The real test

I still have occasional nightmares about a miserable summer vacation spent force-feeding flash cards into the brain of my 5-year-old sonwho was clearly not ready to read,but through herculean effort and tears,learned anyway. Reading was simply a requirement for progressing from kindergarten to first grade. How could he take tests and do worksheets if he couldnt read the questions?

As educators and parents in the United States debate new federal programmes that will probably expose young children to far more exams and quizzes than is the current norm,I think often of the ups and downs of my childrens elementary education. What makes a test feel like an interesting challenge rather than an anxiety-provoking assault?

Testing of young children had been out of favour for decades among early-childhood educators in the United States,who worry that it stifles creativity and harms self-esteem,and does not accurately reflect the style and irregular pace of childrens learning anyway. Testing young children has been so out of favour that even the test-based No Child Left Behind law doesnt start testing students reading abilities until after third gradeat which point,some educators believe,it is too late to remedy deficiencies.

But recently,American educations no test philosophy for young children has been coming under assault,as government programmes strongly promote the practice.

First there was No Child Left Behind,which took effect in 2003 and required states to give all students standardised tests to measure school progress.

Now,President Obamas Race to the Top educational competitionwhich announced billions of dollars in state grants this monthencourages more reliance on what educators call formative tests or formative assessments. These are designed in theory,at least,primarily to help students and their teachers know how theyre doing.

Some education experts hail the change. Research has long shown that more frequent testing is beneficial to kids,but educators have resisted this finding, said Gregory J. Cizek,a professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina.

Professor Cizek notes,and the Race to the Top programme includes funds for research to develop new exams. Filling in three pages of multiple-choice bubbles may not be appropriate for young children. Likewise high stakes testslike the Chinese university entrance exam,which alone determines university placementcreate anxiety and may unfairly derail a youngsters future based on poor performance on a single day.

But Professor Cizek said the prevailing philosophy of offering young children unconditional praise and support was probably not the best prescription for successful education. Whats best for kids is frequent testing,where even if they do badly,they can get help and improve and have the satisfaction of doing better, he said. Kids dont get self-esteem by people just telling them they are wonderful.

Other educators recoil at the thought of more tests. The Obama administration is using the power of the purse to compel states to add more destructive testing, said Alfie Kohn,author of The Case Against Standardized Testing and many other books on education. He said genuine learning in young children was a global process,while tests look at narrow and specific skills,and good teachers dont need tests to know if a child is learning. He added that for young children,good test results were more a function of whether children can sit still or hold a pencil.

Rather than a low-stress tool to identify gaps in the learning process, he added,they are used as a club to punish students who need help.

In Beijing,both of my children had subjects or grades in which they performed poorly. There was an entire elementary school year in which my son got consistently mediocre grades in math,in English,in everything,it seemed. It took endless parental cheerleading to maintain his self-esteem..

But lets face it,life is filled with all kinds of testssome you ace and some you flunkso at some point you have to get used to it. When testing is commonplace and the teachers are supportive,the tests felt like so many puzzles; not so much a judgment on your being,but an interesting challenge. When we moved back to New York City,my children,then 9 and 11,started at a progressive school with no tests,no grades,not even auditions for the school musical. They didnt last long. It turned out they had come to like the feedback of testing.

How do I know if I get whats going on in math class? my daughter asked after a month. Primed with Beijing test-taking experience,they each soon tested into New York Citys academic public schools,where they have had tests aplenty.