Have you ever wondered why there are no achievement tests for children in Art, Music, Dance, and Literature? I know they are “frills classes,” but it’s more than that. I think they tried, but they couldn’t even pretend to measure and number those activities.
A Retired Music Teacher
Two Significant Maxims on Evaluation are:
1. What is being measured, is usually not worth measuring.
2. What is worth measuring, cannot be measured.
On 2/12/2023 in Super Bowl LVII: The Kansas City Chiefs became the best team in professional football by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles. There were several outstanding players on both teams in that game. The commentators and sports writers focused on Patrick Mahomes, the Chief’s quarterback. He completed 21 of 27 passes for 182 yards – 3 of them for touchdowns – with 0 interceptions. Those numbers are objective and measurable and they tell us very little about what Mahomes actually did.
One nameless reporter wrote: At his core, Mahomes plays the game like a big kid who is out there having fun with his friends. There is purity in his approach to the game. He was playing a game and having fun. When the best player on the team is humble and accountable to his teammates, it’s infectious. The rest of the team has no choice but to follow suit. In large part, the Chiefs' culture is due to the childlike enthusiasm with which Mahomes plays football.
That is not measurable – but it exists.
In my sports articles archives, there’s an article dealing with the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team, Anthony Slater, the journalist writes: When discussing (guard) Derek Fisher with those in the Thunder organization, it always turns to the intangibles. A coach on the floor. A leader in the locker room. A consummate pro who does all the little things. You know, all those hard-to-quantify qualities.
This intangible thing is even more significant in what a teacher/coach is and what a teacher/coach does because of its positive effect on the growth of our children.
Dr. Elmer Jacobs, former chairman of the Education Department at Elmhurst University, had us on his staff focus on the intangibles in teaching. In our introductory courses, we would ask our students to write the name of the elementary teacher they remember most. Then they were to write briefly what they remember about this person. Then we talked about it.
Without fail, these kinds of comments would be shared; “She cared about us.” “He really enjoyed what he was teaching us.” “She went out of her way to help us when we needed it.” “She was always smiling, she made learning fun, and we laughed a lot.” “He believed in me.”
There were no comments on “She made us memorize the times tables” or “He did a great job of getting us ready to take tests.”
Normative Evaluation and Descriptive Evaluation
All of this is an example of Descriptive Evaluation as contrasted to Normative Evaluation. We can describe the conditions objectively as they are happening. But we can’t measure it and put a number on it - such as a 95% or a B+.
So what is important in your coaching? Actually, you will find that most of the good coaches, great coaches, are aware of the feelings and thoughts of their players – their commitment to the team and to the game.
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