When you walk past a school in India, you will most likely notice large hoardings outside. On it will be the examination marks and names of the students who scored the most for their board examinations.
The board usually acts as a marketing stunt targeted towards parents to put their child into the school as a guarantee for higher test scores. This board reflects the priorities of both parents and schools: examinations as a means to an end itself. The belief that higher marks equals higher intelligence or capability is almost a given.
This is not to say that examinations are the problem, the real issue lies in limiting learning and comprehension to just examination scores.
Let us take for example Priya who is in Class IX. She is active and inquisitive in the class discussions but still ends up performing poorly on tests that require her to write long essays or solve comprehension based questions.
Her teachers, under the pressure to deliver higher performance test scores, rather than helping to resolve the problem of writing, spend extra time pushing her to learn the syllabus by heart, learning just enough to be able to score sufficiently enough to pass the test.
Priya’s own parents, when looking at her poor grades, begin to doubt her capability and her future prospects.
This scenario shows how most of the times our present evaluation methods do not fulfill their objective of offering useful information to either the tutors or the students as to what can be improved upon or the different approaches to be adopted so that someone like priya can truly learn better after being assessed.
Limitations of exam centric education
Examinations or assessments should help teachers understand the student’s level of comprehension better so that they can tweak their methods to improve learning outcomes. Instead of that, we limit examinations to just numbers and data that don’t make sense to any stakeholder involved.
“I am asked to write the marks and document how much each child has scored in each semester. I present the number in the form of a report card to the parents at the end of the year. If the parents notice high numbers, the smile widens; the smaller the number, the weaker the smile,” says a Teach For India Fellow in Bengaluru and adds, “They do not care whether the child is able to conceptually understand topics, whether they have built critical or creative thinking skills. All that matters to them are the marks.”
The fellow adds, "Apart from the examination marks not helping us understand a child’s learning or assess their growth, it also only limits knowledge to academic prowess and induces unnecessary stress. Our exams are like assessing the capabilities of a zoo full of diverse animals by testing only their ability to climb trees. We're missing out on the eagles' flying skills, the elephants' strength, and the dolphins' swimming prowess."
This narrow approach not only fails to identify and cultivate a wide range of talents but also potentially stifles creativity and innovation by implicitly devaluing forms of intelligence that don't conform to the standard academic mold.
Howard Gardner’s work
This idea aligns closely with Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which posits that intelligence is not a single, general ability, but rather a range of eight distinct intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.
Gardner's theory challenges the notion that a high score on a standardised test is the be-all and end-all of educational achievement. It suggests that the traditional exam-centric approach may be leaving many talented students behind — those whose strengths lie in areas not typically measured by such tests.
Different schools having these practices:
Project-Based Assessments at The Riverside School
This school which is located in the city of Ahmedabad, is well known for its unique approach to education called the “I CAN” approach which puts emphasis on practical problem solving. Instead of the usual examinations, the students’ performance in the institution is based on certain projects which call upon the knowledge acquired to find solutions to real community problems.
When students are assessed on how they can change their environment, it is much more than information testing since there is a deep focus application and real world skills.
Portfolio Assessments Shibumi School in Bengaluru
This school utilises the portfolio assessment strategy where the teachers collect artifacts done by the students throughout the academic year to show the child’s growth holistically rather than just through marks.
Such strategies would be useful as they would help in seeing not only one aspect of the child’s development but looking at the child from many different angles.
Portfolios give us insight into a student's thought process, creativity, and progress over time, it is a much richer picture than what a single exam can provide.
Narrative Assessments At CFL, Bengaluru
Some progressive schools, like Centre for Learning (CFL) in Bengaluru, have done away with grades entirely. Instead, they provide detailed narrative assessments that describe a student's strengths, areas for improvement, and overall progress.
This is done over a period of time through detailed observations and deep understanding of each child. Narrative assessments provide a more nuanced and personalised feedback.
Conclusion
While these approaches might sound promising and are even currently being practiced in India, it's important to note that the shift away from traditional exams is not without challenges.
Parents, accustomed to the old system, often need convincing. Universities and employers still largely rely on standardised test scores for admissions and hiring. Moreover, implementing these new evaluation methods requires significant teacher training and a shift in mindset.
But given that there are schools that have already started to practice these holistic approaches to testing, shows that it is a possibility.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has also recognised the need for this shift, emphasising the importance of holistic, multi-dimensional learning.
This policy support may accelerate the adoption of innovative assessment techniques across more schools in India.
As India stands at this educational crossroads, the pioneers of holistic evaluation are showing a way forward. They're demonstrating that it's possible to create an education system that values understanding over memorisation, creativity over conformity, and holistic development over exam scores.
The road ahead may be challenging, but for the sake of our students and the future they will shape, it's a journey worth undertaking. As more schools embrace these innovative evaluation techniques, we move closer to an education system that truly prepares students not just for exams, but for life itself.
