Laurie Clarcq on Assessment

The Era of Testing is upon us. Hopefully, it implodes sooner than later. Laurie, in the recent standards discussion here, said this – I repeat it here so we can have it at our fingertips as a new category:
1.  In hundreds of years, not one human being has been able to create an evaluation system that ensured that any other human being acquired a language better and/or faster.   EVER.
Evaluation systems have NOTHING to do with acquisition.
What we actually do know about acquisition is that it cannot be manipulated very well externally.
What we can do is create an ideal-as-possible environment for acquisition emotionally, spiritually, psychologically and physiologically.  Then…feed people language in digestible chunks so that their brains can acquire it as they will.    I think we know more about what interferes with acquisition than what elicits acquisition.
2.  What evaluation CAN do, is let us know what pieces of the language students have acquired and what they are skilled enough, and comfortable enough, to demonstrate.
3.  What evaluation is too often USED FOR is to divide students into categories, to provide justification for the sale of materials, to arbitrarily judge and rank students, teachers, programs and districts.
Too often, as teachers, we spend enormous amounts of time and energy trying to create, or adapt, or work with evaluation systems so that our students are not harmed in the process.
I know that I am a cynic and a rebel on this topic.   But I believe that there is no system out there that does any good for us, or for our students, no matter how much our “teacher brains” love those systems.
Keep evaluation to a minimum.  Use it to evaluate if you need to go narrower and deeper.  Use it to evaluate how compelling your material is.  Use it to evaluate the comprehensibility of everything you use.
Use a little of it to showcase your students.
Then, let it go….let it go…let it go….
with love,
Laurie