I remember watching an episode of
the television show “Good Times” and the family’s youngest son Michael received
a low score on an aptitude test. Surprised that their son who always got good
grades failed the test, Michael parents went to the school to find out why
their son got a low score. To make a long story short the test given was
created by those who were well fortunate and probably more educated. Therefore,
the cultural differences made a difference to the children who took the test
because they came from a lower social class, lower income homes, and had fewer
opportunities. The test was unrealistic to children who grew up in different
environment where they may not have had the same culture, customs, educational
opportunities etc. The test was a generalized test based on middle and upper
class America. How can a child pass a test of that caliber if they are
experiencing different things in their natural environment? For example,
children who attend school in middle class areas may have more access to books.
On the other hand, children in poor communities may not even have access to
books in their class rooms. I mentioned this to say that in assessing children
the child as a “whole” should be looked at. In the real world academic
achievement does not assess children as a whole; character, morals, custom, and
cultural differences, all play a role in how children learn. So I do feel that
assessment test should be geared not only towards academics but social and
cognitive development as well.
Up until recently this system of
creating test not targeted towards the community the test is given in, affected
children in countries such as Jamaica. Prior to the new development of
teaching, Jamaica’s text books were primarily written by Great Britain. This
created a disparity to the children who are natives of Jamaica and their
culture and history being different from that of Great Britain. As a result,
children were tested on information that was not geared towards their own
history and culture, making it difficult for them to relate to the information
taught to them. In order for children of Jamaica to get proper education to move
forward in the world, should they be tested based on high industrialized countries
like Great Britain which is a far presentation of their environment? Many of
these children performed poorly on assessment test leading them to drop out of
school. It is my opinion that children are able to test better when they can
relate to the information given to them.
Steffanie,
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point about the cultural and societal differences that may affect the accuracy of standardized assessments. Also, I find the ways that schools reward students for good scores on assessments bias as well. For example, in Idaho each spring the big assessment that teachers prepare for each year is the ISAT test (Idaho Standardized Assessment Test). The results are given the day the students take the test. In my children's school all the children that scored advanced in three key areas were taken to the movies, which was almost the entire school, imagine being the few kids left behind. Across town students were rewarded with a free afternoon of play. This exhibits so many flaws in regards to rewards being distributed for good scores, and then the anxiety this provokes in the children.
I was able to visit Jamaica in 2006. The parts I visited were completely devestated and in poor condition. I can't imagine having to learn history based off of another country without having something proper for it to relate to. Children should learn about the environment they live in and the history. It may be the only way to turn things around for the better in the future. Thank you for sharing this hopefully some heavy reform happens soon!
ReplyDeleteI remember that episode, and as I am older and have watched several more times, I see how because of where lived and his financial class he was cheated out of his knowledge. I think the school system should continue with testing to see where a child should be placed.
ReplyDeleteWow! It is important that we think about who the test is normed for. Especially as we are serving a diverse community of families it is not fair to think that they are not as advanced because it doesn't show on our standardized testing. We have been dealing with that locally as we serve many ELL students and the items we are asking them may not translate correctly.
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