Sometimes this question comes hard because we lack a context.
Are we talking about our student compared to other students his age? Are we addressing his particular talents and questioning whether he has buried them or multiplied them? Are we asking the question relative to some other standard - if so, what?
Let’s consider measuring success by comparison with other students his age. Before I go any further, please let me assert that in a tutorial context (home schooling) this is the least valuable approach to student evaluation. However, this is the type of evaluation we grew up with, it is the criterion our child (even if he didn’t ever attend school) is very familiar with, and it is possible that it is the primary means by which he views his progress. Realistically, for much of our population, this is the only means by which success, personal value, even life choices are measured, valid or not. A form of relativism, the flaw is evident.
When I completed high school I received an armful of awards that meant nothing. I’m not being humble here; it’s a fact. I received the award for the highest overall average in my graduating class. I also received the Science award and the Math award. This all sounds impressive until you compare my marks with the graduating class three years prior. That particular class was loaded with high academic achievers, many of whom rightfully scored very well in their final grades. Had I been among that class, I would have received not a single award. What’s more, I wouldn’t have seemed very good at the non-academic activities either, for the class three years ahead of me also shone in sports, debate, and public speaking.
Scripture tells us it is unwise to compare ourselves with each other (2Cor 10:12), and wisdom of the ages agrees (the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence); yet we persist. The same circumstances that saw me win all kinds of honour in grade 12 also define achievement - and its lack - in the lives of many people. Students who compare themselves to others will be discontented and frustrated or they will become puffed up, possibly complacent. In any event, their self-concept will be flawed.... (continued by clicking on the link)
But how do we escape the world’s measures? If we want to attend medical school, we must be in the top group, no matter how well we are suited to medicine. Be it entry into academic programs or selling wheat on the open market, our gain in this world is won at someone else’s expense; the comparison is unavoidable. We can’t ignore comparisons and hope they will go away, but we can avoid them where we are able, and work with them where we must. When the curious neighbour or aunt asks how well our children are doing, they are looking for a comparison; and to avoid future annoyances or worse (the majority of social services enquiries are stimulated by extended family) we may choose to compare. “Mary is at level in her Math, a bit behind in Social Studies, and a grade ahead in English.” A response like this might be all that’s needed to answer curiosities, but if we or our children begin to limit our assessment to this mode we are succumbing to a convenient means of evaluation that will serve us poorly.
Let’s just take a big step back and look at what evaluation really is; what it is designed to do. When we evaluate something, we always need to know first what we are expecting to achieve. Evaluation always has to do with expectation, otherwise it would just be observation.
A useful analogy could compare educating a child with rebuilding an engine. Let’s look at my friend Bill, who was assembling an engine for his truck. All through the process he needed to make his decisions based upon evaluations. He started with certain objectives or goals, and then he needed to conduct each stage of his manufacture and adjustments relative to his goals; otherwise he might achieve someone’s goals, but not necessarily his own.
Conducting a home education program according to how well a student is doing “compared to the average public schooled student”, or evaluating the material a student is studying relative to what “they are taking in school,” is like a person going wrong in engine manufacture by focusing upon the goals of others.
Bill’s neighbour’s goal for his own engine is good fuel economy; if Bill aims for the neighbour’s goal his engine won’t have nearly enough power. Bill’s cousin’s goal is an engine so quiet you can hardly tell it’s running; Bill can’t even begin to emulate this, for his cousin’s is a gasoline engine and Bill’s is a diesel. The garage mechanic down the road is a ‘specialist’; he really knows what he’s doing, so what’s right for his diesel engine will be what’s right for Bill’s, right? Wrong. The mechanic has his own engine running as smoothly as a top, providing good lugging power at low speed and strong, smooth acceleration. It is certain that he knows what he is doing, but he is working on his engine, not Bill’s. If Bill did not have clear goals for what his engine is designed to do in life, he might be tempted at any stage to be pulled off course by the apparent success of others. You see, Bill’s truck has very poor fuel economy, runs very loudly (in fact he needs hearing protection), idles extremely roughly, even stalling if you back off the accelerator; but in every detail of manufacture and adjustment, Bill has been working for high power and high engine speed. Based upon what it was intended to achieve, Bill’s engine has been a success. You see, Bill’s goal was to compete in ‘Truck Pulls’ at Fairs and Exhibitions, an activity he was able to succeed at all through the summer.
The apparent success of those around us, be they home educating or in schools, can easily pull us off course if we do not focus upon clear goals. The temptation is to gaze horizontally when we should looking vertically; to try to achieve the goals of others rather than clearly attending to our own goals.
James Stenson in his book, Upbringing, encourages us to look at our child as an adult, with a job, married, with children. What do we want that person to possess in terms of faith, character, wisdom, knowledge, and what short term goals (present goals) do we need to establish in order to achieve the long term (life) goals? Then, once our goals are clear, we need to devise means of evaluating how well we are achieving them each step of the way.
Evaluation that strives to satisfy our mother-in-law or our neighbour or our government may seem no more than a nuisance, but we need to be careful that such a nuisance does not distract us from our purpose.
At the same time, avoiding distraction in our evaluation does not necessarily mean avoiding the use of evaluation tools devised by others. Bill used a micrometer and pressure gauge, just like the mechanic down the road, but he used them to measure progress toward his own goals, not the standards set down in the Shop Manual. Similarly, tests or portfolio reviews or discussions similar to what might be used in a school might serve us, but we need to choose each tool consciously as a means of evaluating our progress toward our goal. Chances are, the “Shop Manual” of Alberta Learning, or of your neighbour, or of XYZ Curriculum company set worthy standards, some of which may address some aspects of your goals, but you really need to create your own standards in order to achieve your goals.
Jesus encourages us not to be of the world (Jn 17:14) even though we function in it. Perhaps when our child writes an entrance exam for college or attempts to qualify for the bar he will be evaluated in comparison with other students, and perhaps it will be only the top ten candidates that will be considered for a promotion, but being “in the world but not of it” implies that comparison with others does not become the means by which we value ourselves or our work. Quite simply, our own value lies in our identity in Christ, a reality that is not relative; and the value of our efforts (study, work, growth in wisdom) is relative to the talents we have been given. In the parable of the talents, Jesus speaks of the master as demanding return on his investment relative to the talents given to each servant; or as St. Luke puts it: “of those to whom much has been given, much will be required”. Comparing the servant with five talents to the one with two talents is unacceptable. If the five-talent servant had returned with three talents, his results on a stanine curve might have looked good (one talent more than his fellow-servant), but his efforts would have been unacceptable to the master.
Evaluation, above all, involves getting to know each child: his strengths, weaknesses, innate talents, emotional hurdles, potential as an adult; and then place all this within the context of learning; of coming to know God and His creation. We need to lay this all out in front of us and decide what we truly want for each child, set goals that are challenging but realistic, and work to achieve them, always reexamining the goals and evaluating our progress toward them.
With each new insight comes potential to adjust our plans, never content to just carry on, but compelled by the knowledge that life is too short to waste on achievements that no longer reflect our goals, or worse - never did.
Done wisely, we will find ourselves balancing leisure with work, easy tasks with challenging ones, study of science with that of humanity, and seeking happiness in personal sacrifice, striving to know and serve God in it all.