Child quotes

"Children are the world's most valuable resource."

Whole Child assessment

Today’s demands have changed so I believe that our assessments should change as well. Students should be required and measured on student’s mastery of higher-order thinking skills and that they are able to see the relationships among seemingly diverse concepts (Chang, 1999). Also on their ability to recall, analysis, comparison, inference, and evaluation. We do not have any test in place to measure these skills. I also believe that students should be required and measured on their teamwork, collaboration and creativity skills. We currently assess our students according to the FCAT. The FCAT is an annual test given to students in grades 3-11 that measures their skills in the areas of reading, math, science and writing according to Florida’s Sunshine State Standards. The FCAT is given to students each year in February (writing) and in March (reading, math, and science). The areas of reading and math are tested each year in grades 3 through 10. The area of writing, in addition to reading and math, is tested in grades 4, 8, 10. The area of science is tested in grade 5, 8, 11. In grade 5 and 8, science is tested in addition to reading and math. In grade 11, only science is tested.

In England, Silvermail (1996) found that schools provide multiple measures of performance that serve multiple purposes. Schools assess student progress through both a national examination and teacher-made tests when students reach the ages of seven, eleven, fourteen, and sixteen. These exams are primarily used to measure the effectiveness of the schools in delivering the national curriculum. All schools must follow nationally prescribed content and pedagogic methods and set targets for individual pupil learning (Whetton, Twist, and Sainsbury, 2000). Gipps, Clarke, and McCallum (1998) assert that this system places too little emphasis on assessment of learning and too much on assessment for learning.

Reference:

Cheng, L. 1999. Changing assessment: Wash back on teacher perceptions and actions. Teaching and Teacher

                Education, 15(3), 253-271.

Gipps, C., Clarke, S., & McCallum, B. 1998, April. The role of teachers in national assessment in England. Paper

                presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, California

                (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 419 836).

Silvernail, D. 1996. The impact of England's national curriculum and assessmentsystem onclassroom practice:

                Potential lessonsfor American reformers. Educational Policy, 10(1),46-62.

Whetton,C., Twist, E., & Sainsbury, M. 2000. National tests and targetsetting: Maintainingconsistentstandards.

                Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans,

                Louisiana (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 441 849).