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I find it hard to reconcile your suggestion with the fact that there's a testing overload crisis in US schools.

• mlyle 7y ago
  I think a lot of what we complain about in that vein (testing overloads) are standardized tests with significant consequences for schools, which in turn prompt intensive preparation and rigorous curriculum aimed at just excelling at the test. This is obviously not good. (Aside: failing to measure schools probably isn't very good, either...) I think continuous assessment and using technology to help individualize curriculum has huge potential, though. My eldest son often uses Khan Academy, and it is always measuring what he thinks he knows and what is probably next. When it raises a flag, it's time for individualized instruction.
• username90 7y ago
  Stress from tests depends more on what you test instead of how much. Of course if you just see it as an assessment tool instead of a teaching tool it can become a problem, but one of the best way to teach people is to test them before teaching. In a classroom this could be done by asking the kids to write down their answers, then you discuss the answers in class, then you give your answer and then you discuss that. The important part is to teach kids that they can think on their own and often come to reasonable conclusions without any help at all. And even when they fail they now understand better the difference between their wrong answer and a correct answer.