The Wisdom of Pre-service Teachers

In the first week of their graduate class on assessment, students watched the Edutopia video on comprehensive assessment at http://www.edutopia.org/comprehensive-assessment-overview-video. On an exit slip they were asked to make a statement about the future of assessment in terms of balancing standardized tests with authentic assessments. Their insights are lovely.

· I sincerely believe that our over-reliance and single-mindedness of relying on test scores has crippled our educational system.

· Eventually the data will show that performance assessment is the more proper measure of students’ understanding, problem solving, and applications of learning

· Communication and collaboration are important skills that standardized tests can’t measure.

· Our younger generations need to be savvy, creative, and innovative. If we aren’t helping them to also be analytical and independent learners, the “real world” isn’t going to wait for them.

· Standardized tests may not be guiding teachers to help students reach the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

· Assessment is moving towards continual assessments throughout learning rather than one final summative measure.

These responses are so hopeful for our educational future.