Are Tests the Only Real Objective Assessment?

There are many different forms of assessment that can be used to determine whether or not students are making academic progress. If we, as teachers, only relied on standardized tests or midterm and final exams, some of our students would never pass to the next grade level. The problem with tests is that they are designed around the premise of equality versus the reality of fairness. These tests are supposed to be the same across the board in order to create equality, but the reality is that our students are not. A way to design assessments that create a level (or fair) playing field is to use a variety of assessment in order to develop a complete picture of a student’s skills and progress.

 

I believe it is safe to say that if our students require diversity in instruction. Since that is the case, then they need diversity when it comes to assessing their academic progress too. Students can be assessed using various methods. For example: group projects which focus on working with others to complete a task, teacher observation which allows the teacher to see and monitor what their student is doing in the everyday classroom setting, portfolios which allow a teacher and the student to see the academic progress they have made over a period of time, and self-evaluations which allow students to assess their own progress and give them the ability to determine the areas they need to improve. There are many other forms of student assessments and teachers need only search the internet or other sources to find them.

Tests are not inherently bad, nor are they useless in the classroom. Tests have their time and place in assessment just like all other assessments, but they need to be used in conjunction with some other forms of student assessment. We already know that we don’t all learn in the same manner; because of this, there should be some flexibility when it comes to assessing student progress. Tests are not and should not be the only objective or reliable source when it comes to assessing a student’s academic progress.