Student Assessment

Are tests the only objective assessment of student learning?

This is the questions that has been posed to me this week. My answer? Tests are one of the LEAST objective ways to assess student learning. I believe this to be true for many reasons. First, knowing how to do something and knowing about something may not mean that you have every little detail about that subject memorized. For example, in college I took math all the way up through calculus. Since that course, I have been teaching basic math (sixth grade) and have not taken any other math courses since. Does this mean that given a test in calculus I would pass since I learned it? Probably not, because I have not used this information recently. My students, even though in a shorter amount of time, showcase this exact situation. We learn about fractions for several weeks in the fall. However, they are tested on it in April. Many who can do fractions if they have a refresher do not do well on the test because they haven't had as much time to practice using them while studying all the topics that are covered in a year's worth of math. However, by eighth grade many more students pass because they have now been practicing using fractions for about four years.

In education, teachers and researchers go on and on about different learning styles, different personalities, IEPs, etc. If we truly believe that all humans learn differently, then why would they all be able to show their knowledge in the exact same way? One students might be able to talk about what he has learned in a presentation, but forget which things to mark on a test. Another student might be terrified to speak in front of his peers, but study for a test at home and pass with flying colors.

Tests are not the only way to assess student learning. Teachers should include many forms, including informal daily assessments and other scheduled formal assessments.