What does she really know?

We went to a Parent-Teacher meeting the other day, at Emily's Preschool, to discuss with Mrs. Maxey, Emily's Pre-K teacher, Emily's beginning of the year test results. All of the children are tested 3 times during the year. The 1st. time is to give the teacher an idea as to what each child already knows and the 2nd and 3rd tests are to record progress.

Emily is currently 51 months old. And she scored within her age range for each section of the test. The shocker to us was her scores in Cognitive and Language. Even though her scores were within her age range, we had thought that she would have scored higher. When we brought up our concerns to Mrs. Maxey, she assured us thaat Emily "could" have most definately have scored higher. BUT on these two particular areas of the test, when Emily was asked a question, she would follow up the question asked to her with her own question or drift off into a casual conversation about something she had experienced in reference to the question being asked or something on a totally different subject.

Even thought these test results aren't a "completely true" picture as to what each child knows, they do give the teacher a good idea. The test results may vary because the child may have been pulled away from an activity that they were enjoying or the child may be more focused on an upcoming activity of the day that the teacher has planned or the child may be sick or tired. Emily's problem is that she gets distracted very easily and LOVES to talk about things that she knows about or has experienced. She is also a VERY inquisitive child. We were given a print out of activities that we can work with Emily on to help strengthen her emerging skills.