Assessments and Testing

Assessments are important because they help teachers in planning instruction, setting goals, and communicating with parents and families their child’s developmental and academic growth. With the data from these assessments teacher, parents, families, and specialist can work together to provide the best support possible for the child.

I feel that assessment should be continuous with young children as they are growing and changing rapidly. I use assessments to determine what skills children have or what level they are at which can help to determine if children are meeting developmental milestones or if they may need to have intervention services and used to modify teaching strategies that will meet the needs of the individual child. Initially using assessment can give me information about the child’s learning style, temperament, and interests.

Because I teach young children ages 4-5 I think that informal assessment strategies are the most successful as they are the most authentic you can see that the concepts and skills are being practiced, used, or and mastered (Weissman & Hendricks, 2014). Skills can also be measured using formal assessments but I don’t feel they are as developmentally appropriate for young children.

Assessments must be culturally and linguistically fair for all children so I use a variety of assessment strategies and tools (Wortham & Hardin, 2016). Checklists are pretty important because I feel that they enable you to gather information about many children in a short amount of time. They can be created for a variety of skills. Rubrics or rating scales to look at social behaviors because you can look at whether a skill is used always, often, rarely, or never. I like using anecdotal notes to get information on the developing skills and interests of children. Portfolios are also a nice way to assess growth and development over time. Pictures, videos, and drawings also help me capture children’s abilities and skills. Technology is really making an impact on the way we can assess children, so I also use computer programs. Computer programs adjust and adapt to skill levels and can monitor and report on skill levels and progress quickly.

For older school-age children I think there are many formative strategies that can be incorporated along with formal assessment. Assessments such as open-ended question allowing children to use higher-order of thinking to express their knowledge of concepts, hand or body signals allow teachers to make quick assessments on children’s understanding of materials and concepts, peer-assessments allows children to assess each other’s work and give feedback, and interviews or discussion assessments can give teachers a greater idea of a student’s understanding of content. Journals are also great because they allow children to reflect on their learning experiences in drawing or writing. They are a source of evidence of student’s learning and understanding of instructional context, and provide the teacher with valuable information on the student’s learning.

Finland's Educational System

I researched several countries assessment procedures and found that Finland uses standardized testing sparing and it has one of the best educational systems in the world versus the heavy use of these test in the United States. Finland's education system does not asses with standardized testing to student learning in basic education. Instead of the exam, Finland’s aim is to encourage student development in humanity and ethically acceptable participation in the community, and to provide them with the requisite information and skills in life. Teachers are provided instructions for general assessments and to evaluate the students’ progress themselves (Tung, 2012), allowing more time for experimentation and play. The Finnish program also allows students to develop self-assessment skills and create their own benchmarks on performance.

Finland does use an annual test to assess the outcomes of classroom instruction in either mathematics or the native language, and literature. They may also test on additional subjects such as art and multiculturalism depending on the school's program. Although the annual assessment test may sound like a standard test however there is a significant difference. The tests are sample-based and not comprehensive. The test scores are not used to evaluate the student but the school, reducing the stress on the student; finally, the score of a school is not related to a national rating scheme or tied to funding. They are presented to school administrators for review and improvement.

However, Finland does utilize a standardized testing system for their upper secondary students. The Matriculation Examination is a national exam usually conducted at the conclusion of upper secondary school in Finland. Its aim is to decide if students have assimilated the information and skills needed by the upper secondary school curriculum, and if they have achieved an appropriate degree of maturity in accordance with the general upper secondary education objectives. The exam is currently undergoing a digitization process. The first digital exam was performed in the autumn of 2016, and is expected to become completely interactive by spring 2019.

The examination is completed towards the completion of their general upper secondary education which consists of four tests. Students in upper secondary school are administered the exam in the spring and fall. Students must take a language test in the mother tongue. They then choose for their next three tests from the following subjects: mathematics, a foreign language, second national language, and a field in general study, such as humanities or technology (Dickinson, 2019). Student completing their upper secondary coursework and passing the Matriculation Examination receive a certificate that entitles them to continue their studies at a university or other institutions of higher education.

References

Dickinson, K. (2019, February 15). Standardized test: Finland’s education system vs. the U.S. Retrieved from https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/standardized-testing

Tung, S. (2012, January 20). How the Finnish school system outshine the U.S. education. Retrieved from https://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/january/finnish-schools-reform-012012.html

Weissman, P. & Hendrick, J. (2014). The whole child: Developmental education for the early years. Boston, MA: Pearson

Wortham, S. & Hardin, B. (2016). Assessments in early childhood education. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson