Why Education Is Important

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Traditional tests often come too late to help learning.

What learners need is timely feedback.

Stealth assessment can measure learning while it takes place.

Never got it. Never really got it. Why do we have tests at school? Why do we measure the performance of training after the training by means of a summative assessment? The ones given at the end of a term to measure mastery of the content that was taught. The multiple-choice tests, or short essay questions, that result in a good or bad grade.

Sure, the lion’s share of students dislike taking pop quizzes, tests, and exams. I was one of those students. But even looking back as a former (!) student, now being an instructor and trainer myself, in hindsight I still do not understand why we so often measure the success of training mainly through these final assessments.

The primary reason why I don’t understand tests is that they generally do not give feedback that is timely or specific enough to improve learning while it is happening. Ultimately, the goal of the learning process is to learn as much as is needed to meet the goals of the training. The outcome of a test is often a single overall score, whereas what is needed is item-level feedback. I should not know only that I was wrong overall; I am supposed to know what went wrong, where. At least as importantly, if I were not able to keep up with the other students in my cohort on the goals of the teaching materials, I am not supposed to find out after the fact, but during the process itself.

And both the lack of on-time assessment as well as the........

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