One of the things I have noticed since I have been in education is that we love black and white thinking. There is enormous evidence of this and in fact it has been ingrained in us as part of our training.

Consider these common examples:
–You pass or you fail
–You get the answer right or wrong
–You did your homework fully or you did not do your homework at all.

All of these are what philosophy calls false dilemmas. They are logical fallacies that present only two choices when more choices actually exist. It is an either this or that approach to a situation. Now this kind of thinking is not only in education but throughout the whole of our society.

Consider what we hear in our politics and culture daily.
-If creationism is true then evolution is false or vice versa.
-You are either with us or against us.
And so on and so on…

And as an enormous Star Wars fan – recall the exchange between Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi in Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

Anakin: “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy”

Obi Wan: “Only a Sith deals in absolutes”

Recently, I was reminded of one of the most damaging false dilemmas we tell ourselves in education. It is so damaging that I believe it has not only been the stifler of innovation and creativity in our classrooms but also the creator of passionate opposition to rational approaches to measuring student learning.

The false dilemma I am talking about is this:

“I would love to do these cool, innovative, and amazing things in my classroom or school but we have to be accountable for these darn test scores.”

If you are a teacher, administrator, or parent I am almost certain you have heard this, or something similar, before. You may even be one who has said it.

This statement has been an excuse for schools and teachers not to change practices for a long time now. And I think in many cases it is exactly that – an excuse for not changing.

This statement has also become so ingrained in the current culture of education that it is leading to the near destruction of assessments or even the idea of measuring student progress. Some teachers, parents, and schools have convinced themselves that the only option is to make a choice between assessments and innovation. And if you believe that, then the choice is easy. But I do not believe these are the only two options. And honestly, I don’t think many educators do either – they just say it.

Let me give you an example: The below items are actual examples from the 2015 3rd Grade PARCC assessment.

Now what is it about these two questions that tells educators they cannot teach creatively or do cool things that put students in charge of their learning. In fact, would the best way to learn this content and be able to answer these questions, be to sit in a desk and listen to a lecture and then practice problems ad nauseum or would it be to do project based learning and actually build things or look at real world examples to learn about area and perimeter. Also, what about these questions would make someone think that they couldn’t have students blogging or using multimedia tools to explain their thinking and share it out with classmates and the world?

Why do we tell ourselves this false dilemma? I honestly do not know. But I do know that you can do creative and innovative things in school and your students still be able to do well on any assessment you put in front of them. This is the difference between teaching to the test and teaching for mastery. If you teach for mastery, first there is no limit to how creative you can be – in fact, the more creative and innovative, the better probably. Also, if you are teaching for mastery then what students see on an assessment like PARCC should be the easiest way they encounter that content.

This is not theoretical for me. I have seen other options than just these two work in my own school over the past couple of years. In fact, I would say our school has been as innovative in its approach to students and learning than any school has over the past couple of years. We have created new spaces for creativity in our library and new Smartlab where students work on projects and learn through hands on experiences, we are using technology to enhance learning by having students create original content, and we are leveraging platforms like Khan Academy to assist us in individualizing education for every child. Every Wednesday afternoon our students have time to explore their own passions and learning across classes and grade levels. And surrounding all of this we have adopted a focus on teaching kids skills that go beyond way beyond the classroom through The Leader in Me process.

And while we have focused on being creative and innovative, guess what has gone up? That’s right – our test scores – on every measure and assessment we give our students.

Do not repeat the damaging false dilemma of innovation versus assessment performance. It is not real. Focus on providing awesome learning experiences that allow your students to drive the learning and be creative.

Be a Jedi! Remember, only a Sith deals in absolutes.