Obama administration proposes testing kindergartners. Socialist mind control starts early.

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A federal grant program in the works to help states jump-start kindergarten-entry assessments is renewing debate among early-childhood educators about the benefits and pitfalls of evaluating young children.

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Assessing young children has been a long-standing area of concern for early-childhood-education advocates.

They caution that while assessments can offer valuable information on the well-being of young children in several areas of their development, such evaluations should not be used to make high-stakes decisions—among them, steering children away from kindergarten.

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"We have to take into account that there is no absolute standard for [children] to have achieved when they enter kindergarten," said Samuel J. Meisels, the president of the Chicago-based Erikson Institute.

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Entry evaluations should be used to measure the child's ability to acquire skills, not just what knowledge that child may have at the time the assessment is given, Mr. Meisels said.

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Many well-regarded readiness assessments gauge children's skills through teacher observation. Young children are still so new to the school environment that they can't be expected to understand the importance of the evaluation, and they may not have mastered a skill well enough to repeat it on demand, or for someone they don't know.

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The Education Department's proposed priorities say it wants to underwrite kindergarten-entry assessments that measure "children's learning and development across all the essential domains"—not just academic readiness but social skills, physical health, and emotional well-being.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/02/20/21kindergarten_ep.h32.html?tkn=NTVFdx8hcIr6LeOrB8fvnam%2FzjXjMBgIGQM0&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Pffft! Kindergarten is for taking naps and learning to share.

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Pffft! Kindergarten is for taking naps and learning to share.

Haha, you need to change your VJ name back to Some Old Guy!

You haven't seen the new Common Core State Standards, have you? 45 states are on board, except for Virginia, Texas and three other states to insignificant to remember (oh yeah, one of them is Alaska).

Here's their Math curriculum.

In Kindergarten, instructional time should focus on two critical areas: (1) representing and comparing whole numbers, initially with sets of objects; (2) describing shapes and space. More learning time in Kindergarten should be devoted to number than to other topics.

1. Students use numbers, including written numerals, to represent quantities and to solve quantitative problems, such as counting objects in a set; counting out a given number of objects; comparing sets or numerals; and modeling simple joining and separating situations with sets of objects, or eventually with equations such as 5 + 2 = 7 and 7 – 2 = 5. (Kindergarten students should see addition and subtraction equations, and student writing of equations in kindergarten is encouraged, but it is not required.) Students choose, combine, and apply effective strategies for answering quantitative questions, including quickly recognizing the cardinalities of small sets of objects, counting and producing sets of given sizes, counting the number of objects in combined sets, or counting the number of objects that remain in a set after some are taken away.

2. Students describe their physical world using geometric ideas (e.g., shape, orientation, spatial relations) and vocabulary. They identify, name, and describe basic two-dimensional shapes, such as squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, and hexagons, presented in a variety of ways (e.g., with different sizes and orientations), as well as three-dimensional shapes such as cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres. They use basic shapes and spatial reasoning to model objects in their environment and to construct more complex shapes.

[decocker 7,198]

my son went to 'stepping stones' before kindergarten because he was qualified to attend. qualifications included having little to no peer involvement (he was never in daycare so he was never around kids his own age) and little knowledge of letters/numbers/colors (even with instruction he didn't care about any of this). i'm not sure what good testing kindergartners would do, considering kids this young aren't separated by skill level or taught any differently unless an IEP is obtained.

anyway it was a good program for kids who need to be eased into a school setting, unfortunately virginia stopped funding the school a couple years ago. virginia probably isn't on board because they're getting ready to slash funding of head start programs - quite a few kindergartners have no where near that sort of skill level starting out..

Head Start programs brace for cuts

Pffft! Kindergarten is for taking naps and learning to share.

my son had homework in kindergarten! every night of the week except friday.

i remember being in the third grade excited because i heard a rumor that we'd get math homework every night in fourth grade..and i sucked at math.

[^_^ 5,021]

i'm not sure what good testing kindergartners would do...

According to the actual notice, "an assessment system, when well-designed and properly implemented, can inform teaching and program improvement and contribute to better outcomes for children."

Now, I have no idea what that really means.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

[quote name=' timestamp='1361386042' post='5992595]

Haha, you need to change your VJ name back to Some Old Guy!

Maybe. Kindergarten was only offered in the public schools, two sessions a day. The biggest thrill was when the teacher chose you to be the wake-up fairy.

Of course, mom stayed home all day, exercising in the morning with Jack LaLanne and the rubber stretchy thing. Afternoon meant cooking and cleaning. We kids were exiled to the outdoors, after doing any homework, weather permitting, so the house would be clean and orderly when dad came home.

[quote name=' timestamp='1361391805' post='5992791]

According to the actual notice, "an assessment system, when well-designed and properly implemented, can inform teaching and program improvement and contribute to better outcomes for children."

Now, I have no idea what that really means.

Red camp, or blue camp.

[^_^ 5,021]

Of course, mom stayed home all day, exercising in the morning with Jack LaLanne and the rubber stretchy thing. Afternoon meant cooking and cleaning. We kids were exiled to the outdoors, after doing any homework, weather permitting, so the house would be clean and orderly when dad came home.

Am I the only person who has no memory of kindergarten?

Edited February 20, 2013 by ^_^

[decocker 7,198]

[quote name=' timestamp='1361391805' post='5992791]

According to the actual notice, "an assessment system, when well-designed and properly implemented, can inform teaching and program improvement and contribute to better outcomes for children."

Now, I have no idea what that really means.

if they have subsequent programs to implement (in kindergarten/first grade) after testing, specific to the child's needs, then i can see where there would benefits to testing.

i'm not sure if anything has changed in the past five years but my son's lack of skills was attributed to behavior issues (basically just 'he's a boy being a boy, not ready for school') until i realized he couldn't read AT ALL in the second grade. then i had to get outside testing for ADD (he had to have a diagnosable issue to get 'help' - thankfully any kid can get an ADD diagnosis nowadays) and then obtain a IEP (individualized education program) to get my son the help he needed to 'catch up'. he is making progress (which is enough for me) but his teachers are very very worried about his SOL testing. i try not to be jaded but most times it feels like they are only concerned with teaching the test. kids just don't 'fail' or get 'held back' anymore..the school will just keep on pushing them through and if the parent don't intervene - it wouldn't surprise me if 20% of hs graduates in this country can't read at all.

[Teddy B 17,252]

[quote name=' timestamp='1361392878' post='5992818]

Am I the only person who has no memory of kindergarten?

I can remember kindergarten, it's the 80's that's all a blur for me.

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... it wouldn't surprise me if 20% of hs graduates in this country can't read at all.

In some inner city districts, the % is higher than 20... despite all the extra resources that get poured in to them (here in nj at least). The urban districts in this state are afloat in cash and continue to have the poorest outcomes.

They do have one problem suburban schools don't have... poor parental support.

[decocker 7,198]

[quote name=' timestamp='1361393445' post='5992835]

In some inner city districts, the % is higher than 20... despite all the extra resources that get poured in to them (here in nj at least). The urban districts in this state are afloat in cash and continue to have the poorest outcomes.

They do have one problem suburban schools don't have... poor parental support.

really sad, but not surprising.

since realizing my son was slipping through the cracks i've become as involved as possible, but behind the scenes. it isn't easy sitting alone (feels like 'me against them') in a room with a bunch of career educators, attempting to direct them on how to best instruct my kid. i can't imagine how much more difficult that would be for someone who doesn't have the self respect of a full time job, an education of their own, or emotional support from other family.

if we want to get education back on track in this country we have to start spending as much money as possible on early learning programs. once a kid gets behind it's a sure struggle to get them on track. i'm not sure that testing from a federal level is going to do much without a massive surge of public $$$ too.

I can remember kindergarten, it's the 80's that's all a blur for me.

i remember getting on the bus the first day. my mom was all crying in the front yard and i wouldn't even wave to her. i remember thinking "haha sucker, i'm outta here!" i was such a brat.

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i'm not sure that testing from a federal level is going to do much ...

Well, the proposals are for the feds to give the states money for them to develop their own testing. Not for the feds to test everyone and input the scores into a massive federal database with admin console rights given only to The Kenyan....

[decocker 7,198]

[quote name=' timestamp='1361394233' post='5992862]

Well, the proposals are for the feds to give the states money for them to develop their own testing. Not for the feds to test everyone and input the scores into a massive federal database with admin console rights given only to The Kenyan....

testing alone isn't going to help, more money!

[james&olya 1,121]

if they have subsequent programs to implement (in kindergarten/first grade) after testing, specific to the child's needs, then i can see where there would benefits to testing.

i'm not sure if anything has changed in the past five years but my son's lack of skills was attributed to behavior issues (basically just 'he's a boy being a boy, not ready for school') until i realized he couldn't read AT ALL in the second grade. then i had to get outside testing for ADD (he had to have a diagnosable issue to get 'help' - thankfully any kid can get an ADD diagnosis nowadays) and then obtain a IEP (individualized education program) to get my son the help he needed to 'catch up'. he is making progress (which is enough for me) but his teachers are very very worried about his SOL testing. i try not to be jaded but most times it feels like they are only concerned with teaching the test. kids just don't 'fail' or get 'held back' anymore..the school will just keep on pushing them through and if the parent don't intervene - it wouldn't surprise me if 20% of hs graduates in this country can't read at all.

So don't test and then there is no problem, right? I mean, it works for ostriches!

The real question should be what is to be the focus of the tests and what will be offered to the students based on the results.

[james&olya 1,121]

testing alone isn't going to help, more money!

Just read your subsequent posts and realize we agree pretty much. I hate to see the attempts by the tin-foil crowd at turning everything positive this administration tries to do into some sinister plot to quake away all our freedoms. Unless we do testing we will not know what children need and won't be able to tailor our efforts to their specific problems. It will entail a lot more than just testing to do any good and funding will probably be an issue.