Assessments That Produce Real Learning

From the Marshall Memo #434

In this thoughtful Chronicle of Higher Education article, University of North Florida professor David Jaffee says that teachers’ frequent exhortation to their students to study for exams “actually encourages student behaviors and dispositions that work against the larger purpose of human intellectual development and learning. Rather than telling students to study for exams, we should be telling them to study for learning and understanding.” 

It bothers Jaffee and his colleagues that so many students have an instrumental view of college: I’m taking this course to get a passing grade, meet a requirement, graduate with a degree, get a job, make money, and be happy. “Everything is a means to an end,” says Jaffee. “Nothing is an end in itself. There is no higher purpose.” 

And yet teachers constantly reinforce this view of life. “When we tell students to study for the exam or, more to the point, to study so they can do well on the exam, we powerfully reinforce that way of thinking,” he says. “On the one hand, we tell students to value learning for learning’s sake; on the other, we tell students they’d better know this or that, or they’d better take notes, or they’d better read the book, because it will be on the next exam; if they don’t do these things, they will pay the price in academic failure. This communicates to students that the process of intellectual inquiry, academic exploration, and acquiring knowledge is a purely instrumental activity – designed to ensure success on the next assessment.” No wonder students are constantly asking whether something will be on the test.

“This dysfunctional system reaches its zenith,” Jaffee continues, “with the cumulative ‘final’ exam. We even go so far as to commemorate this sacred academic ritual by setting aside a specially designated ‘exam week’ at the end of each term. This collective exercise in sadism encourages students to cram everything that they think they need to ‘know’ (temporarily for the exam) into their brains, deprive themselves of sleep and leisure activities, complete (or more likely finally start) term papers, and memorize mounds of information.”

Dysfunctional? Yes, because cognitive scientists say human learning occurs only when there is retention and transfer. “Retention involves the ability to actually remember what was presumably ‘learned’ more than two weeks beyond the end of the term,” says Jaffee. “Transfer is the ability to use and apply that knowledge for subsequent understanding and analysis. Based on this definition, there is not much learning taking place in college courses.” Here’s the logic:

• Research shows that short-term memorizing – cramming – doesn’t contribute to retention or transfer.
• It may, however, yield short-term results in exam scores.
• Many final exams are high stakes, determining a large part of the final course grade.
• This leads students to cram for exams.
• Therefore, many students will have little long-term learning from their courses.

This explains why so many students don’t know material that was “covered” in previous courses. “The reason they don’t know it is because they did not learn it,” says Jaffee. “Covering content is not the same as learning it.” 

What is to be done? Jaffee says two approaches to assessment will solve the problem [and this goes for K-12 education as well]: formative and authentic. “Used jointly,” he says, “they can move us toward a healthier learning environment that avoids high-stakes examinations and intermittent cramming.”

• Formative assessments – These during-the-year checks for understanding (which don’t require formal grading) combine teaching and learning, allowing students to develop their abilities, assess their progress, and zero in on areas that need improvement. 

• Authentic assessments – These are often “open book” and require students to demonstrate and apply what they have learned – theories, concepts, principles, etc. – to solve a problem they might encounter in the real world. 

Many universities are moving in this direction, says Jaffee. For example, some professors are no longer required to give final exams and alternative assessments are on the rise. “Yes, our mantra of ‘studying for exams’ has created and nourished a monster,” he concludes, “but it’s not too late to kill it.”

“Stop Telling Students to Study for Exams” by David Jaffee in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 27, 2012 (Vol. LVIII, #34, p. A35), 

http://chronicle.com/article/Stop-Telling-Students-to-Study/131622/