When considering whether or not children should be assessed and measured, I do not beleive that every child needs to be assessed unless there is a concern with their development. This goes the same for children that we think may also be "advanced" compared to their peers. I believe that children today have such over stimulated lives that if we start picking them apart "just because" it just adds worry and hype as well as stress to their already busy lives. This particularly holds true if the child has neurotic parents.
I definately believe that we need to be able to assess children, however every child does not need to be assessed and their intelligence measured.
Developmental milestones can be different depending on the cultural background of the child. For example, activities such as preparing breakfast cereal, using a knife and fork, pedalling a tricycle and playing board games would be uncommon for children in rural Africa. A pink doll used in a ‘feeding the doll’ test can be terrifying to many children who may have never seen anything like it before. And some of the questions feature pictures – problematic when many children have never seen a book or a pictorial representation of an object before, let alone some of the more foreign objects (such as a horse or a car). The Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT), was designed to be used as an assessment tool with children in rural Africa. Unfortunately, even with the tool, there are obstacles to improving child development in low- and middle-income countries. Many are limited in the resources they have available for screening children and for helping those whose development is delayed or disrupted.
Reference:
Article, "Refining the milestones: assessing child development in Africa"; Retrieved on December 10th, 2011 from http://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/refining-the-milestones-assessing-child-development-in-africa/
About Me
- Angella Hart
- Hello! My name is Angella Hart. I have worked in field of early childhood for over 20 years now. I began my career teaching in a childcare center, I later owned and operated my own home childcare, then returned to center-based care through a Head Start program. In 2000 I left Head Start to begin working as a case manager for the State of Florida with children and their families who are at risk of abuse and neglect. In 2002 I moved to the northeast after accepting a position as Director of Early Childhood and Youth Development working with low income families of refugees and immigrants. In 2006 I had the opportunity to open a brand new Nationally Franchised childcare center closer to my home. Here I worked closely with the owners of the school and the corporate office in order to open and run a successful school. In 2010, I returned to Florida and I continued to work for the same national franchised school, under a different owner. Im am extremely happy to be back in warmer climate with my 3 sons (young men) who are all over 18.
4 comments:
Angella,
The students who do need assessed would be the students who show that they are struggling with a certain area of development. Assessing them would show, to some extent, what area it is. Assessing students helps educators teach their students because it reveals the areas needed for more improvement. However, standardized testing is quite a debatable topic in education.
Arica
Hello Angella,
You are so right! I also agree that a child does not need to be assesed if their is no concern with their development. I also agree that culture plays an important role in assessing children. The teachers, family, and community members that surround this child should be already aware of the cultural tools and language that he/her is accustomed to.
Hi Angella,
Assessment gives a complete picture of each child's progress and helps teachers plan for individualized activities for that child.
Angella,
I think that in the beginning stages this is so true. We can use developmental milestones as a guide to base our concerns. As they grow and head to school however, I think that there is a place and a time for assessment. We have to make sure that we can guide our instruction to better fit the needs of the child. I do think that we should also be mindful of how much we assess and if the information is valuable. Thanks for the post great to see all of our points of view.
Sara
Post a Comment