When I Think of Child Development

Testing for Intelligence?

I feel like assessments are needed to assess how well a child is progressing.  However a lot of students don't test well so I don't think assessments should be the only tool used to measure performance. It has gotten to the point were educators have to be so focused on assessments that they are only teaching the material that they know will be on the assessment.  I was having a conversation with a teacher at my daughter's school, and she said they have to do so many assessments that it is getting to the point where there is not enough time in the day to focus on teaching.  I hate that education has gotten to this point because it's making  a lot of educators look into other fields.  I came across an article about how China is winning the school race.  This article goes in to detail about how competitive China is regarding assessments.  In Shanghai more than eighty percent of older secondary students attend after-school tutoring. They also spend another three to four hours each day on homework.  They are under close supervision by their parents while doing homework.  The parents are devoted to their children's education.  I think that's the major problem we are facing here in the US. Parents have gotten so busy that they don't have time to sit down with their children to do homework.  The responsibility is being pushed back on the educators, but they can only do so much.  It goes back to parents needing to review homework, and asking questions to reinforce what the teacher is teaching.  Schools should feel like a fun place where children want to learn. It shouldn't be an environment where the kids are so stressed out about passing assessments that they can't even focus on learning the material to retain for years to come.

Reference

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-14812822