Assessment - unpacking what lies underneath

So far I have been reflecting about assessment from a very pragmatic point of view - e.g. how can I help students connect better to the process of assessment and the standards. In doing so I have seen that the assessment standards are not entirely consistent with student development...

So when we write standards are we thinking in terms of a student's natural development? Are we thinking in terms of development lines or intelligences? (ego, psycho-social, multiple intelligences, moral, perspectival, spiritual... there are over 80 different lines listed in Wilber's Integral Psychology!) Or are we thinking in terms of how a task might get harder? And what is the difference?

But wait, there is more. From a spiral dynamic point of view we can see how approaches to assessment might fit into particular cultural worldviews or perspectives...

Blue meme - authority based culture
The teacher gives a final mark based on a system which is largely invisible to the student. It comes out of a culture where truth and objectivity is valued and there is an expectation that truth can be delivered by an authority.

Although in many ways this assessment culture is the least transparent of the ones I am outlining, within this paradigm there is a false belief that assessment is something that can be known.

Orange meme - enterprise based culture
There are some standards and goals which are transparent to both students and teachers - a student can be rated against these fixed standards by themselves, the teacher or their peers.

However while the standards might seem explicit, within them are implicit values - e.g. valuing autonomy, discernment, initiative... Whose values are these and do we agree with them?
And how subjective are the interpretation of these? E.g. discernment could be seen as intelligence and critical thinking when interpreted from an enterprising worldview, or could be interpreted as wisdom (heart/mind/soul) and insight when interpreted from a spiritual point of view.

So although these standards might seem to enable "objective" measurement, they are actually problematic.

Green meme - postmodern/relativistic/inclusive based culture
In this culture one would question the role of assessment - what and who does it serve? What is the point of setting generic goals and standards in the first place?

Here there is an awareness that each student is a unique evolving and unfolding human being and that trying to fit their learning into subject criteria and standards might be partial, misleading (being subject to interpretation) and detrimental to student self-esteem. In this cultural meme, assessment is likely to be designed with the student to fit their own personal goals and experience, being flexible and reflexive as students reflect on their learning and themselves, past, present and future...being and becoming. It may not involve rating against standards but rather involve personal folios and telling one's story in deeply reflective ways leading to self-realisation and transformation.

The problem with this system is how do employers or further training institutions interpret such highly personal forms of assessment.

Integral meme - including and transcending what has gone before - (yellow)

In an integral assessment system it is recognised that all memes have something of value - they each contribute a partial "truth" - they are appropriate at different times and places, each with limitations. So in an integral assessment system, one would be looking at a multi-layered system that could meet the different needs of students, employers, parents and teachers. An integral system would make the limitations of each cultural assessment mode transparent. It would recognize the problematic and unsolvable nature and keep the tensions alive.

Students would be aware of their own very complex development as a human being, as well as their learning of skills, knowledge and attitudes. They would be able to manipulate various "assessment" processes to help them make sense of this journey.


What do you think? What system do you think you are using or would want to use?