In my judgment, all children should be assessed or measured especially in a school setting. Without an assessment or some type of assessment tool, how can a childhood professional know the needs of the child or how can the needs of each child be met. Each child should be assesses at the beginning, in themiddle and the end of each school year, so that each child is able to receive the proper resources needed to meed their needs, especially if the child is in need of extra or special resources. All children should be provided the proper resources outside the classroom, jsut as well as inside the classroom. The regular teacher and the outside teacher and /or resources can and should work together to help each and every child reach his or her best potential.
I choose to look at Ugandan, due to the fact of having a child from that country in my classroom and I taught her brother two years ago. I found a study that was conducted on a cohort of 89 healthy children (45 females) aged 5 to 12 were follwed over 24 months and had cognitive tests measuring visual spatial processing memory, attention and spatial learning administered at a baseline, 6 months and 24 months. Nutritional status, child's education level, maternal education, socioeconomic status and quality of the home environment were also measured at baseline. A multivariate longitudinal model was then used to identity predictors of cognition over the 24 months.
RESULTS: A higher child's education level was assessed with better memory (p=0.03), attention (p=0.005) and spatial learning scores over the 24 months (p=0.05); higher nutrition scores predicted better visual spatial processing (p=0.0002) and spatial learning scores (p=0.0008) and a higher home environment score predicted a better memory score (p=0.03).
CONCLUSION: Cognition in Ugandan children is predicted by child's education, nutritional status and the home environment, community intervention to improve cognition may be effective if they target multiple socioeconomic variables.
References:
Bangirana,P., John C.C., Idro, R., Opoka, R.O., Byarugaba, J. et al. 2009. Socioeconomic: Predictors of Cognition in Ugandan Children. Implications for Community Interventions, PLoS ONE 4 (11): e7898. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0007898
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about the children should be provided the proper resources outside the classroom, just as well as inside the classroom. Most children think that if they are not in a school setting they could act differently. Good work on your blog, Lori.
ReplyDeleteHey Lori, Interesting study in Uganda. Seems to verify everything we have been learning actually. I think school plays a role in teaching children but unfortunately, sometimes the kids who need the help don't get the help at home, or at school. Parents need to be actively involved - sometimes I think the school tries to do so much that parents have a hands off approach. I know that in NYC tutoring services were provided either in school in a small group setting or one - on- one with a tutor. Parents did NOT take advantage of free services provided at home for their child at their convenience - (it was available on the weekends also). So all I know is that when a child struggles everyone needs to be on board - We can assess all we want but if we cant use the data to help he child then..........
ReplyDeleteYour research on Uganda reminds me of the childhood webs from our Foundations course. Cognition is improved when those around a child work together to foster a healthy, safe environment. Now, if only we lived in a perfect world! As Raymond Hernandez, MS Ed, said, “I'm not here to save the world. I'm just here to make a difference.”
ReplyDeletehi! I think that we need to help educate parents on the positive consequences of testing. You are right, how would we know to help a child and get the children the correct resources if there was no assessment. Unfortunately as we see in your study, there are alot of children that do not recieve the support and resources in their own home.
ReplyDeleteI AGREE WITH THE YOUR OPINION IN REGARDS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSESSING CHILDREN, IN ORDER TO BETTER PROVIDE THEM WITH THE RESOURCES THEY NEED. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT IN ORDER FOR THE CHILD TO RECEIVE THE NECESARRY SUPPORT AS WELL AS PROVIDE THE PARENTS WITH PROPER RESOURCES THAT CAN HELP THEM WORK WITH THEIR CHILD AND HOME. I also want to mention that would resoursh about Uganda was very interesting, there is so much to learn in regards to education from ther parts of the world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing...