I think that every educator has heard the following, “I didn’t do well on this assessment because I have test anxiety.” The fact that every teacher has heard this should be a red flag. Certainly, a bit of test anxiety is healthy—I mean you have to be motivated enough to study. The problem is when test anxiety results in diminished performance. Not only is this stressful and demoralizing, but it also creates inaccurate results. We need to do assessment better.

Assessment should be less like judgement day and more like growth events. And this is where Aaron Cook, the Director of Secondary Curriculum and Assessment at the Delaware City Schools in suburban Columbus, makes a dramatic appearance. Aaron is an assessment savant. In this episode, he’ll promote assessing the whole child. My wife and I strive to eat a whole foods diet. We feel a lot better when we’re not scarfing down all of those preservatives that we can’t pronounce. A whole child approach to assessment will be just as healthy. Not only will Aaron’s ideas inspire you to empower your students through assessment, but he’ll also guide you to creating much more accurate probes.