Assessment is the gathering of information to make an informed
decision; it is an integral part of most early childhood programs. At the
elementary level, children in some school systems can spend up several weeks a
year completing state and or district assessments, and in some schools, they spend
even more time in test preparation activities to ensure that the more prioritized
assessments have more outcomes that are favorable. Does it have a purpose, this
question has been asked and educators have tried to answer. They have suggested
that appropriate assessment systems can provide information to highlight what
children is able to do and what they know. However, inappropriate assessments
for young children can run the risk of generating insufficient information for
the tester and undue pressure for the child. At a young age, I was not good at
being assessed, sometimes I was too nervous, sometimes I had a high fever the
night before, I placed myself under pressure; performance anxiety. Although
ongoing assessment is important for young children; how often it is conducted
and the preparation time should be structured in a way that will allows the
child no extreme pressure.
The country I have chosen to focus on is Japan, working in
the schools in Japan I see first-hand the types of assessments used for children.
It is important to note that in Japan, illiteracy
is considered a disgrace and 100% of Japanese are literate. The
Japanese schools are structured on high levels of competition; excessive competition for university entrance
examinations, the existence of "crammies," and deterioration of
academic performance. Japanese children have large amounts of knowledge but
lack ability to learn and think by themselves and apply their knowledge. The
children are focused on the group and lack individual motivation.
In 2000 Japan reduced the
school number of days spent at school from 6 days per week to 5 days per week
to foster greater "zest for living."
When I think of intelligence,
I think of the whole person and what they are able to achieve, looking on the
person individually and not as a group of individuals. Are the students particularly
good at drawing or art, do we structure tests more arts based then math based
as a means of assessment?
Source
Tyson, M (2006). Japan's Assessment of Japanese Education.
Retrieved February 15, 2013 from http://mabryonline.info/papers/pdf.
Kalisa,
ReplyDeleteI thought your information about Japan was great. I was not suprised by the competition factor, but I was surprised with te information you posted regarding how they have an inability to learn and think by themselves, and lack individual motivation.
Has the decrease in the number of school days helped the "zest for life" to increase? If they have an inability to think for themselves has this been noticed in the work place? Is it causing issues in the area of problem solvimg?
Im with you,I HATED being assessed or tested, even if I knew I was good in the subject. It would be great to be able to assess children based on what their high points are. Unfortunately, there arent too many teachers that will take the time to figure out each childs high and low point and configure a lesson plan that will benefit all.
ReplyDeleteJapan and Korea are very similar in their desire to be superior and produce the smartest students. Reseasrch showed that South Korena students, too, were very dependent on their instructors for information and were very fact based. They fell short in the acquisition of information and working on an individual level. President Obama praises the education system in Korea, saying we should model our education after it... I too, got test anxiety terribly and often did bad on standardized tests including the SAT. So I couldn't get into college by being smart with a 4.0 gpa- I had to have a high test score.Very interesting where our focus lies. Thanks for the great information!
ReplyDelete100 % literacy? Wow, that is interesting. This seems like an extreme way of testing and educating. Do you think that competition has a place in education at all?
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