We are letting fear of gaps drive the conversation about assessment. But is it even a conversation? What should be a robust discussion that includes many stakeholders, including parents, teachers, higher education representatives, business leaders, and students, rarely includes so many voices.
Let's begin with educator voices. They offer the opportunity to add authenticity to the assessment landscape and shape assessment to drive innovation in classrooms and cultivate competitive global citizens.
We also need to bring the voice of students, educators, and global learners to the national assessment conversation. When I visited the White House in October 2021, President Biden said teachers hold the string that keeps the kite of America's hopes and dreams aloft. I believe in public education and the quality work we do every day to help children achieve their dreams.
The current assessment landscape only sometimes reflects the knowledge and innovation our rich national diversity makes possible. We've made advances in the twenty-first century in collecting and quantifying data, but we are losing sight of our assets and focusing on deficits. Many Americans know how their personal data is used to create a better customer experience at their favorite store or online platform; however, despite access to more data than ever before, we've lost our connection to the humans that are our students. For our students, knowledge is easy to find and access. Information is ubiquitous. Our national assessment conversation needs to shift to a global discussion about equipping citizens to reason and think critically about the information they find. ​