TESTING

Testing in school means different things to different people.  Most teachers will tell you that some type of testing is necessary to determine where the child is and in what direction the teacher needs to go with this child. The big question is what type of testing should be used? The No Child Left Behind Act has brought testing into a different light.  Should all testing be written tests? Should verbal testing be allowed?  One must look at the child as a whole to completely test the child. One child might score really low on a written math exam but given manipulatives, the same child might prove that he/she really understands the “concept” that is being tested. If all children do not learn the same way then why are we testing them all in the same way? Another child might not have the language capacity to tell you the answer to the questions but that same child might be able to draw a picture and prove that he/she really does understand the concept.  What about the students that freezes on test?  Is anyone really taking these things into consideration when testing? Are the allowances only being made for special education students?  Does a child that learns in a different way only going to have his/her needs met if that child enters special education? To me, this is not just a “test” or “not test” issue.  Our country tends to swing from one extreme to the other on several issues.  I decided to research testing in Kazakhstan. Well, it is different that’s for sure! In Kazakhstan, it seems to be an issue of “you get what you pay for” in education. The general schools do not have standardized testing. However, they do have more formal schools (more like our private schools) that do test and are very competitive with our American standards. These schools make sure that the National Standards are met. They hire teachers from all over the world to teach at theses schools. One of the biggest is in Almaty.  Kazakhstan has also started sending their college students to other countries to study. The government pays for everything for these students. In return the student must come back to Kazakhstan and work for at least five years.  The students must have an average of 4.5 on a 5 point scale to qualify for this opportunity.  So where does testing begin in Kazakhstan? Basically it begins at the college level. If the parents have a strong desire to have their child attend college, the parents begin pushing all they can into the child at very early ages. This is a very poor country that is trying to rise above. They see the advantage of educating their students in our American colleges. The People’s Republic of Kazakhstan wants these students to bring the knowledge of our country back to them.  They are trying to take the best of all countries to improve their country. Who knows, in a few years they may start testing their students at an earlier age too!