Lakshmi Kripalani

Real Testing and Accountability

Before the written word, information was transmitted by word of mouth from generation to generation. Facts were distorted. Original intent was lost.

The claim that an accountability test is instructionally diagnostic is flat out falsehood .... A transformation in accountability testing will only transpire when we insist on using tests that help kids— instead of using tests that only kid teachers.

W. James Popham Professor, UCLA graduate school of education

Finally, leading educators are exposing the failures of the prevailing approach to student assessment.

The mania for periodic, paper-and-pencil standardized testing sometimes seems unstoppable. Even Montessorians have been drawn into the trap. Pressured by school systems—even in private schools pressured by parents’ demand to know how their children are progressing—too many of us have accepted policies that require a preordained, sequential presentation of material. Too many of us have ignored or misunderstood Montessori’s vision: an assessment of the student’s ability and achievement should reside within each activity.

We can identify many sources of the problem, but we need to admit that at least one is the dissension among Montessorians. We do not work together or learn from each other the way we should.

When we do not present a united front, we can be blown about by the latest winds of reform. Montessorians’ passive acceptance of an ill-advised approach to testing is the latest example.

Let’s look at what we might agree upon, beginning with the very first activities of the young child—Practical Life exercises.

When the child pours rice from one pitcher to another, the child knows if mastery has been achieved. Neither the teacher or the child would use the word “test” but both know when the child has acquired the necessary coordination. When the child succeeds in this process s/he is so delighted that s/he is apt to announce it happily and loudly to the other children.

The child has passed the first test—the first assessment— of school life.

With confidence, that child is ready to proceed to another activity such as pouring water. When that is mastered, the child experiments with other water exercises. S/he uses different shapes of bottles and discovers that one can fill various shapes of bottles that are either tall or wide with the same quantity of water.

When a child of two or two and a half-years plays with the cylindrical blocks and puts a smaller cylinder in a larger cavity, she finds at the end that the last cylinder would not fit in a smaller hole. By experimenting with it s/he learns to control her/his activity and carefully differentiate between the size of the cylinder and the hole. The teacher does not intervene. S/he lets the child explore and acquire the ability to differentiate though one’s own experience. At this stage the control of error is quite mechanical but as the child progresses s/he utilizes that knowledge. For example, after the child works with cylindrical blocks, s/he can work with knobless cylinders and explore independently without mechanical control.

During such explorations, the teacher gets the opportunity to note how far the child is progressing.

In the area of language, as well as mathematics, the same process is followed.

Montessori created her sensorial materials with built-in control of error, a sophisticated assessment that permits such simple, basic activities of exploring to lay the foundations of learning without superficial testing or pressure.

The teacher observes the child, permitting the materials to do the correcting. She intervenes only when the child is clearly unable to progress. The teacher ought never give more help than necessary. Hence there is no sense or need of mechanical or senseless testing.

Montessori’s approach allows the child, and thereby the teacher, to keep track of every aspect of child’s learning progress. It is not only the teacher continues to keep track of the individual child through critical observation but also it is the whole group of children who continue to help each other to advance. In such a process each individual not only acquires the ability to learn but also the ability to lead each other in different areas. Such a process leads to confidence in one’s ability and trust each other’s abilities.

The dominant educational policy and its testing regimen undermine that. It provides no more than isolated information. It does not give true knowledge of a child’s ability.

Dealing with the pressure, too many Montessori teachers tell our children what concepts must be mastered by what date. They present those concepts in a restricted manner with little consideration of each child’s ability.

This has turned far too many Montessori classrooms into glorified direct-instruction institutions.
But we cannot give up.

If Montessori schools are subject to testing, we need to make sure that the required terminology and concepts are presented in the regular functioning of classroom activities. But we must leave room for our children to keep progressing.

We must be clear about what we need. The Montessori approach cannot work when the children are grouped by the same age or of the same ability. It works successfully only when children of different ages are combined.

It is sad to note that most teachers and principals in public school seem to rationalize that even in same-age grouping, you find children of different abilities—and the principle of learning would work even then.

I fear the opposite is true. When same-age children with different abilities are grouped and expected to help each other, it leads to complexes of inferiority or superiority—a self-destructive phenomenon. It does not really lead to positive leadership or sharing. I believe this is one of the main causes of failure for many children.

Montessorians, wake up.

Reexamine you principles.

Join other courageous educators in challenging this destructive testing regime— and discuss our more humane and effective alternatives.

Only then will we fulfill the role of true educators and leaders.

Copyright 2006

Lakshmi Kripalani was trained by and has worked with Dr. Maria Montessori and Mario Montessori. She is an AMI Montessori teacher trainer and consultant.

Dr. Montessori’s 1946 Lectures—Karachi, India, transcribed and edited by Lakshmi Kripalani is available through the Houston Montessori Center, 713 464-5791.

Ms. Kripalani is available for lectures, workshops or consultations.

She can be reached at lkripal...@comcast.net.