Assessment

As we have learned in higher education, assessment is a really good thing that gets a really bad reputation. Mainly because professors don't want other people telling them what to do. But professors use assessment too. they do it all the time. But when they do it it's called "grading."

I've seen grading from both sides, I've been a student for a long time, and I married a teacher, so I understand that students and teachers look at grading in very different ways. For the student, the grade is something you strive for. Everything you do is to "make the grade" and it is the end goal. For a teacher, the grade is largely irrelevant except that it is a way of measuring learning, which is actually the end goal.

Teachers don't really care about grades because they are arbitrary letters. What they care about is learning, and grades are just the methods they use to measure them. Students, on the other hand, are always confusing the measurement for the goal itself. That's why they will sometimes ask professors "is this going to be on the test?" Students want to know what they will be evaluated on. Professors hate that question because it shows them that the students are just trying to jump through the hoops for the purpose of grades instead of trying to actually become a master of the material.

As a student,I know professors sometimes got frustrated that we wanted to know about the test, and that we focused so much on grades (I am personally guilty of this as well), but I always wanted to say "I promise that I'll stop thinking about the grade the moment you promise to stop grading me." It's hard not to focus on the grade when that is the only measurement you have to go by, and when that measurement is permanently recorded on a transcript that might affect your future.

All of this brings me to my point about Christian living. I believe a student struggling for his grade is caught in the same conundrum as a Christian reading the words of Paul. Paul is saying that it is not our works that save us, it is our faith. We need to be less concerned with the things we do, with the rules we observe, and with the level of righteousness we seem to be obtaining though our actions. Instead, we should be concerned more with drawing closer to God.

The question always comes up (and you've seen it on my blog before) "so Paul, does that mean we should just sin away without a care in the world?" To which Paul always responds "absolutely not."

A professor might tell a student "you need to worry less about grades and testing and papers, and focus more on learning the material, and developing a passion for the subject matter. You are too caught up on what you are going to get on each assignment that you aren't focusing at all on actually learning from what you are doing. And that's the most important thing." The student's response would probably be "does that mean that you don't care at all what I get for grades? So that as long as I think I"m learning I don't need to actually turn in the papers or answer any of the questions correctly?"

Unless this is the Dead Poet's Society the teacher will say "Absolutely not!"

Grades should be a natural outflow of learning. They are a reflection of true learning that helps the teacher understand what the student knows, and holds the student accountable for learning the true answers to the correct material. Good grading means that students who know more about the subject matter will naturally get better grades. Though this is not a perfect system, and sometimes tests and papers ask unfair questions or measure the wrong thing, this just means that sometimes teachers issue bad assignments, and not that grading is a bad practice in general.

You might say that grades aren't really a good measure because sometimes we know much about the subject but just miss a few specific things. For example, a senior in a calculus class might not do as well as a freshman in algebra class on an algebra exam because the senior now takes for granted many of the skills he once used in algebra and has relied on his calculator to do most of the work for him the past few years. But does that mean the senior knows less about math? No, that only shows a limited range of tests and grading. A different test with higher level math would clearly show that the senior in calculus understood much more math than the freshman. The algebra test was designed to measure a certain set of skills, not all mathematical ability in general. This just shows that a single test doesn't tell the whole story.

I hope you see that the above example is not an argument against grading. It's an example of why we should not place the ultimate emphasis on grading. Grades are relevant, but they are fallible. In the same way, we should not put the ultimate emphasis of our Christian walk on the fruits of our relationship with Christ. The emphasis should be on the relationship itself.

We should focus most strongly on what draws us nearer to Christ and on being transformed into His likeness. We should know His character and spend time with Him and reflecting on Him. However, we should not be unaware of, or irresponsible for the good things He would like us to do. I've heard it said "love God, and don't worry about the rest." And that's true if you are a perfect person with a perfect, unfailing love. But if you are a sinner like me, it might be a good idea to consciously pay some attention to some of the other "stuff" that goes into being a Christian, such as being honest, generous, patient, and humble etc... These are good things to work on because they are hopefully the kinds of things that will be revealed when we grow in our relationship with God, just like good grades should come when we grow in our understanding of math. Just don't make these good things the end goal, keep them in perspective where they should be...the results of true learning.

Perhaps I've gone around in circles too much on this post. Maybe I should have stopped earlier and let you draw all the inferences instead of trying to point them out myself. I wanted so much to get some of these ideas out there that this might be a poorly written post in which I just throw around words willy nilly and get as redundant as most pastors in a 3 point sermon. If that's the case forgive me, but I would like to create one more image with my words before I go. Now that I've said all this, I'll boil it down to one last thought.

A student who focuses on grades runs the risk of not truly learning. He may not develop a passion for his studies and will likely not retain much of the material. He shows no respect for the subject and has missed the point. A student who focuses solely on the material is much better and shows he understands what school is for. But if he fails to turn in his assignments how will the teachers know if he is learning correctly, or even the right material? He will eventually fail out of school because his great knowledge, unpracticed, will be worthless to him. A good student does focus on the material and not the grades. But it is still important for him to take the time to actually complete his assignments, as this is a form of studying too. They are not the most important thing, but they go hand in hand with the most important thing.

In short, I've spent way too much time worrying about my grade. I don't want to do that any more, and I don't think that me, or anyone else should ever ask God "is this going to be on the test?"