Assessing: Good or Bad Thing

 
The school district of Philadelphia is currently closing 64 schools. 40 percent of the children from the public schools will be attending charter schools. While some parents may think that "charter" schools are better, I feel that the parents should take a closer look. Hardy-Williams Charter School is a considered a great school. Many parents put their children on a waiting list because they feel that this school will properly prepare their child for the future. Currently, my nephew attends this school. One marking period he was on the honor roll and the second marking period we were failing. Now I'm thinking how could this be? His grades are based on class work, homework, and how high his test scores are on Benchmarks. Each marking period he goes through a week of testing. When I visited the website for the school it said "All core courses are aligned to Mastery’s interim assessments commonly referred to as Benchmarks. Teachers use the Benchmarks, scope and sequences and other course resources to plan daily lessons and units of study. All core courses are designed in accordance with State standards and back-mapped from college preparatory skills". Talking to my nephew teacher she informed that 60 percent of his grade depends on how well he does on the Benchmarks. Now my questioned is does the Benchmarks really help my nephew or does the benchmarks make the school look good. I feel that this type of structured learning is not really helping the cognitive development of the child. The teachers who are in these classrooms don't really know the curriculum they are teaching. The teachers are just following guidelines and standards that the school gave them. Also, the teachers are only teaching the material that are on these standardize Benchmarks.

When assessing children I think it is important to assess their learning abilities. All children are different and they learn differently. If the teacher is only accustom to teaching one way and a child is not adapting to that way of learning the child will get the short end of the stick. At my nephew school the teachers do not change the way they teach. When my nephew didn't do well on his second marking period the school just suggested that he attend tutoring on Tuesday or Thursday. I thought the whole purpose of assessing was to diagnose specific strengths and weaknesses in an individual's learning, and to motivate further learning. They diagnosed him but still kept in the same classroom with the same way of learning. Teachers have not creativity or opportunities to step outside the box. Children are not robots you can’t just program them and keep it moving. While assessing is necessary it should always in the interest of better the life of the child.

Japan is the country that I choose to research about how they assessed children. Japanese way of assessing is highly different then the way the U.S assesses children. Newborns to five are either placed in daycare's or center-based programs. These two facilities are not required by law to enforce curriculum such as reading or math. Each child is given the liberty to be free and have a playful environment. While Japanese culture feel it is helpful it’s actually harmful to the child. When the child is placed in kindergarten they already are behind on knowing the basics. In elementary school Japanese way of assessing is different. They challenge the minds of children in every area of their life. For example, a Japanese teacher teaches children the proper way to behave. Teachers are more concerned with, how virtually all children have the ability to learn well and to master the regular school curriculum and certain habits and characteristics, such as diligence and attention to detail, can be taught. Following the curriculum to prepare students for standardize test is the least of the Japanese teachers concern. Each grade level is categorized and provides information on how the children are assessed. In doing the research I found that the children learn accustom to their culture. For more information visit….Japanese Way of Assessing Children