What About Testing?

"I know some kids who ought to exercise a right not to have their intelligence tested. They run the high risk of having their minds misrepresented by a score."
Mel Levine, M.D., A Mind at a Time

Tests have been a part of school since the classroom was established. Let's face it, tests were necessary for a teacher with a large number of students to evaluate and a limited amount of time to do so. But different learning styles absorb and process information in different ways, while most tests demand that the information be presented in one particular way. If your child doesn't seem to do well on tests, it is very likely that the test is calling for information in a way that doesn't match his or her learning style. A child that processes information globally will easily grasp big-picture concepts but will have difficulty breaking down information to specific details for a short-answer test; and likewise, an analytic child will quickly identify the details, but will have difficulty "seeing" the big picture.

Think back to your days in the classroom ... what was the normal environment for tests? Everyone sitting still at their desks, nobody permitted to speak, paper and pencil at hand and a timer (or was it just a clock) ticking. Sound familiar? There was an aspect of challenge for everyone in the room ... beyond the global versus analytic issues, the kinesthetic child can't move, the auditory child can't talk, and the visual child can't use visual aids. It's a wonder that more children through the decades didn't fall through the cracks of traditional testing. Perhaps they actually did.

Do you get the impression that I'm saying testing isn't necessary? Not really. Just don't confuse testing with accountability. A paper and pencil test isn't always the best way to evaluate your child's grasp of a subject. If you know your child's learning style, make that a primary consideration when you decide how to measure the level of your child's knowledge and grasp of the subject. Yes, they will need the discipline of being able to complete a written test, but that is not the sole means for evaluation.

We'll be talking about different alternate approaches to testing in the coming days ...