Education Assessment for the Layperson

Education as a Service
Service objectives are clear. The carwash cleans your car. The home builder builds a house. The street department maintains the roads. The school educates students.

Evaluating Services
Services are evaluated by their positive traits. The car is clean. The home is built on time, within budget, and to specification. The roads are free of snow and potholes. A consumer's assessment criteria changes with the service. Adjectives used by laypeople when assessing services include words like prompt, clear, accurate, available, consistent, affordable, uniform, efficient, and comprehensive.

The Student as a Consumer
Service providers are expected to take responsibility for their performance. Carwash operators do not blame their patrons if a car is still dirty after it has been washed. The builder does not blame the homeowner if the wrong construction materials are used. The road crew does not blame a driver when a car hits a pothole. In a similar vein, most educators do not blame the students if the faculty is aloof, the schoolyard is full of rocks, or the classes are inappropriate and poorly taught.

Increased Uncertainty
There is uncertainty about the roles of parents and students as consumers and educators as service providers. Uncertainty may be aggravated by the use of student test scores. Student testing is often used to indicate the performance of the education institution.

Accreditation and funding sources expect educators to produce students that score well on tests, as well as a variety of other student-centric criteria. This expectation shifts performance requirements from the school to the parents and the student.

Layperson Information
The people who look at education as a consumer want a good return on their money. They pay schools to educate their children. Parents want their child to receive an education that is timely, understandable, accurate, consistent, affordable, efficient, and comprehensive. In addition, they would like to see an improvement in the learning experience over time.

These diverse expectations require educators to expand their ability to provide evidence of both administrative and academic performance. There is increasing pressure to expand education assessment information systems beyond student data to include data on faculty, resources, and performance.

System Improvements
Education assessment models exist that can measure both student and administrative performance. Most educators will benefit from expanding their assessment system to include better data. The Center for Education Assessment is available to assist with system improvements.