Should I Prepare My Child for State Standardized Testing? K to 2nd Grade

According to the Association
for Childhood 
Education
 International (ACEI), the application of standardized
 testing on young children can 
cause them 
Stress and failure to provide valuable information about their academic progress. It can also lead to earlier pre-determined labeling or tracking of children’s data. On a positive note, the application of standardized tests among younger children helps to analyze your child’s ability to learn and identifies those that require special education or earlier intervention to avoid future struggles.

The standardized tests that 2nd-grade children and below should take are the Standardized aptitude tests. These are tests that assess your child’s ability to learn and that gauge how well they are likely to improve in the future. Rather than testing your child’s knowledge of a subject taught in class, the testing method measures their skills and abilities in different fields that contribute to their school’s success. For example, teachers using standardized aptitude tests can measure your kid’s mechanical knowledge, verbal ability, critical thinking, creativity, and clerical ability.

First graders’ writing and reading skills are not well developed, and therefore they are not tested for what they know. Instead, they are tested for certain behaviors and concepts that they should know. With this knowledge, teachers modify instructions to fit the needs of each student. They also get a clear picture of every learner’s strengths and weaknesses.

Standardized tests among students act as a metric for learning. Secondly, they help to pinpoint your child’s areas of strength and where they require improvement. Third, the tests further help to detect early any form of learning disability. Finally, teachers evaluate your child’s progress and apply the proper measures to improve their learning experience with the tests.

Standardized tests can be scary among young children and can negatively affect their confidence and morale. Some of the students are overwhelmed by the instructions making it hard to express their knowledge and abilities. As a result, young learners may push back on the whole idea of test-taking. On the other hand, some teachers feel they can test their student’s learning abilities and progress without a need for standardized tests.

The results from standardized tests help teachers plan their teaching methods better and provide students with the best possible support. In addition, the test results pinpoint any learning challenges or disabilities, calling for early intervention.

They argue that the tests interrupt and interfere with their teaching and degrade their abilities to evaluate students. They are also concerned that the tests may trigger low self-esteem and poor self-confidence among low-scoring students. Some teachers argue that applying standardized tests among 2nd graders and below may destroy their creativity, lower their motivation, and cause them a lot of anxiety.

From a positive perspective, the application of standardized tests helps teachers to determine the best approach to use on a student based on their understanding, skills, and knowledge level. However, the difficulties may negatively impact children, mainly when they perform poorly. In addition, young children may feel overwhelmed, stressed and anxious while doing the tests.

Rather than measure students’ success in school, standardized tests measure the learning abilities of Kindergarten learners and identify those that may need special education services.

They should work closely with teachers by providing the required information about their children. They should also help their children relax and calm during the tests.