Can it be measured?

Recently I ran into one of those perennial educational sticky questions that operate on different levels. The question operates on a range from the philosophical to the pragmatic, and, regardless of the level at which the conversation takes place, emotions can fly high. The question takes several forms, but basic variations are, “Can everything be measured?” or, “Can every kind of learning be measured?” One unspoken question is, “Should learning be measured?”

That may seem to be a strange question in a day when educators rely on standardized tests and make demands for entrance exams in an effort to get “better students” to teach.

Like all interesting questions we can find plenty of opinions on either side of the camp: “No, everything can’t be measured,” and, “Yes, everything can be measured,” and mediating positions in between. Needless to say, I fall into the “Yes, everything can be measured or assessed” school of thought. As the saying goes, “If all statisticians were lined up on their backs, head to foot, all in a row . . . it would be a good thing.”

“Everything exists in a certain amount or certain quality, and therefore, can be measured,” goes one school of thought. Everything is either an object with physical attributes (weight, size, height, width, volume), a dynamic (force), or a quality (good-bad, fair-excellent, failing-passing, naïve-sophisticated). Once something is named, it calls for assessment.

In hospice we assess something as existential as personal pain by asking a patient to rate it on a scale of one to ten. Similarly, therapists ask patients to assess their level of anxiety from one to ten. Even a child engages in assessment at play related to one of the most “unmeasurable” of qualities, love. You know the game. It is bedtime, and just before tucking the child under the sheets for the night a parent asks, “Do you love me?” The child answers, “Yes.” The parent asks, “How much do you love me?” And the child spreads her arms wide and replies, “This much!”

Over the years I’ve identified some covert issues related to resistance and arguments against more rigorous assessment of student learning.

Issues of accountability. Sometimes there is a general fear that a rigorous practice of assessing student learning may reflect poorly on the teacher’s competence. That’s a valid concern. Willful refusal to learn or personal limitations aside, a student’s failure is the teacher’s failure. But fear of accountability is not a valid reason for not engaging in appropriate educational practice.

Issues of lack of expertise. Appearing incompetent is something many teachers dread. Many who teach are experts in their field of knowledge but have received no training in educational practice or instructional theory or pedagogy. Too many of these teachers resist acquiring new expertise for fear of appearing like novices in the process of learning. That’s ironic in that instilling a love for learning, growth, and adventurous curiosity for new learning is what teachers are supposed to instill in their students.

Issues of integrity. Some teachers raise an argument of integrity when resisting assessment of student learning. The argument is that students don’t or can’t learn everything the teacher intends, or, that students often learn things the teacher does not intend. Sometimes the argument is, “I don’t want to promise what I can’t deliver.” But practicing rigorous educational processes of learning goals and assessment of learning are also a matter of integrity. If we say that we will educate persons we should provide evidence that we are doing so. Students who pay for an education deserve to get what they pay for.

Issues of hard work. This one amuses me. Teachers perennially complain that students are “lazy” and don’t want to do the work. Yet when they are asked to engage in professional activities related to their work one of the complaints is that it is “hard work,” or, “more work.” Sometimes I wonder who learns it from whom: do teachers learn that complaint from students or do students learn it from teachers? Just because something necessary is hard to do, or requires work, is no valid reason for not doing it.

Issues of focus and scope. The polemic that not everything can or should be measured is not a valid point. Not everything needs to be measured, nor should everything be assessed. But effective programs assess those things that require assessment as evidence of mastery of learning. We need to assess those things that will help us understand how well we are carrying the work we are called to do. Students deserve feedback that helps them understand their progress and achievement.

Creepy art for today