Standardized Testing is Not the Answer
For the past two days, kindergarten to high school students have been taking the IOWA standardized test. This is a pre-assessment test for teachers to find out students' knowledge of core subjects, namely English/Language Arts, Math and Science. The homeroom teacher will read out instruction to students and all tests are timed, usually lasting between 5 and 45 minutes.
When I quickly glanced at some of the questions in the test paper, I realized why many teachers all over this country object to this type of standardized testing. The most important job of the teacher, according to the test results, seem to be just to teach writing, reading, math calculation and selective science concepts. At the end of the day if students did poorly in these subjects, teachers are seen as failing to teach well. No wonder they complain about time and resources being taken away from 'non-essential' subjects like physical education, art, drama and music.
As a parent, I believe in providing a holistic education to my children. I realized that I will have to put in time and effort to do that for my children. Allah SWT willing I will implement fun and educational activities for DD1 as she grows. I want her to learn to sew, cook, farm and participate in community service. Then when DD2 is older, she will also be learning these important life skills too.
Life is too short to spend all of our time to achieve perfect scores on standardized tests. I want my children to achieve high marks on being self-sufficient and be of service to people in need.
When I quickly glanced at some of the questions in the test paper, I realized why many teachers all over this country object to this type of standardized testing. The most important job of the teacher, according to the test results, seem to be just to teach writing, reading, math calculation and selective science concepts. At the end of the day if students did poorly in these subjects, teachers are seen as failing to teach well. No wonder they complain about time and resources being taken away from 'non-essential' subjects like physical education, art, drama and music.
As a parent, I believe in providing a holistic education to my children. I realized that I will have to put in time and effort to do that for my children. Allah SWT willing I will implement fun and educational activities for DD1 as she grows. I want her to learn to sew, cook, farm and participate in community service. Then when DD2 is older, she will also be learning these important life skills too.
Life is too short to spend all of our time to achieve perfect scores on standardized tests. I want my children to achieve high marks on being self-sufficient and be of service to people in need.
Labels: teaching
posted by Jiru at
4:30 AM
