monitor learners’ strengths, weaknesses, learning and progress but also help them to better plan and conduct instruction. For these reasons, ongoing classroom assessment is the glue that binds teaching and learning together and allows educators to monitor their efficacy and student learning.
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a