Good News Alert: Too Much Testing!
For the last decade our educational system has focused on testing, testing, and more testing. I personally believe that the most essential abilities needed for a full and rich life are not testable!
For example: motivation, persistence, creativity, athletic abilities, or musical talent cannot be identified by a test filled with bubbles and small bits of unrelated information. This over testing, and at younger and younger ages, has been of great concern to me and a growing number of others.
Perhaps we are at the tipping point. Recently, many experts, authors, and parents are saying, “Too much test taking”. Teachers are reporting that their young children are crying, spaced out, or become very upset by the demands of limited time, prolonged sitting, and trying to use old computers. They find the questions frustrating because they are totally unrelated to what young children know and understand.
So what is the good news? Educators, parents, and leaders are now questioning the amount of testing being done and the growing recognition that there is so much more to learning than what are on these standardize test!
Let’s demand that children have opportunities to learn in active and meaningful ways, not spend valuable time taking tests. Join the growing group of those concerned about the testing of young children in inappropriate ways and the use of the results as an indicator of the capabilities of these marvelous developing brains. Young children are so much more than a test score! They are creators, inventors, communicators, collaborators, and problem solvers.
Let’s work together,