pros and cons of testing young kids today?

Question

how should assessment be done?

Answer 1

The only valuable tests are diagnostic tests.
These would help the teacher increase the child's skills.
Tests that are there only to provide spurious lying evidence for a government's image are highly immoral.

Answer 2

Assessment should be done with a standardized test. The pros are that you would find out if schools are meeting the educational needs of the student. The cons are that you would probably find out schools aren't meeting the needs of the student.

Answer 3

It is indeed a difficult question to answer.... how young is "young"?
Children under the age of 7 or 8 differ widely in how quickly they pick up on the basic foundational skills so although early assessment and intervention can be quite helpful, it is equally important not to identify an area as a significant problem prematurely.

Looking at a child's strengths and weaknesses at school and outside of school as well as gaining a better understanding of the underlying skills that contribute to academic achievement provide crucial information.

As for how the assessment would be done, I have pasted the following answer that I provided to a young women recently who was to be assessed for investigation of a learning disability.

The psychologist would likely do some or all of the following:

- a test of learning potential or intelligence
- tests of academic achievement to see where your strengths and weakness lie in comparison to your learning potential
- tests of information processing to see how well you take in and give back information (examples - memory for visual info, memory for verbal info, phonics skills which are important for reading, writing and spelling and/or fine motor skills which are important for spelling and writing)

He or she would also likely review your report cards, speak with your teachers and parents and talk to you to better understand what aspects of school work you find difficult, when you starting have difficulties and get a general overview of your strengths and weaknesses. He or she may also give you, your parents and/or your teachers questionnaires to fill out as well.

Where I live, each school has a psychologist assigned to it and the testing would be done free of charge. There would also be a wait time for the testing since most psychologists service multiple schools. If you and your family are able, you could also see a psychologist in private practice. Some insurance plans cover the testing but in all honesty, many do not. Again, just going by where I live, cost of testing can vary a fair bit, anywhere from $800 to $1500.

Having a learning disability does NOT mean that your are dumb or cannot go to college or whatever else you may have heard. People with learning disabilities have at least average learning potential/intelligence but experience difficulty achieving in one or more areas. It is difficulties with processing, those skills that underlie or contribute to achievement, that lead to the academic difficulties.

There are many accommodations and modifications that can be made to a student's program to help him/her work around the areas of weakness. For example, for those who have a really hard time reading, there is computer software that can scan books and read them to students. For those who have a really hard time getting their ideas down on paper but can talk them out really well, there may be opportunities to do tests orally instead of in writing.

It is very hard to comment without knowing your individual circumstances but I hope the information above helps you to better understand what the process would be like. If you do have an assessment, please do not hesitate to ask questions of the person testing you. It is important that you feel comfortable during the process and are able to put forth your best effort.

Answer 4

This is a complex question more deserving of an essay than some overly brief answer, but I'll try to tackle it.

Pros:
.....standardized (local school system, city, county, state/province, country) across the testing area
.....easily administered
.....can correlate progress graphically
.....allows for comparisons

Cons:
.....often (like IQ tests) reflects cultural biases
.....can only grade known skills and knowledge
.....are often merely knowledge based, omitting creative and innovative skills
.....schools train to pass the test rather than toward skills used in life.

I'd like to write a lot more, including examples and analogies, but don't have the time now. Hope this helps you.

Answer 5

Hey there,
The ability to read is vital for success. It helps your child succeed in school, helps them build self-confidence, and helps to motivate your child. Being able to read will help your child learn more about the world, understand directions on signs and posters, allow them to find reading as an entertainment, and help them gather information.

Here you can find a step-by-step online program that can help your child learn to read: http://readingprogram.toptips.org

Learning to read is very different from learning to speak, and it does not happen all at once. There is a steady progression in the development of reading ability over time. The best time for children to start learning to read is at a very young age - even before they enter pre-school. Once a child is able to speak, they can begin developing basic reading skills. Very young children have a natural curiosity to learn about everything, and they are naturally intrigued by the printed texts they see, and are eager to learn about the sounds made by those letters. You will likely notice that your young child likes to look at books and thoroughly enjoys being read to. They will even pretend to behave like a reader by holding books and pretend to read them.

For more info visit http://readingprogram.toptips.org
Cheers ;)

Answer 6

Via testing, questionning and observation. Assessment can be qualitative as well as quantitative.