Growth is a better metric than achievement when assessing schools
Do achievements of a school not indicate the growth of a school? There is a difference between achievements and growth as an assessment tool for schools. ‘Achievement’ of a student or a school is measured based on the performance of students in a board examination or common examination. We are aware that there are many factors that influence the achievement of a school that include background of parents, facilities provided in a school, urban and rural environments. Wrong practices can also influence the performance in a single point examination.
SHANTI KRISHNAMURTHY
Director, Academics &
Administration,
Chinmaya International
Residential School,
Coimbatore
The researchers at St. Louis University’s Policy Research in Missouri Education Centre believe growth is a better metric than achievement when assessing schools in their recently released paper.
In contrast, ‘growth’ is measured based on the progress made by the student over time, especially year on year. Growth measures the progress of a student between two points in time. Compares students own prior performance and thus only depends on the progress made by the student which varies from one child to another. The variable is well accepted and is not affected by the influence of the parents or facilities. Above all, measuring achievements makes education extremely competitive.
Achievements are like a bouquet of flowers that whittle away but growth is permanent
Competitive education cannot nurture positive attitude in children. In 2018, a Class 9 student was in a spot of bother as his notebook had torn pages and was in stress. When education becomes competitive, the very objective of education which is to create individuals with an attitude of caring and sharing is lost. The very purpose of education gets defeated.
Many a time achievement whether it is sports / academics or in any other field unfortunately kindles jealousy. This results in achieving success by hook or crook method which is dangerous to the society. Sportsmen drugging themselves for winning a race are not new to us. Achieving success cannot be the goal of education. The entire gamut of changes documented in NEP 2020 is to remove stress and build resilience in children. Where did this stress come from? On contemplation, all educators will realise that assessing students and schools by achievement is one of the causes. On the other hand, when we measure progress of students in schools, our schools will be encouraging children to accommodate each other and embrace taking everyone along in the journey of learning. This is a vital turning point for all of us in the field of Education. To start with, if achievements and information of progress are used together to asses a student, it will give a paradigm shift to the process of assessment and will also give a better insight on student’s learning.
Tips to take it forward in our schools:
- Teachers can help children to set their goals according to their own abilities.
- While recognising the achievers in our schools, also recognise the children who have improved their prior performance.
- The report card of the assessments should include the information on the improvement made by the students between current performances to their prior performance.
According to a report by NCERT, there are 13 lakh schools in 6 lakh villages catering to 22 crore students in India. A positive graded shift can happen if we adapt a ‘growth mindset’ and start measuring the growth along with the achievements of our children and schools. How can we ever use the same scale by measuring achievements of our village schools with the city schools or so called elite schools? The gap keeps widening and such a lopsided assessment will keep us far from being a developed nation. The NEP 2020 aims to shape an education system that benefits all of India’s children. Measuring school growth instead of achievement is indeed a right step in that direction.
