Sunday, September 14, 2014

Blog #3 Standardized Tests

In the book, Mrs. Wortham talks about some of the concerns with assessing young children.  One of them is making sure that they are assessed one on one.  This is difficult in the classroom setting if there are not enough teachers to do this.  One on one assessment is easier for the child to stay focused.  Another concern with assessing young children is their short attention span.  You have to make the assessment short, to the point, and get them out of there quickly.  Finally, the last concern would be the willingness to respond to an unknown examiner.  Sometimes, when the child is shy or not used to talking to strangers they will hesitate to answer or even communicate with someone that they do not know.

I think the most important thing to remember when choosing a standardized test is the purpose of the test.  You have to state a rationale for the test, what you hope to measure, and then what you will do with the results.  I think as long as we examine the test manual and it states the purpose of the test clearly, it will be the right assessment for the student. 


My first question I had when reading this chapter was about the intelligence test.  Do we just give this test when we think a child might have a learning disability?  Or do we administer an intelligence test to everyone? My next question was not really pertaining to the reading, it was just a question in general to the standardized testing.  I thought that students under the third grade did not take standardized testing like the MAP testing…. So, are these standardized tests different from the MAP test that they start in the third grade?  It seems like all the standardized test are designed to help students with learning disabilities, are there just regular test for students in the early grades before third grade?

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