Pre-reading: My initial reaction to the title of the article was no, assessment does not kill student creativity. I think students can be assessed on creativity without a rubric or a subjective set of criteria. As long as teachers give students the opportunity to be creative but also understand how to “mark” this creativity, assessment will not have a negative effect.
During reading:
-“the best answer to the question of ‘does assessment kill creativity’ is: it depends”
-assessment can have a negative impact on students but it all depends on how it is used to motivate students
-“By displaying only the best work or by using charts to make social comparisons, teachers communicate to students that outperforming others, rather than self-improvement, is the reason for engaging in achievement-directed behavior” –> this quote raised some questions for me. On one hand, it is important to set standards and show students what is expected of them. However, it is also very easy for students to become discouraged and using other students’ work as a comparison tool can have the opposite effect and lead to demotivation.
Post-reading: I think the article was well-written and clearly articulates how teachers can foster student creativity while effectively assessing their students. As long as they minimize social comparisons and aim to focus on students’ own abilities and capabilities, assessment will not kill creativity. It is important to keep in mind that all students learn differently so something that motivates one student may not necessarily motivate another. When teachers would show me other students’ work, it provided me with a standard that I wanted to surpass. However, there are many times when teachers need to focus on students’ own self-improvement. Every student learns differently so a set of subjective criteria will not be beneficial to all. When students are encouraged to better themselves in comparison to their own abilities, they are “more likely to take risks, seek out challenges, and persevere in the face of difficulty.”
Beghetto, R.A., (2005). Does assessment kill student creativity? The Educational Forum, (69) 2 p254-263
Thank you Ashley. It is good to see your developing understanding of assessment and the recognition that not all students are motivated in the same way you were as a student. As Beghetto notes, it is really a function of the forms of assessment and the types of feedback provided to students.
I wonder about the notion (though this isn’t to imply it’s wrong!) implicit in your post that focusing on a students own achievement is something we ‘sometimes’ need to do and whether subjective criteria is actually beneficial to any students… sure, it helps them to ‘learn school’ but does it improve learning? I’ll quote from Beghetto again: “…a master goal structure is represented by goal-related messages that focus on self-improvement, skill development, creativity and understanding. [The assessment practices] provide students with useful information and feedback on how they are progressing relative to their own prior achievement.” (p. 258)
Question: is there such a thing as ‘objective criteria’?