Why Is Assessment Important in Media Education?

Assessment is important in all programs, but new programs like media education come under special scrutiny. Media education is frequently accused of being a “soft” course because it deals with things that are already part of students' everyday knowledge and experience. Some critics, blissfully unaware of the irony, ask, “Why would we set up a course to teach kids how to watch TV? They already know how to do that.” One way of disarming the critics is to show that the assessment in the course is rigorous and demanding -- that it is not, after all, a course in underwater basket-weaving.

New program areas often have great difficulty getting themselves established in the mainstream curriculum. There are many reasons for this, often connected to budgets, time, internecine jealousies among teachers in different departments, politics, and so on. Go to the introductory section of my Web site for a comprehensive list of reasons people give for not implementing media education.

New subject initiatives can, however, have a good chance of success if a number of criteria are met. Indeed, without these criteria in place, it can be folly to even begin program implementation:

• Official support is provided through provincial or state curriculum legislation
• The building and district administrators support the curriculum initiative
• Teachers who are not connected directly with media education support those who want to implement it
• Parents are informed and supportive
• Budget (in terms of time, space, training, and personnel as well as money) is provided for the new program
• The school has a well-prepared and -articulated program outline
• There is a clear plan for assessing student progress and program effectiveness

Many new programs are implemented without the final of these conditions in place, even though it is pretty clear that parents, administrators, and students all appreciate the value of a clear, valid, reliable, authentic, and fair system of assessment and evaluation that is set out clearly in advance. My belief is that teachers and administrators can use the fact that media education has strong assessment materials and instruments available as a way of convincing others who doubt the value of implementing the program -- that is to say, the existence of good assessment can be used as a lever to bring administrators, parents, and other teachers on side.

Back to menu

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted November 2000
© 2000 International Reading Association, Inc.   ISSN 1096-1232