Applying the Science of Learning to Classroom Teaching: The Critical Importance of Aligning Learning with Testing

Abstract

Introduction Assessment presents a perennial challenge for both faculty and their students. To excel on a test, students must engage in a series of complex cognitive tasks they rarely practice. To effectively measure student learning, faculty must design summative assessments to target specific knowledge and skill. Unfortunately, despite knowing and understanding the subject matter at a deep level, assessment design and test taking can go often awry for instructors and their students. It is curious that while assessment is one of the most dominant features of education at all levels, learners and their professors seldom receive direct instruction or training on research-based strategies that are proven to radically improve classroom testing. A consequence of the lack of adoption of research-based strategies for test taking and design is a misalignment between student learning and testing that has implications for the integrity of the educational process in our classrooms. The purpose of this essay is to address the misalignment between summative testing and learning and to offer recommendations for better teaching, learning, and testing. While we address classroom summative assessment only, the strategies we recommend are applicable across a variety of testing contexts, including high-stakes, standardized testing. In Part I, we analyze how testing and learning work, and offer retrieval-enhanced learning theory as a bridge to the gap in misalignment between learning and testing. In Part II, we offer four practical recommendations for introducing retrievalenhanced learning in classroom teaching. We conclude with implications for practice when student learning and testing are aligned.