The Fallacy of Good Grades | Psychology Today #parents

The Fallacy of Good Grades | Psychology Today:

The Fallacy of Good Grades

Why tests don't measure your child's most important strengths

Published on August 15, 2011 by Marilyn Price-Mitchell, Ph.D. in The Moment of Youth

At the beginning of each school year, my daughter always anticipated a new opportunity to achieve "A" grades. But as the semester progressed, her expectations usually faded as test scores diminished her chances of believing in her abilities. Like many students, my daughter has learning differences - ways of thinking and showing what she knows - that are vastly different from the norm.

Even for children who perform well on academic tests, an "A" grade is only one measurement of success. A few things that school testing cannot measure include:

• Effort
• Critical thinking
• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Curiosity
• Respect
• Kindness
• Capacity to love
• Social and emotional intelligence
• Honesty
• Open-mindedness
• Initiative

Internal strengths, like those listed above, are far more important to a life of success and well-being than whether a child earns an "A" on an Algebra exam. In fact, most tests only measure a student's ability to regurgitate a correct answer. For today's learners, correct answers are not enough. By the