It was not much about the tests, between 9 and 20 June will evaluate the reader’s speed of readers in Portugal, all students of public and private schools in the second place in the first period.
But how often do you sometimes measure something that a child reads something he reads? The answer is simple: No.
Read without taking into account the accuracy and understanding, how to measure the speed of a car without inspecting the engine. It may seem impressive but is far from providing good performance.
Read quickly, but do you understand?
Reading is a mechanical action. This includes reading words (accuracy), fluidity (speed and intonation) and understand that you are reading.
The focus can only create a dangerous illusion: students who read quickly, but do not understand what they say, they will be able to be away from them.
Scientific research in the field of reading shows that the rapid fluency is not synonymous. True readers continue the balance between speed, accuracy and understanding. A student who reads quickly or reads with mistakes or reads, is far from being an authorized reader.
The question is: Does these tests really appreciate reading? The focus will only ignore the basic columns of reading if it continues to be speed. We need to know that only students will not know how they read quickly, but if they are well read and read.
Assessment only has a direct consequences in the way when you are privileged in a aspect of reading. If the speed becomes the main criterion, teachers and students will feel pressure to prioritize the speed of understanding.
The result? Students decorating words decorating words that grow speed, do not develop true reading skills. At the end, we have children who are “reading”, but do not understand – and this is the greatest mistake we can do in education.
Well read more than reading quickly
Reading is the basis of all learning. If we want our students to prepare for a successful future, we must ensure that we read and reflect and reflect exactly what they read and reflect in the text. Not enough to measure the speed and compromise the development of authorized readers.
The solution? A more complete and serious assessment of a whole, instead of setting the speed intact. Because it is not a race to read in the end – this is a way to knowledge.
Be unusual!
The author writes according to a new orphographic agreement
