Examinations have been used as a method of testing comprehension and the application of theories ever since 2357 B.C. when Chinese emperors were employing examinations of military officers. But the last year of schooling has upended the value of exams for children at the crucial stages of moving to high school and university in many countries, including the US and the UK. Inevitably this has infuriated some and been a relief to others. This Economist article confirmed that “The Programme for International Student Assessment, an exam measuring the academic performance of OECD member countries…have been postponed”. With budgets for US states aligned with results this has thrown a large spanner into the works and how money is assigned. With a movement in the US for many years to opt out of this benchmarking now garnering more support another standard needs to be developed. Derek Briggs of the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education has questioned testing at this point, “Isn’t it reasonable to assume that every student probably has had a suboptimal learning experience?” This last year needs to be taken as an anomaly and much needs to be fixed at so many educational levels. Let’s start addressing these and then move on to a better, fairer system.
