THE AGE Newspaper Article of Monday August 29th 2005

Question:

What do I need to do to help prepare my child to start school next year? I am receiving confused messages about having them already reading or writing their name.

Answer:

The issue of assessment is an important one. Parents often ask, "Where is my child in relation to the rest of the class?" and, "How do I know what standard they are at?"

Assessment conjures up images of formal testing, examinations and multiple-choice questions. It is true that some elements of testing through those means are used, although mostly in secondary and tertiary levels. Assessment of children in early childhood and primary years, however, is predominantly through a rich and broad range of strategies that teachers use throughout each year and are linked to the teacher's planning for supporting and extending children.

It is important to make a clear distinction between assessment and testing.
Meaningful assessment seeks to find out what children know, how they work through finding out, how they make sense of things, the types of strategies and the thinking and problem-solving skills they use in their learning. Meaningful assessment is much more than a score on a test sheet. For
example, while a worksheet may show a child gained eight out of 10 in spelling, it would be a limited, narrow approach to assessment if that's all we found out. It is important to also observe how a child seeks to know how to spell a word, the associations they make in order to attempt to spell it and what strategies they have to find out how to spell it.

There is now much emphasis on standardised testing, which is used mostly in relation to political and economic accountability measures by governments. It is the least meaningful and important assessment and, at best, gives a small snapshot of what a child could produce on a certain day at a certain time. At worst, it makes parents believe that a school's worth or their child's learning is based mostly around the achievement of a three-hour test once every few years.

Most schools emphasise to parents that meaningful assessment is far richer and complex than sitting one test. It includes mapping the children's learning, achievements, processes and thinking throughout a period of time.
Meaningful assessment is about following a child's individual journey of leaming. Not all children are magically ready to learn the same thing at the same time in the same way. That is why trying to rank a child's learning in relation to other children is potentially detrimental to the child and family.
Meaningful assessment is about parents asking: Where was my child at the beginning, where are they now, where are they headed and is it in a happy, productive and positive direction? Are they achieving at a steady level based on their learning and ability? Meaningful assessment sets realistic objectives for every child to progress at their own rate.
;One of the sad things that we often hear being discussed between parents with great distress in the early years is the comparison of reading levels their children have reached. This is the potential problem of having "levels" that can be compared. For one child, a particular reading level may be a significant achievement, for another, another level may be appropriate.
Individual growth and progression is one of the best means of finding out how your child is doing. Questions to ask teachers include:
 Does my child consider a range of options and demonstrate appropriate thinking skills when attempting work?
 Is my child open to trying new ways of learning and finding out?
 Does my child possess some confidence when attempting new tasks?
 Is my child encouraged to reflect upon their own learning and how they approach tasks? . Is there a range of assessment and observation strategies that are used to help track and inform teachers and parents of the child's learning?
Part of being a successful learner is to feel confident in attempting a new task, to be willing to take on board new ideas and strategies and the ability to reflect upon your own learning. Parents require assessment and reporting that demonstrates the richness of learning and the processes of learning - they cannot be adequately portrayed by simply placing a letter or mark or ranking in a report.

I encourage parents to worry less about where other children maybe in their learning and concentrate on feeling assured that their own child is being observed, assessed and catered for appropriately for their own learning styles and rates.

Copyright © Kathy Walker 2005

Kathy Walker is an education consultant specialising in early childhood and primary years and a former lecturer at RMIT University.