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Lately, there has been much discussion on the topic of testing 3 & 4 year
olds to determine what they have learned in their preschool programs.
The testing that is being implemented in many early learning programs,
tests the preschooler's ability to recognize letters and numbers,
and in some cases, determine if a child is able to add and subtract.
While letter and number recognition is important
(possibly at a kindergarten or first grade level),
it is not the most important aspect of a preschoolers development.
These standardize testing instruments in no way test a child's
gross motor development (large muscle), fine motor development
(working the fingers and grasping materials), social development
(which is crucial to form in the early years), language development
or even cognitive developement (how a child thinks of things in a logical manner).
Standardize test are in no way able to reflect the areas in which a child
is making meaningful differences in the achievement of development levels.
For instance, a standardize test will never be able to show a teacher
that if she has a 42-month-old who is beginning to pump their legs on a swing,
developmentally that he or she is making significant strides in their
gross motor development, well above their chronological age.
On the flip side, if the teacher has a 48-month-old and he or she is unable
to talk in short sentences, a teacher will not know that developmentally they are
a little slow in their speech development and that the teacher needs to address the issue.
Using an Evaluation Tool
If you truly what to "test" your children, use an evaluation tool, rather than using
the standardize test. Evaluation tools looks at the child's "whole" development,
rather than isolated areas.
Most evaluation tools use day to day activities to test the child's ability,
rather than introducing a new skill, right before you implement the testing procedure.
After administering an evaluation tool the teacher is given guidelines of areas
to continue to work on to assist the child to meet their development potential.
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