Effective Testing to Measure Children's Minds and Abilities

Developing national standards for academic achievement and providing educators a framework to meet those standards is a great theory.  All children deserve the same opportunity to have high quality education.  However, children develop and achieve in different learning domains at various rates and abilities.  Therefore, these standards and achievement measures need to be take a more holistic approach that allows for these differences in children.  Rousseau once said, "Study your children, for assuredly you do not know them."  This statement is powerful because there is no way we can make all children fit into a perfect, standardized box.  What works for one, will not work for all.  Some children may perform beautifully on an achievement test where they are required to fill in little bubble dots with pencil, while others become unfocused and overwhelmed merely with the task of making sure the dot is completely and sufficiently colored.  Teachers are spending countless hours not only teaching children the topics which are tested, but also spend even more time teaching the children how to take the test properly.
     Another problem with national standards is that "states disagree with what they feel children should know and how they should learn it.  Many schools have recently cut parts of the curriculum (especially in subjects like art and music) in order to expand instruction in reading and math, in an effort to improve their chances in meeting the No Child Left Behind standards" (Berger, 2009).  This type of thinking suggests to the child that the only learning that is valuable is math and science - forget about being creative and artistic!  I have heard of some schools even taking recess out of the school day altogether, to allow more instruction time.  Early childhood professionals understand that learning domains often interconnect and support one another.  Eliminating these areas from a child's day will dramatically impact learning across all other domains!
     Japanese students have long out-performed students in the United States in the areas of math and science because children in Japan spend significantly more time in school and at home intensively studying to meet the government standards of achievement.  However, many parents and government officials have expressed disappointment with the outcomes of their students, not in the areas of math and science, but in their ability to develop metacognitive skills that allow them to think creatively and with independent thought!  In 2002, the Japanese government reduced curriculum by 30 percent to allow a more relaxed education with emphasis on learning to think rather than memorization of facts to perform well on standardized tests (Berger, 2009).  I believe this is a step in the right direction for Japanese children.  Students need to be given a balance in their learning and assessment, with direct instruction and standardized guidelines in core topics, but also an opportunity to explore areas of interest to them.  Testing should include opportunities to perform across all domains and in a variety of ways, including the use of portfolios to show growth through actual student work, observations in meaningful situations, and assessment that is given both formally and informally.  Special considerations should always be given for children with disabilities.  The most important thing to consider with any assessment should be: "What is the purpose and how will I use this information to help the child meet their developmental and educational goals more effectively?"  If the purpose is merely to compare how the child's performance aligns with those of other "normal" children...what is the point?

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (Fifth ed.). New York,

NY: Worth.