Teachers who develop useful assessments, provide corrective instruction, and give students second chances to demonstrate success can improve their instruction and help students learn (Guskey , 2003, p.6). As a pre-k teacher and having experience working with other young children I feel the children should be assessed through art work, take home projects, open discussions, and homework. This will allow you to see if the students understand what is being taught. I have assessed my students on their social/emotional skills. I look to see how they interact with others, if they know what to do if a stranger tries to take to them, and what to do in an emergency. They are also assessed on letter and number recognition, and self help skills. When working with children who are in kindergarten and first grade, I believe they should be assessed on their letter sound recognition, reading, writing, and math skills, as well as their social/emotional skills.
Two major forms of assessment, formative and summative assessment, are employed by secondary school teachers in China. Formative assessment is essential for providing feedback on a student’s progress so that any errors or difficulties can be identified and corrected (Fennell & Maccoll, 1983). The results of such an assessment would be a series of scores for each task in the progression, enabling the teacher to pinpoint problems, to provide students with detailed feedback on their progress, and to make decisions relating to how instruction should best continue. Traditional Chinese classrooms are predominantly teacher-centered. Teaching and learning are rigidly structured with virtually no flexibility for teachers and students to negotiate.
Two major forms of assessment, formative and summative assessment, are employed by secondary school teachers in China. Formative assessment is essential for providing feedback on a student’s progress so that any errors or difficulties can be identified and corrected (Fennell & Maccoll, 1983). The results of such an assessment would be a series of scores for each task in the progression, enabling the teacher to pinpoint problems, to provide students with detailed feedback on their progress, and to make decisions relating to how instruction should best continue. Traditional Chinese classrooms are predominantly teacher-centered. Teaching and learning are rigidly structured with virtually no flexibility for teachers and students to negotiate.
References:
Fennell, P., & Maccoll, P. (1983). Assessment & Evaluation. Canberra: The Curriculum
Development Centre
Guskey, T.R. (2003). How classroom assessments improve learning. Educational Leadership,
60(5), 6-11.
Temeka,
ReplyDeleteI think the areas that you assess your pre-K students in are right on target with developmentally appropriate practice. The important things for children of that age to know are the things that you pinpointed, such as responses to strangers and emergencies. As a former kindergarten teacher, my students were tested on their basic skills such as letter recognition and sounds, number recongnition and even simple math skills like addition and subtraction. They were also evaluated on social skills and basic self-help skills such as using the bathroom independently and dressing themselves. I do believe the assessments must be based on the child's age and abilities, not a teachers idea of what the children should be able to accomplish.
I also chose to look at China's assessments and found that basic standardized tests are the norm for China's students. I was shocked to find out that college entrance exams were the SOLE basis for where a Chinese student is place in college!!
Nice post! :)
Hi Temeka,
ReplyDeleteIt is beneficial to read your post and learn there are many ways of assessment such as arts, open discussion, the judgments when emergency happens and so on. I was brought up in an environment where there was a belief that studying was the most important thing, students with good grades for certain subjects were better and other subjects like arts and music were undervalued. I moved here because I did not want to raise my children in this type of environment. I agree that social skills should be assessed because they are the most important skills when children grow up and live their lives without the guidance of teachers or parents. However, I think teachers should be careful about what social skills are assessed because different cultures may have different opinions on certain skills. For example, self- confidence is seen as good thing in America but not so much in Japan.
I like how you listed so many different ways to assess children. It is obvious that you wouldn't use a written test to assess preschoolers, but it is important to note that tests are not always the best choice with older students either. Using open discussion, take home assignments, and projects which combine multiple intelligences are often a better choice. Even these alternate modes of assessment should be combined with others in order to best evaluate students.
ReplyDeleteHello Temeka,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your discussion. Assessment is important to teachers because that is the only way to get feed back of their teaching. Results of assessment can be revealing, it helps the teacher to know that the method of teaching and the medium of instruction is acceptable. The same experience in China is what we have in Nigeria. There are two major forms of assessment. Results that provide feedback and assessment that are used to determine the progress of school children. No one assessment can provide the correct information about a student er time, series of assessments should be carried out over a period of time before a student can be "judged"