Learning Assessment for International School Students in Tokyo: Why Would Your Child Need One?
Updated: Oct 6
Your child's school knows your child is struggling, but they don't know why.
They may recommend an assessment because they are seeing a pattern in your child's learning that they do not fully understand.
Perhaps your child is struggling with reading, writing, or mathematics despite receiving additional support.
Perhaps they are working much harder than their classmates but are still not making the progress expected.
Or the school may be wondering whether an underlying learning difference is affecting how your child learns.
As a parent, you are often left with the same questions:
What is actually making school difficult for my child?
What are they struggling with, and what are they good at?
What support do they actually need?
That's where a more detailed assessment can be helpful.
You may have come across the term Level B assessment when looking into educational or psychological testing for your child.
Level B refers to a category of psychometric and diagnostic assessments that require specific training and qualifications to administer and interpret. These assessments can measure areas such as academic skills, cognitive abilities, language, memory, and other abilities related to how a child learns.
A Level B assessment is different from the reading, spelling, or mathematics assessments a teacher might use in the classroom.
It is a standardized assessment, administered individually and following specific procedures, so your child's performance can be compared with that of other children of the same age or grade.
Depending on the reason for the assessment, a detailed assessment may include:
Standardized testing
Detailed scoring and interpretation
A written report
Parent consultation
The results can help build a clearer picture of your child's strengths, areas of difficulty, and how those difficulties may be affecting their learning.
What Is a Pearson Level B User Qualification?
Pearson uses a qualification system for professionals who administer and interpret its assessments. A Level B User Qualification means that the professional has met Pearson's requirements based on their education, professional qualifications, training, and experience.
Pearson also assigns qualification levels to individual assessments. A Level B user can purchase and use Pearson assessments that require a Level A or Level B qualification.
I hold a Pearson Level B User Qualification and am qualified to administer and interpret Pearson assessments that fall within my qualification level.
What Can the Results Tell You?
An assessment is not simply about giving your child a score.
The results can help explain why a child may be finding particular areas of school difficult.
For example, a child may have strong reasoning skills but struggle with working memory, processing speed, reading accuracy, or written expression.
Understanding that pattern can make it easier to determine what support may be appropriate at school and at home.
An assessment does not provide a diagnosis on its own. The results provide information about a child's learning profile and may contribute to a broader evaluation when a learning disorder is being considered.
Not Sure What Your Child Needs?
If your child's school has recommended an assessment, or you are concerned about a pattern of learning difficulties but are not sure what to do next, we can talk through what you are seeing.
Kinota Braithwaite Learning & Assessment Specialist More Than Just Tutoring Tokyo
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