Students in Finland have the highest test scores in the world, but not because they take standardized tests every year.
In Finland, a child is not tested until high school, yet students there test higher than other students in the world. Why? First, teachers are valued and considered a treasure to the world. Teachers are like doctors. They are paid well and given time to prepare lessons. They all have at least a Master’s Degree and the state pays for that degree. During their teaching day, they do not spend their time in meetings learning how to give standardized tests, or preparing lessons that will help their students answer the test’s multiple-choice questions. They are not worried that if their students don’t do well, they can be fired or get less pay or credibility.
Teachers in Finland are busy figuring out what is the best education for each child. Children in Finland are given 15-minute breaks each hour to go outside and exercise. They are challenged in class, but they are given time to recover from their lessons.
In the U.S., teachers are mandated to give these tests, and they’re becoming disappointed in jobs that they worked hard to qualify for. Most teachers don’t make enough to support a family and to pay off their education loans. They complain that when administration or parents have a complaint about schools, they blame the teacher first. In Washington Post article, Valerie Strauss quoted a kindergarten teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts who quit her job after 20 years. She explained that “she could no longer align her understanding of how young children learn best in safe, developmentally appropriate environments with the testing and data collection mandates imposed on teachers today.” The Today Show’s Facebook page asked parents, “Are standardize tests the best way to have kids learn?” Parents’ response: 5,692 “No” votes and 41”Yes” votes. Parents need to be heard.
If a young child is doing poorly on tests, maybe the child is unfamiliar with the examiner, or he is anxious on the day of the test. Perhaps the child is tired or fidgety that day and can’t concentrate. Maybe the child wants to play or be outside. Maybe the child isn’t ready to be tested. Or perhaps the kind of intelligence that we are testing for isn’t important for a child to function well in the real world.
Here is a conversation I had today with Jasmine Byrd, a preschool teacher at The Tobin School in Natick, Ma.
“None of my kids are standard. Not one of my kids (ages 3.5 years to 5 years), can do the same thing the same way. It wouldn’t be fair to test them.”
I replied, “They’re developing at different rates.”
She responded, “Absolutely.”
Our educational system is being harmed by the mandated over testing of young children and a system that grades teachers largely on the basis of how well students perform on these tests.
Resources
Anderson, F. Education Eval Acc, Danish and Finnish PISA results in a comparative, qualitative performance: How can the stable and distinct differences between Danish and Fnnish PISA results be explained? (2010), 22:159-175.
Maynard, T., Waters, J., & J. Clement, Moving Outdoors: further explorations of ‘child-initiated’ learning in the outdoor environment, (2014) Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 41:3, 292-299.
Sahlbert, P. Finnish Lessons. What can the world learn from educational change in Finland? Teachers College Press, 2011.
http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201403/YC0314_Focus_on_Ethi...