When I Think Of Child Development

Child Development

Our Future starts here while the baby is still in the womb waiting to enter the world.

The newborn is instantly zestfully ready for life. (Berger 2009)

Toddler Years (1-3) are a time of great growth and change. This is the time when the toddlers learn how to walk and start putting sounds together. Their cognitive, social and behavior skills are happening fast.

Preschool years   (2-6) at this age children motor skills are more advance. Children are exploring new ideas and habits. They are becoming more independent and they have a larger vocabulary. At this age the children are more socially involve with other children.  

  

This is our School-age children (7-11) who are ready to learn whatever adults teacher them. Berger 2009) Peer acceptance is very important to them at this age. They want to be accepted and approved from their peers. School –age children are highly active in physical activities such as sports or outdoor playing. They become more flexible, logical and knowledgeable. (Berger 2009)

I would like to thank all my colleagues for your support whether it was on the Discussion Board or on the Blog your comments help me to learn and it also expanded my way of thinking. I wish everyone the best and hope being in another course with you in the future.  

Testing for Intelligence

Testing for Intelligence

I think at the beginning of the school year a child should be assessed in order to know what that child goal should be. As a teacher I would like to know how that student is learning so that I can plan my lessons accordingly. Assessment let the teacher know what the student strength and weakness are. I do not think a child should be assessed on whether or not if they are smart or not. Each child learn different and should be assessed differently. The test should be fair and work to fit the individual student not as a group test because each student thinks differently. Gathering information about each student and keep current records about student’s learning progress would be a accurate and fair assessment.

Educational Quality

Educational quality has recently received a lot of attention in Kenya. The government's main document in this effort, the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme for 2005–2010, established the National Assessment Centre (NAC) to monitor learning achievement. In 2010, the NAC released the results of its first assessment.

In 2009, in collaboration with the NAC, Uwezo Kenya conducted an assessment of the basic literacy and numeracy skills of children ages 6–16. The Annual Learning Assessment (ALA) reached villages in 70 out of 158 districts in Kenya, and assessed nearly 70,000 children in their homes. The ALA was set at a Standard 2 level, which is the level where students are supposed to have achieved basic competency in reading English and Kiswahili and completing simple arithmetic problems. The chart below shows the percent of children who could not read a Standard 2 level paragraph or solve Standard 2 level subtraction problems:^[3]

Level of Children Assessed	Cannot Read English Paragraph	Cannot Read Swahili Paragraph	Cannot Do Subtraction
Standard 2	85%	81%	79%
Standard 5	27%	23%	30%
Standard 8	4%	4%	10%

Key Facts about education in Kenya, based on the results of the Uwezo 2009 assessment:^[4]

1. Literacy levels are low, and are substantially lower in certain regions. Girls tend to perform better in reading English and Kiswahili, while boys tend to perform better in math.
2. Literacy levels are lower in public schools than private schools.
3. Most children can solve real world, “ethno-mathematics” problems, while fewer can solve similar math problems in an abstract, pencil and paper format.
4. 5% of children are not enrolled in school, but the problem is far worse in particular regions.
5. About half of children are enrolled in pre-school.
6. Many children are older than expected for their class level, including 40% of children in class 2, and 60% of children in class 7.
7. North Eastern Province and arid districts in Rift Valley and Eastern Provinces have particularly low performance; and many older children, especially girls, are not attending school.
8. Many families pay for extra tuition, which focuses heavily on drilling and exam preparation.
9. Schools struggle to plan their budgets because they receive funds at unpredictable times.
10. Children whose mothers are educated, particularly beyond primary school, tend to have much higher rates of literacy and numeracy.
11. About 15% of students are absent on a given day, with much higher absenteeism in certain districts.
12. There is a severe shortage of teachers, estimated at 4 teachers per school.

1. ^ http://uwezo.net/index.php?i=68
2. http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/PTA9.pdf
3. Kenya National Examination Council