· When
most people in the United States think of assessing children in middle
childhood, achievement and standardized tests come to mind. Achievement tests are designed to evaluate what a person
knows and their level of skill at the given moment about a specific topic such
as a test covering a recent chapter in math or a comprehensive final exam. . Standardized
achievement tests are also to determine if students have met specific learning
goals. Each grade level has certain educational expectations, testing is used
to determine if schools, teachers, and students are meeting those standards
(Cherry, 2015). Children in
middle childhood undergo tremendous physical growth, cognitive, and emotional
development. The graded structure of the schools attempt to provide learning environments
and tasks appropriate to the children's developmental levels. However, the
match is often less than perfect because knowledge of developmental advancements
fragmented, and developmental progress itself is not static. Just as in other
institutions, education systems are slow to change (Collins, 1984).
There are advantages to standardized tests such
as Criterion Referenced Tests and
others that are related to No Child Left
Behind. These tests hold teachers and schools accountable. They are usually
objective in nature and accompanied by a set of established standards or
instructional framework which provide teachers with guidance for what and when
something needs to be taught. Standardized
testing allows students located in various schools, districts, and even states
to be compared. Standardized testing
gives parents and schools a good idea of how children are doing as compared to
students across the country and locally. Standardized tests provide accurate
comparisons between sub-groups. These sub-groups can include data on ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, special needs, etc. This provides schools with data to
develop programs and services directed at improving scores. Teaching, and
learning. In contrast, there are also disadvantages. Standardized testing
evaluates a student’s performance on one particular day and does not take into
account external factors. These tests cause many teachers to only “teach to the
tests”; thus, hinder a student’s overall learning potential. Standardized
testing only evaluates the individual performance of the student at the time of
testing instead of the overall growth of that student over the course of the
year. While the answers are checked by computers, however, there is potential
for bias as in that a test at inception may be made by a teacher who may be
from a white or black population and according to the teaching styles of a
particular state? The success of the
schools is dependent on the performance of their students and federal funds are
distributed accordingly. These tests tend to reduce group activities among students.
Because the students spend a great deal of time in preparing for standardized
tests, they often skip the daily routines of playing, exercising and schools
reduce or eliminate recess negatively impacting children psychosocially and
academically. As one can see, there is much controversy regarding standardized testing
(Columbia University, 2013) However, some form of testing or assessing is
essential in evaluating children’s learning and cognitive development. But
their biosocial and psychosocial development is important also. If a child is
not physically, socially, and emotionally healthy, learning suffers. Not all
children learn in the same way. For this
reason, it is important to assess the whole child, which is often overlooked. Far
too little attention has been paid to outcomes of education other than academic
achievement. More focus on psychosocial development including attitudes and
values of children in middle childhood is necessary to gaining a better
perspective on the holistic development of children (Collins, 1984).
Testing
practices are found throughout the World. For example, Brazil, England, and Japan, conduct
national-level tests, but each does so for different reasons: Brazil conducts
them for state-by-state comparisons and program evaluation. England uses them for school accountability, and Japan for college
entry. Unlike the United States, which
relies heavily on multiple-choice tests, six countries have written
examinations (sometimes along with other kinds). The
Czech Republic is unique among the eight countries in using only oral
examinations. In the United States, we tend to hear the phrase “teach the test.”
In the Czech Republic, England, Canada,
Japan, and Australia, teaching to the test means teaching the curriculum. The same agency that develops the test also
develops the curriculum. In fact, The test is often seen as a mechanism to
promote the curriculum (Levinson, 2000).
References
Levinson,
C. (2000). Student Assessment in Eight Countries. In Educational Leadership.
Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200002_levinson.pdfn.pdf
