Assessment in young children

Assessment is always a difficult debate.  There is often times, it seems, a disconnect between child development and elementary/middle school philosophies about what children should be ready for and when - therefore, how they should be taught -  taught with a love of learning or taught to the test??

I fully recognize that as children get older there are simply things you must know.  However, when I think of what children should be assessed on, I reflect back to the standardized tests I remember taking - the dreaded Iowa-Basic test days.  And, what I remember is that much of the test was not formatted in a relevant matter, questions did not pertain to our demographic area, scenarios were far fetched and examples were once in a lifetime - not realistic.  I believe that children should be assessed on reading, writing and math.  However, it would be better if the tests were a bit more realistic/real-world.  I also feel that there should be several types of testing - not just pen and paper.  There should be skills/challenges where children perform in groups, hands on tests- like in science for example, and verbal tests where children are given opportunities to explain answers verbally rather than just in writing.  This type of testing would allow us to evaluate children in all modalities of learning styles.

In Japan, it seems, there is a similar process of simply teaching to the test and always preparing for the next step.  The focus there really seems to be on which type of school you are going to attend; university, etc.  These tests are also focused on primary subjects such as math science, humanities, etc.  Some universities even provide their own assessment exams to get into the school.  There is a great amount of pressure surrounding these tests and there are even schools called "juku"  which translates to "cramm schools"!!

http://www.ericdigests.org/1993/japan.htm