October 12, 2013
First I am going to define assessment. NAEYC and NAECS/SDE define it as the gathering of useful information for the purpose of constructing understandings about children that guide educational decisions.
The most appropriate use of assessment is in the service of instruction; assessment information should be used to make school experiences and life better for children.
Assessment is one of the best ways of discovering your students present knowledge of skills. I find informal assessment the greatest tool of all because it allows me to observe the child on a daily base or at least three times a week without their knowledge. Also it gives me the opportunity to observe them when they are not been assessed formally.
I believe the whole child should be assessed. This means the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual because teachers will have an understanding of the child's educational needs.
The country I have chosen: South Africa because they use the assessment tools such as:
Developing Tests & Questionnaires for a National Assessment of Educational Achievement
Subnational Assessment
Binet Assessment Tool (IQ test)
For example:
Emotional: In my classroom there is one little girl who cries every morning and the other students call her baby and always trying to pick her up and hug her, also nurturing her by patting her. This is showing empathy.
Social: Children in my class always play well with each other.
Physical: I noticed that the children need more practice on the skills as hopping and skipping.
Intellectual: Needs more practice on problem solving as fitting puzzle pieces together.
As a Head Start teacher we use Brigance Assessment Tool, Observation, and Anecdotal records.
Diane,
ReplyDeleteI think you made some very valid points in your blog this week and I enjoyed reading this post! I agree with you that assessment can be a great tool for us as educators to better understand our children and our students. I also agree that we should be assessing the whole child to better understand every aspect of the child's ability and progress year long. I find it interesting that South Korea, ranked number 1 world wide in education, assesses students based on a variety of measures to create one "School Activity Record" each year - they are assessing the whole child and doing it effectively! They do not utilize standardized testing as we do and are successful on this front. It amazes me to see the difference between countries and their educational policies from South Korea to the United States to South Africa. Thanks for the information!
Ashley Richards
Diane,
ReplyDeleteOver the past eights week of this course, you have been a positive and knowledgable resource to all, including myself. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you in class and feel I have learned so much from the course and my classmates, including you. Wishing you all the best in your future classes and in your career! :)
Ashley Richards