When testing for intelligence, professionals should look at the whole child. This does not mean altogether abandoning traditional methods of testing for intelligence as that may be a valid measure for some children. What it does mean, though, is also including opportunities for other kinds of intelligence to be explored and measured. What I would like to see is a system that is as responsive and accommodating as the Response to Intervention (RTI) technique being used in special education. In RTI, every student who is determined to be below average in achievement receives special assistance of some sort; at times, this can be as much as half of the classroom (Berger, 2012). If students were to receive these services, regardless of their level of academic achievement, each child's individual strengths and weaknesses could be uncovered and/or supported. If talents are not uncovered or not fostered, they may forever go unknown, grow stagnant, and disappear.
Finland does not have "high-stakes national standardized tests" (Gross-Loh, 2014, para. 2). They individualize instruction based on the strengths of both the teachers and the students. When they do test intelligence, they have standard intelligence tests such as the Stanford-Binet and Wechsler as well as tests for musical giftedness, prosocial behavior, and creative and divergent thinking. Input and observations from parents and teachers, and student portfolios are also used as part of the assessment process and are of as much if not more importance in determining giftedness than actual testing (Roukonen, 2005).
References
Berger,
K. S. (2012). The developing person
through childhood. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Ruokonen,
I. (2005) Estonian and Finnish gifted
children in their learning environments. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved
from https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/20047/estonian.pdf?sequence=1
This is a very imformative blog. I agree how Finland assessed school age children. I really would like our school system relook an how we do it. I also really like how Ireland does it. Do you know anything about their system?
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