[CAUT] CAUT Endorsement

[David M. Porritt]

I'm beginning to feel that we are trying to objectify something that can't
be nailed down.  There are football players who have natural moves that
coaches will say "that can't be coached" they just do it naturally.  That's
a talent that can't be quantified, tested and proved like skill in algebra.
Many players who have been measured, tested, agility tested, inspected,
probed etc. and didn't get drafted but turned out to be stars.  Dallas' Tony
Romo comes to mind.

 

I think college administrators have to interview, check backgrounds, do
their do-diligence but I really have my doubts that any testing PTG could do
would do as well as a good college football scout can do and they miss a
lot.  (Please excuse the football metaphors - it's the season!)  The skill
set of the successful CAUT technician are so varied.  I can see a curriculum
and a certificate on finishing the curriculum but the more I think about it,
the less impressed I am of the value of testing.  

 

I've been amused lately with the focus the Federal Education Department is
placing on exit testing for college graduates.  We have a new Associate Dean
who is the Associate Dean for Research and Institutional Effectiveness.
There have been some highly rated colleges where Freshmen were tested and
four years later took a similar test and did worse!  Of course the problem
is the test.  What were they supposed to be learning in college.  To quote
Harvard's new president "college is not supposed to make carpenters of men,
it's supposed to make men of carpenters."  Who knows, this trend might have
been the inspiration for the creation of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth
Grader.  Passing or failing a test is in large part a matter of what's on
the test.  You can make a successful physician look dumber than a fifth
grader by asking him the name of the 5th planet from the sun.  Testing is
not an exact science.  I have less and less confidence in testing per se the
older I get.  

 

Just rambling as I contemplate what kind of test would help find a
replacement when I retire.

 

dave

 

____________________

David M. Porritt, RPT

dporritt at smu.edu

 

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