A child three years old is still a toddler. What demands, if any, should be placed on a child this young when it comes to learning to read? Will it harm their chances of enjoying reading in the future? This is what we should ask when it comes to the new PELI testing.
The same creators of DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills), the controversial assessment started with the controversial program Reading First, following the recommendations of the controversial National Reading Panel, now have reading assessment for children as young as three years old.
DIBELS uses nonsense syllables which might not mean anything to a child. There are other problems with the assessment according to reading expert Ken Goodman who edited Examining DIBELS: What it is What it Does.
Goodman found DIBEL problems with letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency, phonetic segmentation fluency, and much more (16-28). There are problems with administering the test for ELL students, the test is timed, and it is considered high-stakes “teaching to the test.”
This new assessment, by the same people who brought children DIBELS, is called PELI, short for Preschool Early Literacy Indicator. It looks at the following: Vocabulary and Oral Language, Comprehension, Phonological Awareness.
PELI includes composite scores and benchmark goals.
Shouldn’t we be listening to children and not testing them? Let them tell imaginative stories. Give them a chance to tell us how they see the world? Children at this age need validation! They need to hear that their discussions with the adults in their lives matter!
Isn’t it also more exciting for children to read picture books, lots of them? One can find almost any topic that is alphabetized in picture books for children.
It’s Still about Play
When squirming children get to play with blocks, put puzzles together, create imaginary worlds, and socialize with others they are working on reading skills! Language acquisition is critical. It’s why recess is important too.
In Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Map for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids, Nancy Carlsson-Paige reminds us that children this age are on the move.
Children who are three, four, and five years old are bursting with energy to explore the world through movement and action and hands-on investigation. Now they can use symbols to talk with us, to draw, to build and create. They can carry on conversations with us about many things, which makes it easy for us, at times, to forget that they still see the world very differently from how we do (34).
If you watch the assessment on the PELI website, note how energetic this child is during the assessment. The test doesn’t seem to cause her stress, but she squirms. It strikes me that she sees the assessment differently than the test administrator who’s intent on getting her to name letters. The child wants to discuss all sorts of things. She seems puzzled by the narrow, repetitive questioning, and even reminds the test administrator that she already asked about one of the letters!
While some children may have no problem answering screening questions, others might get scared. Adults who obsessively ask questions about the child’s ability to recognize pictures, letters, and sounds, in such a formal setting, could set a dangerous precedent.
Assessing children this young also reinforces the message to parents that children must be reading-ready for kindergarten. The benchmarks seem contrived. Implying that three-to-five year-old children need to know the alphabet can make it a chore instead of a naturally enjoyable task.
In these days of hyper assessment and pushiness, that can be pretty scary!
By kindergarten, if this child has not learned her letters, if she is not answering comprehension questions correctly, she could feel inadequate. Will she be tagged inaccurately as having a reading disorder when she only needed more time to develop?
This universal screening assumes serious reading disabilities will be discovered. But children who present development difficulties usually display other signs that are obvious to parents and pediatricians. Children who display auditory or speech difficulties, for example, should get assistance. It’s helpful if preschool teachers look out for such problems. But is formal reading assessment of every child so early, warranted?
Let’s consider how they’ve approached reading in Finland. For years, Finland has had students who score high on tests.
They start formal reading instruction later at age six. They work on sounds and rhyming, but don’t push children to read. They encourage children to explore engaging picture books and they take great care that children get their early exposure through enjoyment. Joy and reading go hand-and-hand.
This country forgets about the joy of reading! But if children are not motivated, if they don’t care about reading, why would they want to do it? If they see it as a chore they will avoid it!
If a child is three and they show no interest in books whatsoever and do not enjoy hearing picture books read to them, maybe there is some cause for concern. Then again, perhaps they don’t like the books you chose for them to read. Maybe you’re a dull reader. Maybe they want to run and play.
Edvocate recently had an article pushing technology, showing a young child already labeled a reluctant reader! How does such a young child already hate reading? Give young children a chance to develop and show you who they are, and if you want them to like reading, show them it’s enjoyable!
Don’t waste their time, or worse, scare them with unnecessary testing.
Citations
Goodman, K. (Ed.). (2006). Examining DIBELS: What it is and What it Does. Brandon, VT: Vermont Society for the Study of Education, Inc.
Page, Nancy Carlsson-Paige. (2008). Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Road map for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids. New York: Penguin Group.
I agree with your overall message, but it’s really a pet peeve of mine when people refer to three year olds as toddlers. By definition, toddlers, are those who toddle because they’re just learning to walk. Three year olds have long mastered the art of walking and have even moved on to running, skipping, jumping, hopping, etc.
Toddlerhood is a distinct phase of early childhood as it is a time when children are basically still preverbal with limited mobility. By three, barring disability, kids are quite mobile and usually verbal (although they may be shy or have speech impediments that make it difficult for those who don’t know them well to understand them). There is also a marked difference in how toddlers vs. pre-schoolers relate socially and how they manage themselves emotionally.
By all means, let’s not test toddlers or preschoolers (or elementary kids or high school kids or college students, for that matter!). But let’s not blur lines to make a point either.
Your challenge to the definition is a fair one. I did think about that definition before I used it.
And some, even my favorite early childhood specialist, Penelope Leach, say toddler goes to two and 1/2.
However, other definitions, including the CDC, state 3 years as still being toddlers. I’m also am not sure three-year-old children are always as steady as you say.
So I didn’t feel like I was blurring any lines or overusing hyperbole.
By the way, I am not totally anti-assessment. I believe it has its place.
The point is, how young is too young? What real value do those tests have in making reading predictions? And can they set a child on the wrong course?
Assessment crazy in America? You must be joking.
Nowhere is the evidence stronger than in the rush to test the very young that our decisions to test are based on someone who makes money when we do so. What we learn from testing in grade school about children and their abilities is very little. What we learn from testing three year olds is almost nothing. And yet, administration chooses data over no data because no data looks bad. It would be cheaper if the administration just asked teachers to cook up data. And it would be as good. But it would not make someone’s brother rich.