Children have different ways of
learning. Some children learn through pictures or images, others
through sounds and music, others use words and writing, others learn in
groups and others prefer to learn alone. With the different abilities
to learn our children have, why should we only focus on one form of
measuring the child learning capacity? I strongly believe that children
should not only be assesses through standardize test. Children grasp
and make connection to the information given in different ways.
Children should be asses depending on how they learn. We need to
provide our students with the correct resources for them to be able to
succeed. According to Berger (2006), “three factors facilitate
increases in knowledge base: past experiences, current opportunity, and
personal motivation” (p.384).
Mexico uses the National Assessment of Academic Achievement in schools.
This type of assessment has too many objectives that make it unfeasible
to follow (OCED, 2012). Education in Mexico is fragmented. While over
90% of children in Mexico attend primary school, only 62% attend high
school. Only 45% finish high school. After high school, only a quarter
passes on to higher education (Rama, 2011). I am sharing with you some
of the problems education in Mexico faces.
Educational Evaluation and Assessment in Mexico Strengths, Challenges
and Policy Pointers
Student assessment
There is a need to change the culture of teaching
Teaching to the test is prevalent across the school system
There is an excessive reliance on multiple-choice tests
The National Assessment of Academic Achievement in Schools (ENLACE) has
too many objectives
Teachers have a narrow approach to teaching and formative assessment
Marking practices lack pedagogical significance
Instruments for reporting marks need further improvement
Student assessment leads to little interaction among teachers
There is a lack of consistency of student assessment across schools and
classes
There are limited capacities at the state and local levels to support
classroom-based assessment
Making assessment inclusive for students remains a challenge Teacher
appraisal
There is currently no shared understanding of what constitutes good
quality
Reference
Berger, K. S. (2016). The developing person through childhood (7th ed.).
New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
OECD, (2012, November). Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in
Education: Mexico published. www.oecd.org/edu/evaluationpolicy.
Rama, A. (2011, April 13). “Factbox: Facts about Mexico's education
system.” Retrieved November 17, 2014, from
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/us-mexico-education-factbox-idUSTRE73C4UY20110413!
