"Children have real understanding only of that which they invent
themselves, and each time that we try to teach them something too
quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves."
('The Century’s Greatest Minds,' Time, 1999)
These are some quotes about children that I feel can be related to how important a child's development is. The quotes also give a look into how children learn for example, modeling.
Considering a commitment
to viewing young children holistically (i.e., a commitment to "the
whole child"), what, if anything, do you believe should be measured or
assessed? Explain your reasoning.
When it comes to viewing a child holistically I do believe that are some things that should be assessed. I say this because you can not always learn everything about a child just by simply observing for example, if the child had a disability that is not visual you would not know that unless someone told you, or the parent has said something about it to you and given you a note from the doctors office. Like I stated before I only believe that some things should be assessed or measured. I feel that today a lot of the assessments being done are not really assessing what the child knows, especially with standardized test. Most of Standardized test id just trying to see how much information the child could remember from class. In my opinion, they should not be used to determine if a child passes or fails because not every person is a great test taker. The child could have passed their classwork all year long, but get to the test and fail because they are just not good test takers. If we are going to asses children and use test, I think that they should be used to show how much a child has improved over time, weather it is development or to see how well they are retaining the information that is being taught to them. I believe that a child's health should be assessed when it comes to health. I say this because there has been some research done that shows that children perform better in school when they are physically and emotionally healthy(ASCD, 2012). I also believe that we should asses aspects of a child's development and learning so that we are able to make appropriate learning experiences that will best benefit the child so that we can help them and support them as they grow and develop. References
ASCD. (2012). Making the case for association for supervision and curriculum development www.ascd.org educating the whole child . Retrieved from http://www.wholechildeducation.org/assets/content/mx-resources/WholeChild-MakingTheCase.pdf
School Age Assessments In The UK (United Kingdom)
In the UK there school systems operate on a basic curriculum called the ‘national curriculum’, religious education and sex education. The curriculum composed of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so that children can learn the same things." It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject." Other schools (academic and private) " don’t have to follow the national curriculum(GOV.UK, 2013). Academies must teach a
broad and balanced curriculum including English, maths and science. They
must also teach religious education." The curriculum is organized into blocks of years called "Key Stages(BBC, 2013)." At the end of each stage the child's teachers will assess their performance to measure their performance. Here is an Example Chart of the levels:
Levels 1-3 in Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2, ages 4-7)
Most pupils are at Level 2 by the end of Key Stage 1
Levels 2-5 in Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6, ages 7-11)
Most pupils are at Level 4 by the end of Key Stage 2
Levels 3-7 in Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9, ages 11-14)
Most pupils are at Level 5/6 by the end of Key Stage 3
(BBC, 2013)
During Key stage 1 the child will take test and complete assignments over different subjects. The subjects are reading, writing, speaking and listening, math and science. The teacher will then use the work of the child ( spoken work and homework also) to determine what level they are at in each subject. During Key Stage 2, the child will take test on the subjects of English reading, English Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling and Math and mental arithmetic. If a child happens to display higher achievement the head teacher may have have them to take an additional test to determine their true level(GOV.UK, 2013). At the end of this level the teacher will give a report on the child's progress in Science, Math and English. In Key Level 3 the child will be assessed on all the subject areas(GOV.UK, 2013). Finally on Key Level 4 is when the child works towards national qualifications called GCSEs. This focuses on English, Math, Science, information and communication technology (ICT) and physical education citizenship(GOV.UK, 2013). The teachers will assess the students work to predict how well they might do in GCSE
exams(GOV.UK, 2013). In The final part of Key Stage 4 is their
actual GCSE results, published after they finish Year 11(BBC, 2013).
References
BBC. (2013). Your child's progress and formal assessments. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/how_is_my_child_doing/
GOV.UK. Education and Learning, School life. (2013). The national curriculum. Retrieved from Crown Copyright website: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/key-stage-1-2
Other Thoughts about Assessments
This is a video of a professor sharing his personal experiences with standardized test. He also provides examples of why these type of test may not be the best method to use in schools.
Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) French philosopher and poet. 
