I had the privilege to have a test writing genius as one of my professors in college. I loved to take his tests. Crazy, huh?!
Magic would flow from his hands as he wrote works of art lasting only one hour. With simple pencil, paper and calculator any misconceptions and/or inaccuracies you had about the subject were extracted with precision. No multiple choice questions, no true/false insanity, no four hour marathon running in a hamster wheel of second guessing.
The beauty of his tests emerged when you realized that you could solve many of the problems in different ways. Since he knew all the pathways to correctness, you could detour from the standard path. It was allowed, encouraged.
His class taught me more than scientific content. It taught me that tests could be valid, useful. It taught me to look for the detours and embrace them.
At the start of my teaching career (before the standardized test obsession), I tried my best to learn from what he taught me. I had more leeway in creativity, so I used it to my advantage.
Personalization was the key.
At the beginning of each school year I sought to know my students. Their interests, their hobbies, their goals. They were not numbers to me, they were individuals with diverse backgrounds.
I wrote tests for my students, not to them.
“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”
Albert Einstein
Each student had a question tailored specifically to him/her. The start of each test would be a treasure hunt to find your question. Minor talking was allowed if a friend found your question first and they told you what number was yours. Every question was to be answered, but each student had a role in the test.
Detours were allowed. Verbal conversations might occur to verify the correct off ramp, but detours were still allowed.
Those few years at the beginning of my career have faded into precious memories as standardization has become the norm. I now know of schools that are required to teach the same thing on the same day using the same test for everyone. This saddens me.
Yes, we need to know if students know content. But! They first need to know we care.
I’m grateful for a college professor who cared, one who took the time to write his own tests. As a result, I found passion in a subject that I might have bypassed. A passion that placed me on a detour of new discoveries about myself and the world around me.