Assessment

I personal believe that administrators tend to put to much emphasis on standardized testing. Educators feel the pressure of having their students receive the desire scores on the standardized test. The pressures of these scores can create an educational atmosphere that teaches facts about the test. The pressures put on educators is creating an educational system that Vygotsky had noticed and wanted to change. Vygotsky had noticed that the educational system was becoming memorization (Stassen Berger, 2009). While standardized testing is informative, it should not be the only means of measuring students’ achievement. All aspects of school play an important role in education. Assessment should be both formal and informal. The school system should take the formal assessment of standardized testing and then combine that with the informal assessments that have been made about that child throughout the school year. Some children have test anxieties, which can cause them to have lower scores on the standardized testing. Other students may have a learning disability that may affect their test scores. So it is imperative to take the test scores as a part of the child’s learning process and not the whole. Some of the informal testing would be measuring the students’ critical thinking skills. It is also important to see how the students work with one another, their social skills. Every aspect of school should be considered when measuring the child’s development during that year.

I wanted to study China and find out why their test scores are higher then other countries. According to Mark McDonald (2012), a writer for the International Herald Tribune, testing becomes a whole community affair. Everyone in the community will go the extra mile to make sure that students are given the best testing atmosphere possible. McDonald said that the Chinese would go as far as blocking off roads that could go near a testing sight. This emphasis on standardized testing has always been a part of the Chinese culture (Mr. D’s Neighborhood, 2010). The reason for the emphasis on standardized testing is to prepare the students for the Gaokao (Huff Post, 2012). The Gaokao will determine what time of future a child in China will have (Huff Post, 2011). Most students who come from a wealthier background have a higher percentage on doing well on the Gaoko (Mr. D’s Neighborhood, 2010). The Chinese authorizes are starting to reevaluate the emphasis that has been placed on test scores (Huff Post, 2011). “When faculty of a major Chinese university asked [Professor Jonathan] Plucker to identify trends in American education, he described our focus on standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing. "After my answer was translated, they just started laughing out loud," Plucker says. "They said, 'You're racing toward our old model. But we're racing toward your model, as fast as we can.' (Huff Post, 2011)"

I found it interesting that a University professor noticed that America is turning to rote memorization due to the pressures put on standardized testing. This is the same thing that Vygotosky had noticed. We need to find a way to combine the standardized testing scores to other forms of learning. We cannot expect all children to fit the same mold. Each child is different and unique and with that uniqueness they all posses different types of knowledge. As educators we need to find what the students excel in and how to assess that knowledge. We also need to find ways to help students master the standards that have to be met by using their natural interest.

Huff Post. (2011). Education In China v. America: The Question Of Standardized Tests. Education. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/education-in-china-testing-diane-sawyer_n_785016.html

McDonald, Mark. (2012). Putting Chinese Students to the Test. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved from http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/putting-chinese-students-to-the-test/

Mr. D’s Neighborhood. (2010). How Standardized Testing Created, then Destroyed, an Empire. Retrieved from http://mrdsneighborhood.com/2010/09/13/how-standardized-testing-created-then-destroyed-an-empire/

Stassen Berger, Kathleen. (2009). The Developing Person through childhood 5^th edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishers