Assessment season

It is not only winter here in California, but it is assessment season at the local middle school. A writing exam, administered last week, is in the process of being corrected as I type. As the wife of a teacher, I see the intense pressure that is placed on the teachers to "make sure" the students pass. One of my husband's co-workers woke up her husband by talking about assessment in her sleep. For my husband, it simply results in lost sleep. These are conscientious teachers who care for the young people in their classrooms. But, can we all admit that there is a limit to what a teacher can do in forty-five or ninety minutes of daily time with a student? The teacher has no influence on the amount of sleep, the diet, the amount of exercise or the leisure activities that might help or hinder a student's success. I have no problem with the goal and expectation that students be literate, that they write coherently, that they be educated in the subjects that will make them successful adults. The current pressure does not seem to be accomplishing that goal, though.

As I pondered these things, I found these articles, (Guardian) and (London Times), on a recent education study done in England. (Thanks to friend Amanda at Wittingshire)

"After studying 25,000 children across both state and private schools, Philip Adey, a professor of education at King's College London confidently declares: 'The intelligence of 11-year-olds has fallen by three years' worth in the past two decades.'"

"In their painstaking research project Adey and his colleague, psychology professor Michael Shayer, compared the results of today's children with those of children who took exactly the same test in the mid-1990s and also 30 years ago. While most exams have changed (been made easier, if you listen to the critics) this one is the same as it was in 1976 when pupils first chewed their pencils over the problems." (London Times)

"...the question that must be answered is why children's developmental skills have fallen off so much. Shayer is reluctant to be drawn into specifics.

'We can speculate,' he says, 'but there's no hard evidence. I would suggest that the most likely reasons are the lack of experiential play in primary schools, and the growth of a video-game, TV culture. Both take away the kind of hands-on play that allows kids to experience how the world works in practice and to make informed judgments about abstract concepts.'" (Guardian)

I think it is important to remember what has been given up for the television and video game time, and not just blame the use of screen time. If you are in front of a computer or television, you are not in a tree, you are not in a sandbox, you are not taking a walk or getting dirty enough to annoy your mother if she is too tired to see how important your play is. You aren't reading, or talking, or getting a scraped knee or digging a hole. What about drawing, designing Lego creations or choreographing groups of fairies, or knights or horses? These things can all look like a waste of time to someone who is thinking about college admissions as they watch their preschooler at play. But, they are valuable in the formation of a person. It's hard to quantify the value, though. And, if the pressure to compete begins at five (or earlier), it might seem like a luxury that you can't afford.

I have a dear friend who lives in the "best" school district in California. This woman's daughter was flunking kindergarten and when I asked her how the other children were faring, she said that a majority of the children spent their afternoon hours in formal tutoring sessions to make sure they moved on to first grade. Things have changed a lot since I was taking a nap on a blue shag rug in Miss Stevenson's morning kindergarten class. I hope that one of the effects of this study is that children's play can be given the respect it deserves, and perhaps children can be left alone a bit to get dirty, race bikes, draw imaginary worlds or simply stare at the sky.

For interesting comments on this study, see these posts by the Headmistress at The Common Room:

Why Kids Can't Think and More on Why Kids Can't Think