When thinking of educational assessments you mainly think of testing the areas of math, reading, and science. There are other assessments that I believe should also be taken into consideration when trying to get an understanding of the "Whole Child". I would rather have an assessment where it assesses academics, physical, social, and cognitive development. I would also want a personality assessment because every child is different and that is what makes them unique.
I chose to discuss how the students in China are assessed. The May 1985 National Conference on Education recognized five fundamental areas for reform to be discussed in connection with implementing the party Central Committee's "Draft Decision on Reforming the Education System." The reforms were intended to produce "more able people"; to make the localities responsible for developing "basic education" and systematically implement a nine-year compulsory education program; to improve secondary education develop vocational and technical education; to reform and the graduate-assignment system of institutions of higher education and to expand their management and decision-making powers; and to give administrators the necessary encouragement and authority to ensure smooth progress in educational reform.
In China, assessments are used to determine if the student is ready for primary or secondary school. These assessments are very crucial in China because they use it to assign the students to different school programs based on scoring and etc.
Listed below are some resources you can look at to read further into the assessments in China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China
http://ott.educ.msu.edu/excellence/web/publications/perspectives_on_student_assessment.pdf
I agree with you. Every child is different. The more an assessment can focus on a child as an individual the more helpful it can be in helping a child to be successful. I really think as a society we get so caught up in selling our story to funding sources verses telling the story of what a child needs based on a whole child assessment.
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