Assessment Fatigue

In every industry workers deal with assessments. When you are seeking a certification, there’s an assessment. If you are earning an advanced degree, you will have a series of assessments. Education is no different. Our students have different assessments that they are required to take. How are assessments affecting our students?

During the school year it seems that students are constantly taking some form of an assessment. There are district assessments, nationally normed assessments, state interim assessments, classroom assessments, and state mandated assessments. The number of tests seems overwhelming. Teachers can be frustrated by assessment scheduling and students frustrated with taking assessment after assessment.

In my opinion, tests being administered on computers have impacted student performance negatively. Of course we have students that are going to give their best effort no matter what, but what about other students that may not have that intrinsic motivation to give their best effort? Are these assessments providing an accurate picture of what our students can do? You and I both know that the resounding answer is no.

There’s little that we can do to change the current reality of calendar year assessments in our schools. What can we do to improve outcomes? Is there a way that we can make assessments work to benefit our schools?

Are we having conversations with students about the purpose of each assessment? Are we conferencing with students about their individual performance on assessments? Do students have a data tracker to monitor their progress? Are parents being notified about their students performance and how they can help at home? Are there classroom and campus wide incentives for student performance?

Assessments themselves are not bad. The information gathered from testing can be valuable for students, teachers, and parents. Can we balance instruction and assessments in a way that doesn’t overwhelm our students and teachers? My hope is that we can somehow find a way to assess students effectively without diminishing instruction.