Pass/Fail

This week we just finished the annual PASS testing. PASS stands for the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards. It’s the big, end of the year test that measures student achievement. And it’s not the first test these students have taken this year. They have taken the MAP test (Measures of Academic Progress) three times: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Throw in smaller assessments like Basic Reading Inventory, Running Records, Progress Monitoring, Voyager, DIBELS, and PALS and it seems that a student can be assessed on something every day of the school year!

Well, in reality they are assessed every day. It may be something as simple as a question, or a math or spelling worksheet or something formal like PASS. Assessment is one of the primary ways we determine if a student is learning. Can they answer the question? Do they know the answer? Can they pass the test? Is it the best way to determine if a student is learning? I’m not sure, but I know Assessments are here to stay. In fact, I had to pass a class on Assessments to complete this Masters Degree.

The danger of assessments comes when we teach for the score alone. When we do this we can get trapped into teaching the test. No one would admit to teaching this way, but there is tremendous pressure for school districts to “prove” that their students are learning. The best use of assessments is to call attention to areas of study that need to be improved and re-taught or teaching strategies that need to be changed.

Assessment has a hard time translating to church life. Most attempts to advance our faith, usually called Bible Study or Discipleship, are void of assessment. Sometimes I think we take the personal aspect of our relationship with the heavenly father so personal that we think we are exempt from assessment. How can you possibly measure my personal faith experience? No one’s experience is exactly like mine.

The scripture begins to answer our concerns: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15)

Assess yourself, what kind of spiritual fruit grows on your branch of the vine?

AL