I had my class yesterday at Marc Adams School on mentoring children in woodworking, and the question came up, "how can you prove the value of woodworking in children's learning?" I don't have the tools or resources for what he had in mind. But that doesn't lessen value of observed results and more localized forms of assessment.

I teach in an independent school where testing is not required and the curriculum is driven by the interests and needs of our children. Just because a child isn't being tested by corporations in Princeton or Iowa doesn't mean there is no validity in the assessment model. Other forms of local assessment are more accurate and can be adjusted toward recognition of the interests and goals of the specific child.

Standardized testing is an arcane science, subject to misuse and misunderstanding by those who most need to be involved in the assessment process.

Admiral Beaufort was head of the British Admiralty, and as a captain had done extensive surveying of coastlines, and kept meticulous charts to help in world wide navigation, and in the days of sail, much of the information he recorded had to do with wind direction and velocity. He developed the Beaufort Scale as a means to enable every British sailor to engage in the scientific exploration of the planet.

Through use of the simple 10 point scale, a common seaman could measure wind velocity and record it for use by other sailors to predict performance and risk. Through his simple scale Beaufort established an incredible world-wide meteorological observation capacity. As landlubbers, we can look at the land version of the Beaufort Scale to get a better understanding of how it worked. For instance, when the smoke rose straight up from a chimney or the leaves were perfectly still on the tree without flutter, the scale was 0.

From those days to this, most common people have been stripped of the confidence and inclination toward examination of their own lives. Most authority has been placed in the hands of experts and we have learned to distrust our own observations and the observations of the people around us.

The NEA came up with a plan to include joy in their assessment of programming. Can you imagine a Beaufort Scale that would allow any observer to walk into a classroom and accurately measure its success? One of those simple things that parents are perhaps the best able to observe and measure is the joy their children find in learning, and if they don't see it, something is wrong in their child's education.

There may be a small place in schools for some standardized testing, but much more of the process of school assessment needs to be clearly understood and relevant to the specific needs of children and their families. If we could come up with something as simple as the Beaufort Scale through which teachers and parents might be able to clearly assess American classrooms, we would find ourselves in the midst of an educational revolution.