Why Assessment is Important?
"Intelligence is an ability to learn and understand various aspects of life traditionally focused on reading and math, and more recently on the arts, movement, and social interactions”( Berger, 2018). "Assessment of children should always be from a holistic viewpoint. Research has shown that human development is dynamic and multidisciplinary" (Berger, 2018). Early childhood education is a process that directly and affects multidirectional the intelligence of the child, and it is necessary to pay particular attention to this period. The preschool period is essential in terms of determining the intelligence of children and shedding light on our guidance in line with their talents and interests. “Two leading researchers (Robert Sternberg and Howard Gardner) are among those who believe that humans have multiple intelligences, not just one” ( Berger, 2018). “Gardner originally described seven intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic (movement), interpersonal (social understanding), and intrapersonal (self-understanding), each associated with a particular brain region (Gardner, 1983). He subsequently added an eighth (naturalistic: understanding nature, as in biology, zoology, or farming) and a ninth (spiritual/existential: thinking about life and death)” (Gardner, 1999, 2006; Gardner & Moran, 2006).Assessments should be applied in two situations; one is poor performance, and the other is superior performance. Assessments to be implemented depending on a poor performance, which is a child’s academic performance-related skills such as inadequate reading, writing, numeracy skills, and slowness in learning speed. Reasons such as an inability to adapt to social environments, weak self-care skills. Persistent shortcomings in their academic performance-related skills, such as slowness in learning speed. Assessments to be implemented depending on superior performance are the following conditions that strong sense of curiosity and memory, high learning speed, reasoning skills, rich vocabulary, conceptual knowledge, language skills, and, of course, a vast world of imagination. In both cases, it is essential to plan the next step of the child.
"We know that school learning depends on family, school, and culture, as well as the mind of the child” (Berger, 2018). As can be seen from here, children’s intelligence performance levels cannot be measured from a single area. The measurement results obtained from the evaluations made to the children who are continually developing in the education system are not permanent, and the numerical intelligence values obtained from the tests can change if there is no severe physiological defect affecting the child’s learning processes.
(I quoted as a paragraph from Demircan and Olga's article about assessment in the Turkish education system.)
Assessment in Turkish Ministry of National Education – Early Childhood Education Curriculum
"Assessment in the system of Turkish Ministry of National Education (MONE) Curriculum is divided in three basic headings; assessment of child, assessment of program and self assessment of teacher. According to teacher handbook of MONE curriculum in an early childhood setting, a child is to be known by a teacher very well. For this reason, the teacher is to know the developmental characteristics of each child in reference to concrete tools. Teachers can use observational forms, anecdotal records, developmental checklists, standardized tests, portfolios and developmental reports. In the booklet of MONE curriculum, an example of each tool is provided for teachers. In the MONE curriculum, assessment of a program is done through analyzing the objectives and goals of activities done in the classroom. Teachers are advised to plan the objectives and goals of their activities by considering each child’s reflections to activity. Teachers can also asses yearly or monthly program by using their own reflective viewpoint. Moreover, they are also advised to assess their own effectiveness by considering both child’s and program evaluation results in the MONE curriculum. Indeed, by analyzing development of their students and the effectiveness of their program, teachers assess their own progress in an informal way" (Demircan, Olgan, 2011).
Berger, K. S. (2018). The developing person through childhood. (8th edition). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Gardner, Howard & Moran, Seana. (2006). The science of multiple intelligences theory: A response to Lynn Waterhouse. Educational Psychologist, 41(4), 227–232. doi: 10.1207/s15326985ep4104_2
Demircan, H. D. & Olgan, R. (July 2011). Assessment ın early chıldhood educatıon: Commonly used currıculum models and Turkısh currıculum. The Online Journal Of New Horizons In Education. Volume 1, Issue 3. tojned.net/journals/tojned/articles/v01i03/v01i03-03.pdf
Thanks for all the helpful information, I enjoyed your response. Assessments should be applied in two situations; one is poor performance, and the other is superior performance. Assessments to be implemented depending on a poor performance, which is a child’s academic performance-related skills such as inadequate reading, writing, numeracy skills, and slowness in learning speed. Reasons su
ReplyDeleteI truly appreciate you providing insight on the MONE curriculum. I enjoyed learning about how teachers receive the opportunity to be reflective and have a huge impact on the evaluation of the curriculum for their students. I believe receiving the opportunity to continuously evaluate a curriculum with consideration of the students will have a huge impact on the future of education. Children develop their self-concept during middle childhood, basing it on a more realistic assessment of their competence than they had in earlier years (Berger, 2018).
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Berger, K. S. (2018). The developing person through childhood. (8th edition). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Behice,
ReplyDeleteI truly appreciate you sharing information about the MONE curriculum. I believe the evaluation process for the curriculum is effective because it provides educators with the opportunity to use a variety of methods in order to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the curriculum. There are many situations where educators are required to use a curriculum which may be too advanced for the children in their classrooms and the children often have difficulty with passing the assessments. In this case, some educators may begin to teach for the purpose of assessment instead of mastery of the material. I believe educators who have the experience of using a curriculum will have valuable input.
J. Frink
Your post about assessments was great. I agree with the information you shared. Poor performance would be a great indicator that an assessment is needed. This can start the educator with an early process to determine the best route for the child when it comes to education.
ReplyDelete-Dorothy Avant