Standardized Testing and Early Childhood Education Term Paper by scribbler

A research paper on the impact of early childhood education on standardized test scores.
# 152354 | 1,025 words | 9 sources | APA | 2013 | US
Published on Jan 31, 2013 in Education (Development Studies) , Education (Early Childhood)


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Description:

This paper explores how early childhood intervention for children at all levels of economic status correlates with their standardized test scores, given fairly equal educational parameters in elementary school. The paper discusses the importance of early education programs and nurturing environments for children and looks at how the theories of Lev Vygotsky support their significance. The paper also addresses the fact that most children from lower socio-economic homes do not receive the robust early childhood learning stimuli that children of middle and upper-middle classes do, and this often puts them at risk for lower performance on standardized tests.

Outline:
Overview
Early Education and Nurturing Environments
Theoretical Basis
Implications

From the Paper:

"In any pedagogical venue, measurement must be tied to something specific - it is not enough to simply measure performance as a means to an end. In the case of standardized testing, we measure to find out if our program is effective over the population base, to make decisions about curriculum and goal setting, to control and allocate resources, and to establish what is vital from what is important (Koretz, 2009, intro). Standardized tests are administered in order to statistically measure achievement and aptitutde by using a distribution of scores. The theory behind this type of testing is that in mathematics, specifically the field of probability, in large sample observations the distribution of the observations collected will form a bell curve (e.g. most of the results will cluster around the mean with further results furthest away from the mean value). Again, based on statistics, the spread of the results, or the standard deviation, holds that 68% of the results will lie within +/- one standard deviation from the mean, 95% will lie within two, and 98% within three. This is also one way to determine if the standardized test is viable (Kohn, 2000, 1-14). One question becomes, though, to what effect does the intercession of early childhood education have on a statistical difference in standardized test scores during later years?"

Sample of Sources Used:

  • Bowman, B. (1994). Cultural Diversity and Academic Achievement. Retrieved from North Central Regional Educational Laboratory: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0bow.htm
  • Campbell, F. (2002, 6 1). Early Childhood Education: Young Adult Outcomes from the Abecedarian Project. Retrieved from Applied Development Science: http://www.cds.unc.edu/CCHD/F2004/09-27/Campbell.et.al.pdf
  • Huttenlocher, J. (1998). Language Input and Language Growth. Preventative Medicine, 27(2), 195-99.
  • Karpov, Y. (2006). The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kohn, A. (2000). The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools. New York: Heineman.

Cite this Term Paper:

APA Format

Standardized Testing and Early Childhood Education (2013, January 31) Retrieved December 10, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/term-paper/standardized-testing-and-early-childhood-education-152354/

MLA Format

"Standardized Testing and Early Childhood Education" 31 January 2013. Web. 10 December. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/term-paper/standardized-testing-and-early-childhood-education-152354/>

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