How a conversation fueled a story in the Chicago Tribune
(Don't forget to click the Facebook like button on your way out!)
While working on a story about CPS' admissions process to top-notch selective enrollment schools last fall, I heard horror stories about parents who wondered what was on the test and how to prepare little ones.
CPS' own description of what was tested for gifted programs seemed very abstract, and as a parent, I wondered how other parents could understand how to teach concepts like "reasoning" or "problem solving."
At a community conversation in January, we brought in experts to talk about student testing, not just for gifted programs but to evaluate student learning. (Here's some Trib Nation coverage of other community conversations we've held.)
Again, a question arose about how and why it's important to teach students critical thinking skills, and what it is.
That led to a sidebar on explaining to parents how to teach kids abstract concepts like critical thinking.
Join Trib Nation on Facebook for more of the how and why of Tribune journalism.
It is OK to prep your child for a kinder enterance test if and because. Children who are familiar with the format of the test are less stressed and have a better chance to show what they know. How can you identify a trapezoid if you have never seen one? If tutoring stresses your child out, then stop. Even if he or she is gifted, their stress shows that they are not ready emotionally for either the test or the class. These tests often test what a child has learned, not his/her aptitude or giftedness. You can prep all you want for a GT test, but if the child isn't gifted, he/she won't show gifted on a true GT test. Readiness tests can be affected by prep and if you feel your child has the aptitude for advanced kinder and they are not stressed by the demands, by all means give it a try. There are some parents who are after just the label. But, I think that most parents truly want their child placed where he/she will have the chance to blossom. Our non gifted or regular kindergartens should be places where most of us want to send our kids. They should offer differentiation so that, as kids mature, they can be challenged at their level. It is too bad when we feel we have to push our children into advanced programs simply because we have no faith in the regular class offerings. And, this is not just a teacher issue. In fact, it has more to do with administrators who do not have early childhood training and who do not know what a good regular kinder program looks like. Teachers in these programs get little to no money to purchase adequate materials. In fact, I believe that Kindergarten should be a class that children stay in for two years, to give them time to develop the skills they need to be successful in school, at their own pace, with the gal of having solid emergent literacy skills by the time they enter first grade.
Posted by: Rosemarie Southcott | 02/16/2011 at 02:10 PM