As much as it pains me to support the test-crazy system, I know it is part of your life. Here's a link that you may already know about but just in case you don't...
Thursday, April 21, 2011
K-3 Diagnostic Test Support
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I agree that administering assessments is a part of the current educational trend, even in kindergarten. We do administer the KRAL (Kindergarten Readiness Assessment) in the fall for incoming kindergarten students, and it does provide us with helpful information about each student's academic ability and skill level in letter ID and handwriting skills, number recognition, shapes, patterns, and basic literacy levels. We also administer the Stanford Achievement Test (yes, even in kindergarten!), which we try to keep as low-stress as possible, with frequent breaks, snacks, and more active engaging afternoons on test days. We also do evaluate formative and summative assessments, to guide our teaching and provide support for students who are struggling. But to have to assess for numerical data using primarily paper-pencil tests on a very frequent basis seems a little premature for such young students. So, I have some mixed feelings about assessments at the kindergarten level.
ReplyDeleteI posted a comment twice yesterday and neither appear to have stuck so I shall try one for Easter!
ReplyDeleteI fall very much into the catagory of 'testing is okay' at any age. It's not about the test it's about the way tests are handled. Using the National Curriculum for England and Wales for years we started SATs testing at 6 years old. They actually loved it and I was able to see, on a level playing field, how strong (or not) my children were in each sector of the curriculum.
Additionally, I was able to make careful observations about where my teaching was not as effective as it should be and adjust accordingly, because I had those results and could plot trends.
I think testing is what it says it is...testing and am a little tired of teachers blaming 'teaching to the test' for poor outcomes.
I have probably just made myself very unpopular...but actually it is something I feel really strongly about. I shall certainly make my K teacher aware of this site.
I agree that this site is very useful. We all know that assessing students is an important part of teaching and learning. I think the mini assessments are nice tools that could be used for monitoring student progress towards meeting the standards. The result could help inform instruction throughout the school year. I also liked that this site included mini lessons to help support teachers create activities that could teach the standards to all levels of students. The lessons are designed to target specific skills for different levels.
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