Quote

Assessments should compare the performance of students to a set of expectations, never to the performance of other students.

Alfie Kohn

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Alfie Kohn
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: October 15
Author
Teacher
Writer
Miami Beach
Florida
Never
Assessments
Assessment
Compare
Performance
Performances
Expectations
Students

More quotes by Alfie Kohn

Image
Punishment and reward proceed from basically the same psychological model, one that conceives of motivation as nothing more than the manipulation of behavior.
Alfie Kohn
Image
In education, parody is obsolete.
Alfie Kohn
Image
A preoccupation with achievement is not only different from, but often detrimental to, a focus on learning. Thoughts and emotions while performing an action are more important in determining subsequent engagement than the actual outcome of that action.
Alfie Kohn
Image
What can we surmise about the likelihood of someone's being caring and generous, loving and helpful, just from knowing that they are a believer? Virtually nothing, say psychologists, sociologists, and others who have studied that question for decade
Alfie Kohn
Image
To control students is to force them to accommodate to a preestablished curriculum.
Alfie Kohn
Image
We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.
Alfie Kohn
Image
If I offered you a thousand dollars to take off your shoes, you'd very likely accept--and then I could triumphantly announce that 'rewards work.' But as with punishments, they can never help someone develop a *commitment* to a task or action, a reason to keep doing it when there's no longer a payoff.
Alfie Kohn
Image
If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Social psychology has found the more you reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Children, after all, are not just adults-in-the-making. They are people whose current needs and rights and experiences must be taken seriously.
Alfie Kohn
Image
If faculty would relax their emphasis on grades, this might serve not to lower standards but to encourage an orientation toward learning.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Educational success should be measured by how strong your desire is to keep learning.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Maximum difficulty isn't the same as optimal difficulty.
Alfie Kohn
Image
There are different kinds of motivation, and the kind matters more than the amount.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Contrary to what you think, your company will be a lot more productive if you refuse to tolerate competition among your employees.
Alfie Kohn
Image
When test scores go up, we should worry, because of how poor a measure they are of what matters, and what you typically sacrifice in a desperate effort to raise scores.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Unconditional parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Whoever said there's no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test.
Alfie Kohn
Image
To feel controlled is to lose interest.
Alfie Kohn
Image
Grades dilute the pleasure that a student experiences on successfully completing a task.
Alfie Kohn