“Why do we insist on measuring it with a micrometer when we mark it with chalk and cut it with an axe?” (Peter Ewell)

Thanks to an increased research focus, we now know more than ever about “best practices” in teaching strategies, materials, and approaches that promise the best learning results for students. Look, for example, at how testing has changed. Historically, testing was used as a way of identifying “the best and brightest” students, those who would move into a limited number of slots in secondary and post-secondary education. At a time when educational resources were very limited, this may have made sense. One mark made the difference in rank, being laureate or not, between a First and an Upper second at University! With UNESCO’s “Education for all” (EFA) initiatives and here compulsory schooling up to the age of 16, the goals are now to increase (and not limit) the number of students who succeed and go on to higher education. This changes the needs and purposes of testing. One of the current practices in education is to provide a variety of tests so that we can assess a broader range of student knowledge and ability. Multiple-choice tests are a traditional form of assessment. Tests that involve students in real-world tasks are currently referred to as performance tasks. Multiple-choice and short-answer questions are quite adequate for assessing knowledge of facts and certain kinds of conceptual knowledge. Languages are best tested orally and in essay-type writing. Performance tasks are better for assessing the kind of complex reasoning that demonstrates that a student truly understands and can perform life tasks (you can only test driving and piloting abilities or the art of cooking or competence on the piano by assessing how the learner drives a real car or pilots a real plane, cooks a real meal or plays the piano! No amount of multiple-choice tests or interviews will ever replace that!

Assessment is now commonly woven into all stages of class teaching :

• to assess existing knowledge before new material is presented;

• to monitor how well a child is grasping a concept, during the learning process;and, after the lesson's been taught,

• to check whether the child has understood the new material.

All this testing gives teachers a chance to be in control, to know if his/her teaching is effective and to modify the learning experience in time to make a difference rather than discover a problem just as it's time to move on to another subject or level. In the worst circumstances, weakness of a given student is only “discovered as a surprise”, on the day the CPE/SC/HSC results come in! An effective teacher is constantly assessing students' progress through daily and weekly home and class assignments as well as ongoing observations. An effective teacher knows realistically the level of each student and results of external assessment do not come as a surprise.

To parents: The approach of your child's teacher to assessment is an excellent subject to raise and discuss as the school year gets under way. We are now in April, an ideal time to ask questions about your child’s performance at school, leaving enough time for remedial action where needed. Assessment does not concern only performance in Maths, Languages, Science but behaviour, co-operation in class, enjoyment of learning, attention deficit and other difficulties identified, as well as harmony between school-life and home-life. Remember that classroom assessment differs from exams in that it is aimed at improvement, rather than at ranking and assigning grades. The value to the teacher is better understanding of students’ learning and a way to improve his/her teaching, for the benefit of all.

<B>Dr. Michael ATCHIA

[email protected]</B>