Abundance of Information; Dearth of Assessments

We live in a world with a wealth of knowledge. Students can instantly look up Presidents, nutrients, math formulas, and more. Measuring students' mastery of information at the recall and understanding levels is relatively straightforward using selected choice and completion questions. These types of measures can be validated without much difficulty by checking construction of the questions, alignment with standards, and item analysis.

More important than asking students what they know is whether they can apply and analyze information and use it to generate new ideas. There are many ways for them to show this: projects, demonstrations, and performances to name a few. The harder part of the skill + application = assessment formula is the assessment side of the equation.

If the adage “What is tested is what gets taught” is true, then we will continue to teach to the test and rely on released items as models for classroom tests. But, if we truly value inquiry, synthesis, collaboration, digital literacy, global understanding, and personal responsibility, then it is time to also assess these skills. Describing how well students verify and synthesize digital resources into original works is possible and can be done if we are willing to measure these types of worthy outcomes.