STANDARDIZED TESTING STINKS!

Boy, it felt good to stay that. There is no valid reason for performing rigorous standardized testing for assessment of child progress toward attainment of academic goals on children under the age of eight. Whew! That one felt great to say, too.

The purpose of TESTING seems to have become determination of what is wrong – with the child, the teacher, and the school. The purpose of Assessment is to measure progress toward developmentally appropriate goals and to use that measurement to continue or improve the progress.

To assess child progress, I suggest the following:

Remember that you are assessing child progress, NOT the child himself. Remove all traces of ‘behaviorism’ (that prejudice we teachers quite humanly have for biters and block tossers). We assess the acquisition of skills and the progress of growth to see if THE GROWTH is slow, steady, or accelerated so we can make plans for offering each child what he needs to progress in his own best way.

Know what you’re looking for. Make sure the goals set up for skill & concept acquisition are developmentally appropriate for the children. Then make sure you totally agree with and are completely familiar with them.

Use Unbiased Observation which is an examination of fact without color, judgment, personal feeling, or personal experience.  An observation states what a child does, not what a teacher thinks or feels about what he does.  Teachers must never make judgments about a child’s strengths or needs based on anything but facts, and we must never formally diagnose or label a child’s needs.

Use Active Listening which calls for:

• An emotional environment that invites expression
• A schedule which allows for expression
• Respect for each child and his methods of expression
• Undivided and undistracted attention to individual expression
• Eye Contact           
• Attempts to understand or translate the expression
• Repeating of the expression or statement
• Reacting to the expression with respect, question, or unbiased comment
• Recording the expression or statement if it is valuable as documentation

Recognize Learning when you see or hear it. Sometimes we are so intent on looking for proof of a specific goal that we overlook the things the children do and say that show the proof is right there! When a child says something like, “I not ready. I only have one cloe.” or when you ask if he has to pee pee and he says, “Only just one pee”, the child is proving he understands the grammatical rule of plurality and the mathematical rule of ‘one’ denoting singularity. If a child is trying to balance a triangular block on its tip, but it keeps falling, and you ask her about if or how it might be done, and she says, “It CAN do it, but I can’t do it this day”, she’s proving she has understanding of basic geometry and shape and balance – and that she has a great attitude of hopefulness. If a child says, “I got 0 brothers – not the ABC O, the counting 0″, he’s showing both alphabetic and mathematical aptitude”, and if a child points to a playmate of a different race and says, “We are same-same because we hold brown to peachy hands when we swing”, she understands the intellectual concept of same and different and the socially ideal skills of love and respect.

Document what you see and hear with post-it notes, your phone, your camera, etc., place this in each child’s portfolio, and transfer them to your program’s formal Assessment Tool. This documentation accompanied by work samples and communication with parents should provide the information needed to plan for learning experiences that will increase, continue, or enhance progress.