Assessment as Formation

Why what we measure, and how we measure it must reflect who we’re becoming.

Over the past few months, I’ve explored the four essential human skills that I believe every student needs to flourish in the age of AI:

• Empathy and Ethical Discernment

• Critical Thinking

• Creative Iteration

• Agile Communication

We’ve looked at how these skills connect to the liberal arts and the essential skills they develop. We’ve considered real assignments. We’ve heard voices from K–12 and higher education, and stayed grounded in the belief that our students are people in the process of formation, not just information processors.

This leads us to a pressing question: How do we know formation is happening?

It’s one thing to design powerful learning experiences, and it’s another to measure what matters, without reducing it to a checklist.

In this next part of the series, we’re going to explore how assessment itself can become a formational practice. We want to look at it as not just a grade or a test, but a tool for growth, identity development, and purpose.

Why Now?

The rise of generative AI has changed the landscape. It’s easier than ever to produce a product, but that product doesn’t always tell us what our student has learned or demonstrate the knowledge or skill they’ve developed through the learning experience.

We’ve all seen these types of things that leave us wondering if what we’re doing is making a difference:

• A technically flawless essay, with no evidence of deep thinking

• A complete assignment, built by a bot

• A submission that checks the box, but says nothing about who the student is or what they’ve learned

In a world where AI can automate products, we believe that the real work of education remains formation.

So here are the questions we believe that educators must ask:

• Are we assessing what students produce, or who they are becoming? And how do we do that anyway?

• Are we measuring output or growth?

• Are we privileging speed and accuracy, or wisdom, discernment, and reflection?

Because the truth is, what we assess reveals what we value.

What’s Ahead in This Series

In Assessment as Formation, we’ll explore:

• How to design assessments that prioritize meaning over mechanics

• Ways to assess human capacities like ethical reasoning and creative iteration

• What we’re learning at Lipscomb and Summit Christian School about formative reflection and in-person demonstration

• Tools and strategies for aligning assignments, assessments, and identity
  

And we’ll ask bold questions together, such as:

• What if we saw reflection as rigorous? What would that look like in practice?

• What if capstones weren’t just about demonstrating skill, but about narrating purpose, and connecting to vocation?

• What if students could point not just to what they’ve done, but to who they’re becoming? How does identity fit into the journey of learning, and how might you measure growth or change?

Assessment is the bridge between pedagogy and policy and between classroom practice and institutional culture. We believe this because if we design our assessments to align well with our learning goals and consider current technological issues, then we can create policies and develop institutional culture that support pedagogy and practice that help our students grow and become critical thinkers, creative problem solvers, ethical decision makers and agile communicators.

We hope you’ll join us in this next part of the journey. Because, it’s not enough to teach well, to know if our students are learning what we hope for them, we must assess their learning well.