Is forgoing exams actually better for students? By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Feb. 6, 2023

Opinion

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This article was published 06/02/2023 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Show your work.

It’s a bit of math-class wisdom most of us carry long after we leave a classroom. Having the answer is one thing; showing the process of how you got there — or didn’t — is crucial to not only learning, but actually understanding.

The news that some Manitoba schools are eschewing formal exams in favour of “progressive assessment” raises the question of why the province isn’t showing its work.

Winnipeg’s Louis Riel and St. James-Assiniboia school divisions are among those that have shifted away from administering high-stakes exams, often worth 30 per cent of a student’s final grade, in favour of less anxiety-provoking methods to measure success, such as smaller tests, projects or outcomes-based assessments.

But, as the University of Manitoba’s Darja Barr, a senior instructor of mathematics, told the Free Press, “There’s no solid, rigorous experimentation and data collection to see whether these things are actually doing better for the students.”

“There’s no solid, rigorous experimentation and data collection to see whether these things are actually doing better for the students.”–Darja Barr, University of Manitoba

And that’s a problem. In 2020, Manitoba called off the Grade 12 Provincial Exams for English, French and math amid a global health crisis that disrupted school as a whole. But in August 2022, the province announced it would discontinue them completely in favour of new evaluations for Grade 10 students. What those will constitute is still unknown.

There is wisdom in the idea that a diagnostic test in an earlier grade might be more worthwhile than an exit exam in Grade 12 when it comes to learning outcomes. And there is merit in re-evaluating the way things have always been done, if the way things have always been done is no longer useful.

Should a stressful two-hour exam really be worth almost as much as an entire semester of learning and knowledge? And is standardized testing really the best way to hold the school system accountable? What do test scores really mean?

But there is also the concern that moving away from exams doesn’t set students up for success in other areas of life in which they will have to perform under pressure, be that on driver’s tests, job interviews, auditions, athletic competitions, project deadlines or boardroom presentations.

Or, for that matter, exams. Many university- and colleges-level courses have an exam or certification component. Fields such as medicine and law have entrance exams in the form of the MCAT and LSAT; trades have Red Seal certification exams.

A larger issue is the fact that “progressive assessment” is being lopsidedly applied. Each school determines what its own final assessments look like, which means there’s no agreed-upon metrics for what “progressive assessment” is, or if it’s better for students.

A larger issue is the fact that “progressive assessment” is being lopsidedly applied. Each school determines what its own final assessments look like, which means there’s no agreed-upon metrics for what “progressive assessment” is, or if it’s better for students.

In the United States, there’s a growing pushback against standardized testing. Many research studies over the years have shown kids from lower socioeconomic status households get lower scores on tests, and that poverty has an effect on young people’s brains. These are issues we cannot test our way out of.

To that end, the province would do well to look beyond scores, testing or calling tests by other names, and instead examine the root causes.

That could look like bolstering mental-health supports for students so they are better equipped to cope with stress and anxiety. It could look like lowering the stakes of exams, so students don’t feel as if their grades, university-entrance chances, or entire futures depend on the next two or three hours. It could look like the development of a robust breakfast program, so kids aren’t trying to learn while dealing with gnawing hunger.

Progressive assessment could very well be part of that equation. We just need the province to show its work.