Blog Assignment Week 6: Testing for Intelligence?

Every child is different. Children have different learning needs, learning abilities, and learning styles.  

This week I was reminded of a quote that I have seen many times: "We give standardized tests, but kids do not have standardized minds." Because children are different and their brains function in different ways,  we should not give every child the same test. 

I think that when assessing children, an assessment that would be beneficial is a skills based or performance assessment. With this type of assessment, children can do more hands on activities rather than just a paper/pencil assessment. This would give students the opportunity to be more creative and show what they know in different ways, especially those students who get test anxiety.  

In Finland, students are not given any standardized tests. There is an assessment that is optional, called the National Matriculation Exam, which is voluntary for students at the end of upper-secondary school. Finland has one of the best developed education systems in the world, and they do no standardized testing. Students in Finland are graded on an individualized basis because they have different needs and learning styles. Maybe we need to be more like Finland in testing and grading. 

A concern that I have with testing is that it may not be a clear picture of the student. There are many factors that can impact test performance such as anxiety, home, friends, school, understanding, and learning styles. That is why I always say that a child is much more than a test score.