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Monday, September 8, 2008
Should kindergartners be assessed more?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As kindergarten kids playfully sort through the letters and numbers at work stations, a teacher is watching with a clip board in hand.
She jots down notes, asks questions, assesses their progress on a checklist. Can they recognize the letters and the sounds they make? Are any letters upside down? Do the children socialize and share?
The examinations can be repeated numerous times each day or week in today’s Georgia kindergarten classrooms under a new state program that gives kindergarten teachers the flexibility to continuously assess students. The data collected on each kid is fed into a computer that can spit out progress reports on how close a child is to meeting the Georgia Performance Standards for students.
The initiative, called GKIDS (Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills) replaces the traditional test used three times a year by Georgia kindergarten teachers to rate students. The upgrade means more frequent assessments and academic rigor for five-and-six-year-olds in kindergarten, a place where nap time has been eliminated and free play is fleeting.
State officials say the year-long evaluations should provide a more accurate picture of what a kindergartner knows because they are done over time. Some teachers have already begun the impromptu assessments which can be performed in the areas of English/language arts, mathematics, approaches to learning, personal and social development, social studies, science and motor skills.
Do you think teachers should be assessing kindergartners more frequently to see what they are learning at school? Should kindergartners have more play time instead to get used to the idea sitting in a classroom all day?
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