Assessments of school aged children in Australia
In Australia there is an early years assessment test that is used for the primary schools. The assessment was developed by the University of Western Australia and is used in the Australian school systems. The assessment is called Performance Indicators in Primary Schools, also know as PIPS. PIPS assesses early reading, phonics, and numeracy skills of the students in their first year of school. The purpose of this assessment is to identify as early as possible, students who may need extra support or enrichment. PIPS assessment testing is stated to be different, by the Australian Capital Territory Education and Training Website (2012), from other assessments in that its focus is not solely on what the student knows and can answer correctly, but on how the student goes about determining the answer. The assessments are done on a one to one basis with the teacher twice a year; the first one is administered within the first two weeks of school and the last one occurs during the first two weeks of the fourth term of school.
References
www.det.act.gov.au/teaching_and_learning
www.education.uwa.edu.au/pips
The Whole Child
In focusing on the whole child it is helpful to have a measurment that is based on the individual child in place. A measurement tool that is not geared towards teaching them standardized outcomes but one that is specific to the child's individual development. My reasoning behind having a measurement for the whole child stems from my understanding of Lev Vygotsky work on the zone of proximal development, which indicates that through the zone of proximal development teachers can take a child from what they are close to learning, to finally accomplishing that which they were close to learning; this is not accomplished through standardized test that want children to all learn the same thing at the same time, yet a measurement that is specific to the individual child's development will allow the teacher to assist in determining what the child is in the process of developing and then help to scaffold that child. In considering what to include in this individual measurement two helpful measurements to include could be: how the child learns in terms of their creativeness, persistence or curiosity, and how the child is developing emotionally in terms of their development of confidence in themselves and their sense of identity.
Hi Tiffany, Technology makes me laugh every day.I have been looking where to post my comments,then I clicked some where and I guess it took me to to your email.I clicked below this article and this box opened up. Anyway,I just read your blog and loved the information about the testing in Australia.The early intervention process is almost similar to the Respond to intervention (RTI) here.The one-one method would definitely relax a child and make the child calm to answer questions.
ReplyDeleteVert interesting information. However, it is very interesting to read information about other cultures in how certain assessments are done. I also feel that one on one is great with a child especially if they aren't mastering certain skills. Most of the time students feel more comfortable when they are working one on one with a teacher, it makes them open up more. When they are in front of their peers they have the tendency to freeze up.
ReplyDeleteTiffany,
ReplyDeleteI also pick Australia. I learned that there is a forum where members of the community can comments and have a say in what is being assessed and taught there. The thought of individually assessing children would be great, however since the schools are out of money, I don't ever see the U.S. being able to supply enough substitutes for that to occur.