Does Assessment Kill Creativity?

Pre-Read

Before I read this article my inclination is that assessment, in some ways, kills creativity. In my opinion teachers, like all people, attach a lot of ego to their work. It is almost a pathological narcissism that many, but certainly not all, teachers demonstrate when then judge the work of their students. I do not believe, at the elementary level, teachers should be participating in traditional assessment. Surely, there is a lot of institutional and parental pressure which encourages the use of grades but in my mind placing a number or a letter next to a student’s work is in many ways wrong.

Some notes during my read

• Creativity requires novelty and usefulness
  • creativity is often viewed as that which is unique, out of the ordinary, bizarre or deviant — without the additional criterion of creativity can become a euphemism for bad work
• creativity has 2 stages
  • divergent stage: brainstorming, generating ideas, problems/solutions
  • convergent stage: evaluating, choosing, assimilating ideas
• turning to “motivational sciences” — sounds scary!!
• This is interesting to me:
  • by sharing only the best student work, teachers put pressure on students to perform to that social norm, instead of working towards their best
    • I think there is a parallel here with instagram/other social media. students see the best of everyone, not the “not perfect” situations
    • students are more likely to view errors as a lack of ability
  • conversely a mastery goal which focuses on self development, skill development, creativity and understanding –what if students see other’s being very successful at mastery goals? same problem?
• assessment does not necessarily kill creativity — how the students perceive the message sent by the teacher in assessment that matters.
• minimizing social comparisons
• minmize the pressure of assessment — if students feel pressured by “evaluative surveillence” their willingness to express creativity will suffer
• do not throw praise around for empty, or bad ideas
• teachers play an instrumental role in shaping students’ perceptions of how much creativity will be tolerated

A few thoughts, after reading the article

In general I agree with what Ronald Beghetto had to say. I find myself quite skeptical of assessment. I do not really want to do it, at this point. Mostly because I do not feel like I have the right to place such a judgment on someone else’s work. I feel that an opinion, an insight, or a connection has a lot more to offer the student from a learning perspective as well as a practical one.

Mastery goals are a very interesting way to look at education. By encouraging students to work towards improving their skills/abilities instead of working towards completing a rubric, I think students are empowered with more agency and should find schools less meticulous and rigid. I, of course, am pretty biased. I do not like rubrics, I had a disdain for “busy work” back in the school days, and I am a big fan of inquiry style teaching.

Ultimately, if as teachers, we can create an environment which fosters creativity and critical thinking I think a fantastic job has been done. Maintaining high level engagement throughout the year — or even the week — is easier said than done. Working towards these ideals, however, teachers can do a lot to make school more interesting for students.