The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Student Assessment

Abstract

ALL TEACHERS OF HISTORY know at least something about student assessment. Their knowledge may not go beyond what it takes to create a "bubble" test, but unless they do not work in an educational system, they have evaluated many students over the years. This is an important task because evaluations lead to grades, grades lead to credentials, and credentials are the "coin of the realm" in all educational systems. That students expect to be assessed should be apparent to anyone who has ever heard the plaintiff cry, "Will that be on the test?" But what about faculty? How many of them expect to be held accountable for what their students learn? Elementary and secondary school teachers certainly know that assessment is like a mirror. What their students learn reflects back on them. But there is often a disconnect between student and faculty assessment in higher education. While all professors take responsibility for creating and disseminating knowledge, most do not like to be held accountable for whether their students master it. Scholars of teach-