"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate."-Anonymous

I like this quote because it shows how parents and caregivers impact the lives of children on a daily basis.  If a child sees love and compassion shown on a regular basis, he or she will show it to others throughout life.  If a child witnessess anger and aggression, he or she will show some of the same emotions to others.  It is up to us as educators and parents to be a positive role model to out children.

Testing for Intelligence?

When attempting to assess a child’s intelligence, there are several areas one must look at because there are several factors that may play a role in the learning process and development of the child.  When testing a child’s abilities, we must make sure assessment methods that are developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive, and tied to children’s daily activities.  When administering a test, there is not a guarantee that the child was exposed to a particular test item he or she was asked to perform.  I feel that every child is unique and learn differently.  Therefore, every child will not respond the same way. In order to get an overall picture, educators must look into the child’s medical history, environmental background, intelligence, achievement, and social-emotional background.

I researched South Korea’s educational system and how the students are assessed.  Recently, its system has reformed to align the curriculum with the ‘knowledge based society’ of the 21 st century.  Most South Korean children spend their entire high school life preparing for the college entrance examination. Pre school education is not included in the formal school system. Kindergarten is the main facility for preschool educationin South Korea.  The first ten years of school education from primary first grade to high school grade are set as a national common basic education period. During this period, students learn from a national curriculum. In revising the national curriculum, the MOEHRD judged that a flexible level differentiated curriculum would address each student’s different ability, interest aptitude and career direction; and also promote gifted and talented education while satisfying the requirements of a common basic education.  Teachers at the start of the year are given a clear, succinct and easy to follow syllabus of what should be taught. School text books and teacher training support such syllabuses and there is regular testing to ensure that all students are at or above the required standard. There is also a very clear expectation that all students by the end of each year level will have reached the required level of ability.

References
South Korea
Retrieved from: www.det.wa.edu.au/education/accountability/docs/south%20korea.pdf