The possibility of testing and accountability at the Pre-K and Kindergarten level is now certainly upon us. As part of the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge, states wanting a shot at a grant will need to put in place standards and assessments that gauge student’s kindergarten readiness. Immediately the image of our youngest learners losing explorative playtime in place of standardized test prep enters people’s minds. Kindergarten readiness, however, is supposed to be thought of as a broad picture of a child’s abilities and behaviors that are observed over time in a variety of contexts. The intent of the initiative is to determine where children are upon entering kindergarten, learn of their strengths and weaknesses and use the data to improve instructional practices that are tailored to the individual child. Sounds good in theory... but I'm still wary.
So these assessments would be given during the first month of kindergarten, the same month teachers are instructing their students how to behave in a social setting. Is it fair to test a 5-year-old’s ability in their first few weeks ever in school? And would the results of that assessment even be a valuable indicator of their ability? Studies have shown that test scores of young children did not predict well what their future ability would be.
As accountability and testing become more popular, the age of testing becomes lower, and Baltimore City is already headed in that direction. Pre-K and Kindergarten students are already given the Maryland Measure for School Readiness test, a test seen in a negative light by some teachers because of the time needed to administer it and it’s almost futile results. Did this test tell me that some of my students were not ready for kindergarten? Yes (mostly because they were shy in my opinion, and again it was the first month of school). Did some of these students score in the proficient range on other reading and math benchmarks? Yes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-giving-standardized-tests-to-young-children-is-really-dumb/2011/07/18/gIQAB7OnMI_blog.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rae-pica/is-prek-testing-coming_b_894834.html?ref=tw
2 comments:
The problem with assessing a 5 year-old on school readiness is that Pre-K is not mandatory. If Pre-K were mandatory, then it would be more valid to assess the readiness of students entering Kindergarten, but at the end of the Pre-K year. However, with the Pre-K program in Baltimore being both limited and voluntary, students from families that do not send their children to Pre-K, for whatever reason, are more than likely to end up on the bottom. Additionally, I agree that testing 5 year-olds within the first month of Kindergarten is not the most optimal time to be doing so.
The problem with assessing a 5 year-old on school readiness is that Pre-K is not mandatory. If Pre-K were mandatory, then it would be more valid to assess the readiness of students entering Kindergarten, but at the end of the Pre-K year. However, with the Pre-K program in Baltimore being both limited and voluntary, students from families that do not send their children to Pre-K, for whatever reason, are more than likely to end up on the bottom. Additionally, I agree that testing 5 year-olds within the first month of Kindergarten is not the most optimal time to be doing so.
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