Standardized Testing...

 As early childhood educators we know that standardized testing is not a great snapshot of a child's growth and/or development. However, in our country it is the main way of assessing student growth as well as teacher performance. Testing is not an accurate tool of assessment, it is often times not developmentally appropriate, and teachers are often teaching children how to do well on the test, rather than spending time teaching them what they should actually be learning. When I was a student, standardized testing really stressed me out. I would get overwhelming anxiety and would get sick to my stomach having to take the test. To this day, if someone tells me I have 1 chance to take a test (even worse if there's time restrictions), I get anxious, nauseous, and do awful, even when I know the content being tested. 

I understand the need to be able to see student growth as well as teacher effectiveness. But there has to be better and more individualized ways to do this in a more appropriate way. In an early childhood setting, you use observations, anecdotal notes, developmental continuums, etc., to track student growth. Can't the same apply as student get older? I'm okay with testing, but it cannot be a one size fits all, because students are different and all have totally different learning styles that should be accepted and celebrated. 

I was excited to research what other countries do in this regard. And quite honestly, I was surprised at what I learned. I found an interesting article, "What Standardized Tests Look Like in 10 Places Around the World" that breaks it down by county. Here is what I learned:

• The UK has dozens of Standardized Tests and on average by the time a child turns 16, they will have completed 15-20 tests.
• Finland has 1 standardized tests that students take at the end of their senior year.
• Students in Japan take a few tests, including one required to even enter into high school. Their tests are "high stakes" and high test scores are crucial. 
• In China, they have 1 test that "means everything". It is a test that takes 12 hours overall to complete, and is given over 2 days. This test decides their future including what college they'll get into and even their potential earnings. 
• In South Africa students take 1 test and the end of their high school years to decide what happens next.
• Brazil students take a test to get into college, though this has been a controversial topic in the country for the past few years. 
  
• In Mexico, students take multiple standardized tests, and in recent years they have been taking more and more which has caused teachers and educators to protest against these changes.
• Canada is similar to the US, where this varies greatly by Province, however a crossed the country they use standardized tests.
• India students have to take a test for high school completion, but then have to take an additional test for college entrance.

The above info was found at: https://www.insider.com/standardized-tests-around-the-world-2018-9#test-scores-in-india-have-social-implications-10 

It seems as though overall the US has some of the highest amounts of standardized tests given to students over all. We need to do better. We need to be more creative and open to new ways and ideas on assessing growth. It will take strong leadership, new ideas, an outside of the box way of thinking, but it can be done... it's long overdue and we owe it to our kids.

A Chaotic Few Years...

 Growing up, I had a great childhood. I had two parents who were "happily" married, a brother and a sister who loved me, a close extended family, and lots of friends. My early childhood was happy, consistent, and full of love. All of this was true, until my 3rd grade year. It was a year of total chaos in my family, but mostly in my life. Apparently, my parents weren't happily married, and had been struggling in their marriage for years. At 8 years old my dad took me, my sister (who was 15 at the time) and my brother (who was 23) up north one weekend to our family cottage to tell us that he and my mom were getting divorced. In all honesty, I don't remember this event, how it went down, or quite honestly very much from my life before this year. What I do remember is my world crumbling before me and a total feeling of chaos. My mom had no idea he was going to tell us like that. He thought he was doing the right thing... which only furthered their upset with each other. From the moment he told me this, I thought that at some point one of them was going to leave my life forever. I was taken over with anxiety. Only I had no idea why I felt so out of control, so scared, and so emotionally wrecked. I became completely hysterical anytime I wasn't with one of my parents. I couldn't stay at school, I couldn't go to dance, I would cry and have panic attacks to the point that I would make myself physically ill and would throw up. Thankfully, my parents saw that this was a reaction to their decision, and they stayed together (and are together today, after 50 years) because they knew that I needed them both. After lots of counseling, and family time, and a very patient teacher and principal, I got it together, about 4 months after this all started. This was a year of chaos, a year that I don't remember, and thankfully a year that healed my family for the better. 

I was lucky, and I know that. My parents put my emotional and physical health, above their own happiness. Not every child is lucky enough to have the same outcome. My social-emotional wellbeing was so out of whack that it was starting to affect my physical development. Sometimes its that parents don't care enough to fix the stressors in kids lives, sometimes it's that that can't, and other times it's that they don't even know that there's a problem. I am so thankful that my parents didn't see my crying and frantic behavior as me being "bad" but knowing (due to a family history of mental health issues) that it was anxiety and that I wasn't in control of my emotions. 

Childhood Stressors in  Burkina Faso, West Africa

I chose to look into childhood stressors in Burkina Faso, because I have some family friends who have spent time there doing missions work there, and I know that they've shared with me multiple times, how their heart aches for the children there. Some of the biggest stressors children there experience are violence, hunger, and exploitation. 

When researching this topic further, I stumbled upon an article from The University of Chicago about Mental Health in Developing Countries, speaking specifically on Burkina Faso. Some of the facts shared in the article that hit me the hardest were:

• "Children in Burkina Faso, one of the 48 Least Developed Countries, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Burkina Faso has one of the highest rates of child labor in the world and a 2012 survey found that 1.25 million or 37.8 percent of children ages 5-14 in Burkina Faso were working." (Ismayilova, 2017)
• "Studies also showed that almost half of the child participants (44 percent) in Burkina Faso experienced physical violence and 58 percent reported emotional violence at home, including when parents were shaming children by making them stand on their knees or depriving them of food as punishment". (Ismayilova, 2017)

The article also shares that there have been many efforts made to help educate parents on the importance of healthy home lives for their children, as well as helping people in the lowest levels of poverty. One specifically mentioned in this article was Trickle Up, which was started in 1986. According to this article, "Trickle Up works with people earning less than $1.90 a day, the World Bank's definition of extreme poverty. It has pioneered a program to "graduate" people out of extreme poverty and after two years become economically self-sufficient. The approach is often referred to as “economic strengthening," which provides access to risk free capital, access to savings and credit, and skills training to confront extreme poverty. It uses savings groups for women as the key strategy" (Ismayilova, 2017).

More information on this research and Trickle Up, can be found at:  https://ssa.uchicago.edu/ssa_magazine/studying-mental-health-developing-country