Week One - Ch 1, 2, & 17

            As I read these initial chapters on assessment, I began to realize that assessment is something that happens in so many contexts.  It occurs when I take my car to garage to be fixed, when I go to the doctor’s office, or even when I go to Best Buy in search of a new computer.  The person to whom I speak is in essence doing an assessment so that they can identify the issue or problem, plan an intervention, and they are even likely to follow up with me through email or phone to see if their “intervention” was successful.  Assessment seems to have gotten a bad name these days as people associate it with high-stakes testing.  But as our text (Drummond and Jones, 2010) points out, testing and assessment are two different things.  And actually both can be very helpful.  Without these things, my mechanic, my doctor, the salesperson, and perhaps even my child’s teacher might be less able to identify, design, implement, and monitor things that are vital for my child or me.  The key seems to be using multiple methods and multiple sources to make accurate and helpful assessments.  Perhaps this is the fear and sometimes the reality associated with high stakes testing: one instrument, typically a structured test, receives undo attention and influence in assessment.

            As my children applied to colleges one oft used test was the SAT.  There was often undue pressure felt by students in terms of scoring very highly on this test.  Some of my children’s classmates invested large amounts of money in SAT preparation courses as well as large expenditures of hours studying for this very important exam.  I remember one boy who participated in very expensive SAT preparatory courses and was not allowed to participate in weekend activities during the fall of his junior year in high school because his parents enforced strict SAT study hours.  While I understand a college’s desire to have some standardized measure for academic readiness, I also wonder whether success on one test, in one moment in time is a good indicator of academic success and the value that an individual will both gain from and give to a particular university.  My daughter’s friend did end up doing quite well on his SAT test and was accepted into Harvard.  He was a great student and will likely do well in his profession.  But were there other students who would have been equally as successful at Harvard and would have been able to benefit as much from that education, but may not have scored as highly on the SAT because of lack of funding for intensive SAT preparation courses?  Perhaps the test that is meant to provide some type of standardization with which to view students across the country, may at times also be reflective of other things such as whether one has money for expensive preparatory courses.  I am pleased that some universities now offer test-optional or test-flexible admission policies during their college admission assessments.

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.