Testing for Intelligence

From the very beginning of life, children in the United States are assessed based on a wide range of physical and developmental milestones. As they grow and develop, more quantitative assessments, such as IQ and achievement tests, provide schools with scores and percentiles to compare children to others their age. (Powers-Levitin)

Unfortunately, these statistics are not able to tell the “whole story”. Factors such as learning challenges, language difficulties, attention, behavior, health, emotions, and many more can undermine the results of these tests. (Powers-Levitin) While it is uncommon for a child to achieve erroneously high scores on achievement tests, often (and for varying reasons) children score lower than their knowledge and skills would predict.

I believe we need to measure children’s growth and development in school, however I think our current system of standardized testing falls far short of its goals.  An assessment of the whole child would be a more complete way of measuring growth and potential and should include academics, psychosocial development, critical thinking/problem solving, biosocial, and fine and applied arts. This would give teachers and parents a more balanced picture of student achievement.

To understand how testing for intelligence is done in other parts of the world, I choose to research Canada. Education falls within provincial jurisdiction and every province and territory creates its own curriculum in Canada. Additionally, every province and territory conducts large-scale assessments throughout a child’s education. (Campbell, 2014) While there is some support for standardized testing, research suggests overwhelmingly that it does not lead to improved educational outcomes for children. (Campbell)

Arguments in favor of standardized testing in Canada include the opportunity for comparisons of educational outcomes across schools and provinces and a means to assess accountability. Standardized testing may also provide a way to evaluate curriculum and determine which schools are meeting their goals. (Campbell)

In Canada, arguments against standardized testing include the tendency to “teach to the test” and student disengagement. In addition, standardized tests may not adequately assess 21^st Century skills including creativity, problem solving, or critical thinking skills. (Campbell)

…Sound Familiar?

In conclusion, standardized testing is counterproductive because it focuses on memory and knowledge acquisition rather than on the ability to apply learning.

Teachers and students should be provided with assessment tools that identify issues and gaps for individual children, improve learning, increase the capacity to be independent learners, promote goal setting, and encourage reflection on learning. (Campbell) Assessing the whole child would take more time, but the results would be much more accurate.

References

Campbell, V. (2014) Facts on Education. What is the Value of Standardized Testing?

www.cea-ace.ca/blog/valerie-campbell/2014/02/1/facts-education-what-value-standardized-testing

Powers-Levitin, L. Presenting Whole Child Assessment (WCA): A Unique Way of

Understanding your Child, Retrieved from: http://www.leviton.org/whole-child.html