When I Think of Child Development.....

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
- Frederick Douglass

When does the building start? Where does the building start? Who does the building start with? How much does it cost to build?  When I read this quote, I was taken to the memory of my dear uncle.  My grandparents did the best they could with their youngest child but it wasn’t good enough.  Uncle Allen was the youngest of 10 children. He was spoiled by each of his sibling and parents –eventually, he was cultivated into a young tyrant.  In middle childhood, he did what he wanted when he wanted to. (He didn’t live by any of the values shared by his siblings.)   By this time, he had become a juvenile delinquent and a menace to society.  So when and where didn’t the building start? Unfortunately, Uncle Allen never had a chance a youngster.  I’d like to evaluate his beginning.  As a Kindergartener, he was at the top of his class.  Our fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Allen once told me that I should have been as smart as my uncle.  I assume he was at the top of his class then.  By the time he was in 5^th grade, he started to skip school.  He was given too many chances by the hometown judge and spent only one month in the detention center.  By 6^th grade, he avoided school altogether, ran away and became a drug addict.  Uncle Allen was not built correctly.  Why do I say this? He learned from a youth to take what you want and it is alright.  He was given his hearts desires without one requirement, he didn’t have to work for anything.  He didn’t so much as take out the garbage or clean the bath tub after he finished using it. All meals were served on the table and his dirty dishes were left for someone else to remove.  Who did the building? No one instilled a work ethic in him. The cost of the building was time.  No one cared enough to give him time.  Consequently, he was incarcerated most of his adult life and died with a drug needle in his arm.  I am grieved that he was built wrong and was never able to be repaired.  To all my classmates, as early childhood interventionists let’s make knowledge and the thirst thereof the core of our professional goal.  For we have the power to change a life and touch hearts by what we impart to our students today. 

Testing for Intelligence?

Assessment or not?

Wechsler Intelligence Tests is administered by school psychologist when given permission for  children to be “tested” for special services in our school district.  The test is administered as part of a battery of intellectual, academic, behavioral, and social-emotional measures and  can be useful in differential diagnosis (e.g., mild mental retardation versus low average functioning) and in understanding a child's academic weaknesses (e.g., a problem in reading comprehension may be, in part, the result of low verbal reasoning skills).

The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children is a flexible and unique measure of cognitive ability.  It determines insights into how a child receives and processes information.  These are two tests given to only those children who may have special needs in our school district.  It is not used for any other students in our district.  So, why is it so important if all students are not given these tests?

http://www.kids-iq-tests.com/Kaufman-Assessment-Battery-Children-2.html  

Does it really matter if a child is formally assessed? I think assessment should be used for  check points.  In my state, we have a statewide assessment called the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (L.E.A.P.) which is only given in the public school.  It is used as a measure in  4^th and 8^th grade students’ basic skills and knowledge in English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science.   Also, this test is used to determine promotion .  If  the student passes certain parts of the test, they will be promoted along with passing class room grades.  On the other hand, if a student does not achieve a passing score on the L.E.A.P. and passes their coursework, the child will not be promoted to the next grade.  Concurrently, if the student does not pass either the L.E.A.P. and the coursework,  the student will remain in the present grade level.  Finally, if the students go  to summer school and pass certain parts of the test, they can be promoted if their coursework is passing.  One would not imagine the amount of stress put on the kids.  I teach in public school,  the children hear L.E.A.P., L.E.A.P., L.EA.P. all year long.   By the time the testing time arrives in March and April, the students are all leaped out.  Do we need to put that much pressure on teachers and students? I don’t think so.  Why can’t we use the results of the test to restructure or reteach the curriculum?  To top this off, the  governor of the state of  Louisiana would like to use the test to determine teacher pay and promotion.  This is not considering the school in which the students come  from poor homes that do not stress academics.  Those students enter school not even knowing the legal name.  If you ask them their name, they say “Pookie.” Has anyone ever considered that these kids come to school at a disadvantage and have to be taught basics  pre-kindergarten skills in Kindergarten and 1^st grades? How do we expect them to be on the same level as advantaged students?  I am not in favor of assessment for promotional purposes.   This doesn’t make sense to me.  Assessment or not, what is it proving? I don’t really think we need to access younger children but we do need to have some kind of standardized test scores to use as a reference point for gauging our student’s learning.

 http://www.doe.state.la.us/topics/leap.html

During my research, I read that  the Arabs use the  TIMMS scores to provide a valuable tool to reform educational reform. And that’s what testing should do, assist in reforming where the curriculum is in need of modification. The TIMMS for April 2007, concluded that there should be a shift from rote memorization to  a greater emphasis on critical thinking which is in line with international trends in math and science.  This  results in this report should lead to educational reform in teaching methodologies.   What do you think about this for our state? Should Louisiana use one test to determine if our children should be promoted or retained?

http://www.undp-jordan.org/index.php?page_type=news&press_id=316&cat=News&page_id=0