How to Assess Knowledge
by Gary Kaplan
The earliest record of knowledge assessment we have is from Socrates, who according to legend said, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
Exactly what MCAS achievement level this would correspond to, we can only speculate. But we can confidently guess that it would not pass muster in today’s data-obsessed educational environment. His own fate would suggest that it didn’t endear him to his fellow Athenians either.
The US has been wrestling with the question of how to measure knowledge for more than a century. The College Board test, the first American standardized exam, was invented in 1901 at Columbia University. World War I accelerated interest in intelligence measurement to qualify officer candidates. The confluence of military and academic purposes led to the development in 1926 of a new test, the Scholastic Aptitude Test. In 1934 Harvard, which had not been a member of the College Board, adopted the SAT.
The driving force at Harvard was the new president, James B. Conant.
Conant envisioned a meritocratic system where individuals were evaluated based on their intellectual capacity rather than social privilege. He saw the SAT as a tool to help Harvard achieve a more diverse and more talented student body. It was an early form of DEI.
That confluence of military and academic was accelerated by the growth of industry in the 20th century. A new workforce with new skills was needed for the industrial economy. After World War II, the need for skills exploded as the United States matured from the arsenal of democracy to the world’s factory floor and police force.
Europe’s first standardized test, the baccalauréat, which was instituted by the military meritocrat Napoleon in 1808. In France and 100 other countries 800,000 students annually take the baccalauréat. In China 13 million take the Gaokao. Two million take the SAT.
Standardized testing came to K-12 education in Massachusetts in 1998 as part of Education Reform, and went national in 2002 as No Child Left Behind. We know the history since then, right up to the referendum of last November that rescinded the MCAS graduation requirement. We are only too familiar with the ensuing and ongoing struggles to find another way to measure knowledge acquisition.
At JFY, we measure the acquisition of knowledge with formative assessments which are built in to our instructional software. The state curriculum standards that were developed in the 1990s and refreshed many times since still lay out the pathways of instruction that all schools are expected to follow from pre-K to 12. The math curriculum framework is 211 pages thick. English Language Arts and Literacy is 193 pages. Science and Technology/Engineering is 188 pages.
Our online curricula follow the grade-level state standards at each grade. The embedded assessments show teachers exactly what standards each student has mastered and which standards need review. Our constant reporting helps teachers make timely, targeted and individualized curriculum adjustments.
We welcome inquiries about our JFYNet academic support by email (info@jfynet.org), phone (617-657-4485) or on our website (www.jfynet.org).
As tired as the old cliché is, our goal is still that no child should be left behind.
Gary Kaplan is the executive director of JFYNetWorks.
Other posts authored by Gary can be found here.
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