' This perception alludes to a certain inflexibility which might be fundamentally obscuring of real performance values and indicators.

The same may be said of 'testing,' if we are to leave this concept to stand on its own. While many educators are rather comfortable with this terminology, it is a concept which is intimidating to many students. The desire to view learning as an opportunity is here, semantically overshadowed by the perception that one is being given a pass/fail consideration. Combining the punitive perception of testing with the implications of measurement to the bypassing of individual learning standards can be very damaging both to a student's desire to achieve and to the educator's ability to create standards and approaches which address individuals rates and styles of learning.

The scholastic consensus today seems to endorse the use of the term assessment and the flexibility there implied. Here, both punitive and rigid approaches are eschewed for the establishment of individualized evaluative approaches. To this end, one pertinent study endorses the overall notion that incorporating positive reinforcement into...

According to a 2005 study by Alison Galbraith and Joy Alexander, some sensible ways to assimilate such individually sensitive practices are through "goal-setting, exception-finding, scaling and locating resources or individual strengths... principally as a method of encouraging the child to reflect on and discuss progress, in literacy (thus developing both interactive and metacognitive skills for themselves). (Galbraith et al., 29) This intimates the important prospect in which the socialization benefits of assessment flexibility in the academic setting are gauged. In this context, the implication is that the improved nuance and differentiation of evaluative techniques and philosophies will help to improve the specificity of each student's learning track.
Works Cited

Galbraith, Alison & Joy Alexander. (2005). Literacy, self-esteem and locus of control. Support for Learning, Vol. 20.

Kizlik, B. (2009).

Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Education. Adprima.