In our country we have given our students a great deal of practice and rehearsal, but we have not allowed students to play the game. The only way a teacher knows whether learning has occurred is by looking at the student's performance.
Teachers gather many kinds of evidence.
In the past, the primary source of evidence was standardized testing. Today, more and more teachers are moving toward student performance assessment. It is tempting, given this new trend, for teachers to pit one type of assessment against the other. This would be a mistake, however, for each is useful in its own way. Ultimately, we need to redefine assessment to become more comprehensive.