35 years in education led me to conclude tests are not for students. They are of limited value to teachers. They are highly valued by managers and regulators.
One college German TA remarked that German universities didn’t demand quizzes and tests.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @garyackerman
That is weird because the German model adopted by American universities is the source of the problem.
@garyackerman Academic Managers now call themselves Academic Leaders and hold to the view, more so than ever, that if you can't attach a number to it, then it's meaningless. Exam scores, metrics to measure faculty production, etc. All must be quantified, all must be meaureable in ways that allows bean counters to easily count beans. Quality is relegated to the world of nostalgia.
@garyackerman
The same is true in the UK. We were beginning to see the light a couple of decades ago, but then Michael Gove became the minister for education and turned the clock back 50 years.
@garyackerman exactly that
They only exist to let suits somewhere else make uneducated guesses based off 'fancy numbers going somewhere'...
It is the stupid German model of education that we adopted for efficiency reasons.
The British universities are more like an old Greek on the end of the log.
Tests are said to make it "achievement based." But as you say it is just something easy to measure and manipulate for political reasons.
@garyackerman and of very controlling parents