I just started my second year at a new school. The school I am at now is a Reggio Emilia inspired school. I quickly learned that the mention of the word assessment was like the Black Plague. I remember our first staff meeting and I asked what assessment tool they used and the tone of the room changed immediately. As I start my second year, I can honestly say that I haven't really missed using the assessments. My focus has solely been on the children. We are able to have more experiences and I am able to sit back and observe. Reggio schools spend a lot of time focused on documentation and so I take a lot of pictures. When I go back through these pictures, I see things that I did not see when I was sitting right in front of them. I have also learned trough these pictures that I am still able to assess the children in my classroom. I am glad that i have my background with an assessment tool, but I am enjoying this new process a lot more.
Education in Japan
My best friend recently moved back to the U.S. after teaching english in Japan for 2 years. I asked her if she used an assessment tool with her children. "When assessing my adult students it was on a one on basis. I would sit down with the student and their Japanese teacher and we would go over their strengths and weaknesses in regards to learning English. For my young students I was able to talk with them 2-3 times a week about their progress. I had formal meetings with their parents every 3 months with Japanese translator so that we could communicate openly about how their child was doing" Those were the words of my friend Shana-Gay Jones.
After my conversation with her I was interested in the traditional schools in Japan.
The National School Curriculum
The elementary school curriculum covers Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, music, arts and handicrafts, homemaking and physical education. At this stage, much time and emphasis is given to music, fine arts and physical education.
The middle curriculum includes Japanese, mathematics, social studies, science, English, music, art, physical education, field trips, clubs and homeroom time. Students now receive instruction from specialist subject teachers. The pace is quick and instruction is text-book bound because teachers have to cover a lot of ground in preparation for high-school entrance examinations.
High schools adopt highly divergent high school curricula, the content may contain general or highly specialized subjects depending on the different types of high schools.
Elite academic high schools collect the creme de la creme of the student population and send the majority of its graduates to top national universities.
Non-elite academic high schools ostensibly prepare students for less prestigious universities or junior colleges, but in reality send a large number of their students to private specialist schools (senshuugakko), which teach subjects such as book-keeping, languages and computer programming. These schools constitute mainstream high schooling.
Vocational High Schools that offer courses in commerce, technical subjects, agriculture, homescience, nursing and fishery. Approximately 60% of their graduates enter full-time employment.
Correspondence High Schools offers a flexible form of schooling for 1.6% of high school students usually those who missed out on high schooling for various reasons.
Evening High School which used to offer classes to poor but ambitious students who worked while trying to remedy their educational deficiencies. But in recent times, such schools tend to be attended by little-motivated members of the lowest two percentiles in terms of academic achievement.
"The teaching culture in Japan differs greatly from that of schools in the west. Teachers are particularly concerned about developing the holistic child and regard it as their task to focus on matters such as personal hygiene, nutrition, sleep that are not ordinarily thought of as part of the teacher's duties in the west"(www.education-in-japan.info/sub1.html).
Keli,
ReplyDeleteThis was a very informative blog post and I learned a lot while reading your post. I feel that the words assessments and testing have been beaten in the ground to the point where they are sometimes a waste of time. I feel that the standardized tests that are given in public school throughout the United States really cannot tell that actual ability of a child. They have to realize that there are times when children don't perform well due to other social and emotional factors. It may not mean that they don't know the information but were just having a bad day. Therefore, I feel that if we are going to test the child and assess their ability we have to focus on the whole which in which they has to be more than one form of assessment. I did my focus for the blog assignment on Africa and was shocked to find that they also use standardized tests.
Keli,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good post because you were able to compare three schools and how they view assessments. I believe observations is the best assessment tool because you can assess students in their natural environment. I spoke with a friend that is teaching at an early childhood school and they are testing children at two years of age which is really too early and not developmentally appropriate. She also commented that she was upset with a mother of a three year old because her daughter didn't know her colors. I told her that she (the teacher) was there to teach not to attack parents for what their toddler didn't know. I think that there is too much pressure on testing and not on children being free to learn through experiences.
Assessment has become an over abused tool in the results driven era of education that we are currently in here in the U.S. We eventually had the guts to part ways with the workshop model of education and i hope the same happens with the corporate model.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of photo documentation as a form of assessment. I have never heard of it before and am curious as to how it works. There are so many ways of assessing children out there that are hidden due to the dependency on standardized tests.
I agree, taking pictures is another way to asses students. I plan to take more pictures this school term.
ReplyDeleteKeli,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your insightful posts this term and I wish you well in your future educational pursuits. We have grown as a family of professionals listening and sharing our personal stories while building on our Early Childhood Education knowledge.
Keli,
ReplyDeleteThank for the time you put into every post. Offering use very informative, up to date information on early childhood. I enjoyed reading your post week after week and I'm looking forward to reading more. Thanks so much.