Exams Are Not the Best Way to Measure Students Abilities Research Paper

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Education

Recently, Harvard professors ceased giving final exams as part of their overall assessment of student performance (Strauss, 2010). In a radical transformation of official college policy, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to eliminate exams and require professors who wish to administer them to file an application form. The reverse used to be true: exams were the norm and professors wishing to opt-out would have to ask for permission.

What has caused this startling turn of events? Evidence, for one. In Test Problems: Seven Reasons Why Standardized Tests Are Not Working, Sadker & Zittleman (n.d.) outline empirical evidence supporting a shift away from examinations as the primary measure of student success. Examinations do measure a certain type of achievement, but they should not be used as the only method of gauging student progress and performance. One of the core reasons cited by Sadker & Zittleman (n.d.) include student stress.

Examinations are only one of many different types of academic assessments that can be used in the classroom.

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"We know that the typical multiple-choice and short-answer tests aren't the only way, or necessarily the best way, to gauge a student's knowledge and abilities," (How Should We Measure Student Learning? The Many Forms of Assessment," (n.d.). Application-based assessments are one alternative to examinations. Papers and creative projects are other types of end-of-year assessments that can and will replace examinations as the means of assessment. Formal examinations, including multiple choice and short answer tests, are becoming only one of a plethora of ways educators practice assessment.

Doing away with examinations does not mean doing away with assessments. Quite the contrary, assessments are necessary for measuring not just the student's performance but also the teacher's. It is important to know what methods are working, and what resources or tools are needed to improve student performance. An assessment is irreplaceable in this regard.

However, the examination model is only one….....

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