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Recently, I was traveling to the Great Lakes area of northern Minnesota with a clear plan for where I wanted to go, when I would arrive, and the path I would take.

As I drove, I noticed road markers, detours, landscape changes, and roadside points of interest. Somehow, my mind wandered to the recent release of state assessment results in Minnesota and how those high-stakes assessments impact schools and classrooms. In education, test scores often dominate the conversation 鈥� scrutinized by policymakers and used to compare and rank schools. However, for school leaders committed to personalized learning, a critical question emerges: Are test scores a destination 鈥� an ultimate goal 鈥� or merely a distraction from the deeper work of preparing students for a complex, ever-changing, and interconnected world?

The Appeal of Test Scores

Test scores have clear appeal 鈥� they're easy to pursue. After all, standardized tests are measurable, tangible, and comparable. They provide a snapshot of student performance that can be easily communicated to stakeholders in newspaper articles or social media soundbites. The results can be likened to sports team box scores, used to sort and rank the best and worst. For administrators, they offer a clear metric to demonstrate accountability.

Yet as transformational leaders, we must ask whether overemphasizing test scores aligns with our vision for education in today's AI-driven world.

• Do standardized tests reflect deeper learning?
• Do they help students demonstrate knowledge in the best way possible?
• Are they a true reflection of skills necessary to thrive in a knowledge-based economy?

It's hard to imagine when standardized assessments often prioritize rote memorization and narrow skill sets, conflicting with personalized learning's broader goals of fostering creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and adaptability.

In my interactions with schools nationwide, I've witnessed how intense focus on test scores can undermine meeting individual student needs. When pressure to boost scores drives curriculum decisions, we risk reducing education to a checklist of testable content. We begin batching students together, losing sight of opportunities to support them as individuals and missing education's true purpose. We stifle the very innovation and student-centered practices that transformational leadership seeks to cultivate.

When pressure to boost scores drives curriculum decisions, we risk reducing education to a checklist of testable content. 

Personalized Learning: A Shift in Focus

School leaders concerned about the whole child must reorient priorities, placing students at the center of learning. Personalized learning, as highlighted in my previous post, More Than a Test: The Case for Personalized Learning, is about tailoring education to each student's unique strengths, interests, and needs. It's about creating environments where students take ownership of their learning, supported by educators who act as facilitators rather than gatekeepers.

When we prioritize personalized learning, test scores cease to be the destination. Instead, they become a roadside marker along the journey to greater engagement and deeper learning. A student excelling in project-based learning may not always reflect mastery on a standardized test, yet may demonstrate incredible growth in areas difficult or impossible to measure through standardized assessment. Transformational leaders recognize this shortcoming and advocate for assessment systems that capture a richer picture of student achievement 鈥� portfolios, performance tasks, and competency-based evaluations.

When we prioritize personalized learning, test scores cease to be the destination. Instead, they become a roadside marker along the journey to greater engagement and deeper learning. 

Reframing Test Scores as a Tool, Not a Target

While this criticism may seem harsh, test scores do have value. They can help identify learning gaps, inform instruction, and ensure equity. However, the key is using them as a tool rather than a target. Leaders leverage test scores to ask:

• Where do students need support?
• How can we adjust teaching to meet diverse learning styles?
• Are we fostering skills students need to succeed in life?
• How do the results reflect system alignment?  

These questions help leaders reimagine possibilities.

A school I visited integrated assessment data into student-led conferences. Students used test results as starting points for personal learning goals, not verdicts on their worth. Teachers designed individualized plans with students, blending rigor with creative expression based on agency and aptitude. The result? Students developed ownership and purpose in their education.

Leading the Way Forward

As school leaders, we have the power to redefine success in our schools. By championing personalized learning, we create learning environments that honor the whole student 鈥� intellectually, emotionally, and socially.

To make this vision a reality, consider taking these steps in a call to action:

• Engage your community: In a professional, yet poignant way, communicate the shortcomings of standardized assessments and emphasize the value of personalized learning to parents, teachers, and stakeholders. Share stories of student success that go beyond test scores. These stories may include success in areas such as student apprenticeships, internships, problem and project-based learning, and real-world application of content.

• Rethink assessment: Advocate for balanced assessment systems that include qualitative measures of student growth.  As transformational leaders, we have a professional obligation to advocate for improvement and changes that meet our students鈥� needs.  Rethinking and reimagining the standardized assessment accountability system is a great start!  

• Empower teachers: Provide professional development that equips educators to design personalized learning experiences and use data in meaningful ways. Helping teachers reimagine the role of the teacher can be a great step toward systems change. Support staff in pursuing depth of knowledge through projects, problem-solving, and community connections. 

• Center students: Involve students in their learning journey, giving them voice and choice in how they demonstrate mastery. Allow students to demonstrate knowledge based on their strengths and aptitudes increases both relevance and engagement for the learners. Student agency can and will lead to greater engagement by students.

I think we can agree that test scores are not the enemy, but they should not be our destination either. They are a single point of reference on a much larger journey 鈥� one that transformational leaders navigate with commitment to personalized learning and a vision for preparing students for lives of purpose and impact. Enjoy the journey and pursue a new destination!