The Blue DOT Issue 13

Rethinking
Assessment
AMELIE ANDREAS
A
s a newly minted
highschool
graduate who’s
attended school in
more countries than I have fingers, I’ve
had my fair share of assessments. From
scantrons and MAP tests to slam
poetry physical theatre and surfing
competitions, I see assessments as
kind of like breeds of dogs. Have
you ever seen a Chihuahua and a St
Bernard in the same room and thought,
no way are those the same species? Well,
that’s how it feels for me looking back
on the exams and projects that have all
fallen under the label of ‘assessment’
throughout the past 12 years of my life.
All good assessments are united by
the intent to place students in the
Amelie is a graduate of travelling boarding school THINK Global School, and is
currently in her first year of university studying Science Communication at Reed
College in Oregon. She is the daughter of two teachers, and has always believed
that quality education is the key to a better world. In the future, she hopes to inspire
young scientists with creative and accessible media, help colonize Mars, or perhaps
both!
‘Performance Zone’, as described in
Eduardo Briceño’s brilliant TED Talk
“How to get better at the things you
care about”. The performance zone
is where we try our best to execute
a task at the absolute pinnacle of
our ability; after spending a term
or module intentionally building
competencies in the ‘Learning Zone’,
performance-based assessments
give students a chance to apply what
they’ve learnt under a degree of
pressure.
Whether or not a summative task
effectively induces the performance zone
has been much of the deciding factor
between the best and the worst of my
assessment experiences. A well-designed
assessment performs a synthetic function,
The performance zone
is where we try our best
to execute a task at
the absolute pinnacle
of our ability; after
spending a term or
module intentionally
building competencies
in the ‘Learning Zone’,
performance-based
assessments give students
a chance to apply what
they’ve learnt under a
degree of pressure.
tying together abstract learning and concrete skills into a realitygrounded
performance that prepares students to succeed in
multiple situations. After a semester spent learning about
biomechanics, sport psychology, and surfing, entering
the performance zone by coaching a classmate to later
compete in a surfing competition forged transferable
competencies such as effectively teaching skills to peers,
analyzing movement from a biophysical perspective,
and of course shredding some gnarly waves. Without that
foray into the performance zone, I may have never gained the
confidence in my abilities that I now have, or had the opportunity
to see how all the hard work I’d put in could come together to help
me achieve complex goals.
Of course, an appropriate balance must be struck between the
pressures of performance and the fertile learning zone. Many
of the least enjoyable assessments I’ve had the pleasure
of participating in have made the mistake of assuming
that the performance zone is inherently a stressful place,
where failure simply isn’t permitted. For example, many
tests go as far as to create circumstances that are more stressful
REFERENCES
than those we would encounter in real life, presumably with the
goal of forcing students to ‘perform’ at their highest capacity with
no room for failure. Asking a student to perform at their highest
level without the understanding that if they do fail, it isn’t the end
of the world, is a recipe for miserable kids who are incapable of
handling inevitable mistakes when they do occur. In many ways,
the most important part of a performance is afterwards returning
to the learning zone and analyzing successes and failures with
growth in mind. This aspect of assessment is completely ignored
in most standardized tests. In the SAT for example, an extra fee is
required to even access the details of individual questions, granting
this all important post-performance revisitation to the learning
zone to only those who can afford it.
Finding that perfect performance-learning balance in assessment
is my challenge to future educators. May your assessments be
delightfully demanding, yet still empathetic towards the students
who endure them. May they encourage students to do their best
work, but still have the capacity to learn from their mistakes. And,
most importantly, will they not be multiple choice tests. Please!
https://www.ted.com/talks/eduardo_briceno_how_to_get_better_at_the_things_you_care_about/footnotes?referrer=playlist-the_most_
actionable_ted_talks
ISSUE • 13
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