What is the public perception of education assessments?

As part of my work at Central Square Foundation in India,? I have been supporting central and state education departments in conducting large-scale, system-based assessments of student learning. Recently, there has been a significant interest in improving the reliability of educational assessments.?

While working on improving the reliability of assessments and data, I had an interesting observation about the wider public perception of accuracy and precision in educational assessments. It is intriguing to find that people do not make a distinction between the fundamental measurements (such as the measurement of length, height and weight) and the kind of measurement done in education. This view leads to the public’s perception of ‘measurement errors’ in the national/large-scale assessments as ‘simple mistakes' which can be prevented. This also leads to resistance towards looking at the assessment process as a probabilistic one and the results as an approximation and therefore low or no appetite towards errors in measurement.??

Error in educational assessments may occur due to many reasons. It may be the mistakes of humans, machines or systems. It may be random or systematic, latent or active. It may arise from poor judgement, inadequate information or inappropriate procedures. It may be the result of individual student circumstances and dispositions. With so many sources, types and contexts for error, logic and experience lead us to a simple conclusion- the error cannot be entirely eradicated.?

Therefore, in addition to reducing the incidence of human errors and system breakdowns in assessments, the efforts towards improving data reliability need to extend widely into improving public understanding of assessments and errors. Furthermore, openness and transparency in assessment design and processes, better explanations of technical terms, and support for the interpretation of findings could lead to improved public perception and therefore more confidence and trust in the assessment data.?Further, it will be important to consider the role of media in influencing the public understanding of assessment issues. Creating a discourse of trust and confidence in assessments will require re-shaping the perceptions of the stakeholders -both those who are assessed and those who use the assessment results. The plan for improving assessment literacy will need to include an explanation of the limitations of assessments, and replace the word 'error' with 'uncertainty'.

Reference: https://www.routledge.com/The-Public-Understanding-of-Assessment/Gardner/p/book/9781138308961