What tests don't measure

Some days ago, the College Board announced that it aims to revamp the SAT's to make them more 21st century-friendly. Outdated components of the test would be replaced by more focused ones. So, for instance, rather than learning obsolete vocabulary, the redesigned SAT would "focus on relevant words, the meanings of which depend on how they’re used."(College Board). Yet one has to question whether this measure addresses the real problem at hand. 


There seems to be a stigma around the role of testing in education as they are seen by the general populace as a gauge of rigorous learning. In fact, students are told as from a young age that they have to be successful test-takers to get into a good university.  So in this culture of testing, the search for alternatives, is usually portrayed as a foolish hippie quest to lower standards rather than a genuine effort to define deeper learning. 

But what is deeper learning? Will Richardson's insightful representation of the immeasurables of learning sheds some light on this:  

The Immeasurables. Diagram by Will Richardson

This diagram articulates the challenges of gauging higher level learning. Deep learning is indeed complex, amorphous and dynamic. So, instead of acknowledging this, we try to wrap our head around the complexity by watering it down to a number that falls somewhere within a bell curve. Testing can be a useful tool to assess critical analysis and synthesis, but it does not measure anything beyond that. If anything, it usually measures redundant skills such as content knowledge and memorization. As a result, the fallacious notion that testing assesses deeper learning, leads to the design of curriculums that teach to a test and ignores the rigour that truly matters.

Unfortunately, such a huge emphasis on testing helps propagate misconceptions that shape paradigms. In her book, Mindset: How You Can Fulfill Your Potential, Carol Dweck explains how people who have a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence is static and you either have it or you don't. These people are more likely to falter when exposed to unfamiliar challenges because they are lacking flexibility. If students are told from an early age that tests are essential to get to a good university, they will start to view test scores as an unequivocal pronouncement that defines their very being.   

Contrastingly, people who have a growth mindset understand that learning is an ongoing process which isn't defined by the IQ or by test scores. The people who are successful know how to overcome obstacles by being persistent, identifying problems and creating solutions. Will Richardson's immeasurables, play a central role in students preparedness for an unfamiliar world, which will require them to be creative problem-solvers. Bearing this in mind, it is our responsibility as educators to expose our students to this kind of rigour or else we will be doing them a great disservice.

Finally, we need to ask ourselves: What are the best practices that promote and foster a growth mindset in education? Hint. Testing is not one of them.