Are we assessing what really matters?

I think this conversation is one of the most important shifts happening in education today. Indigenous education isn't asking us to abandon assessment—it is asking us to rethink what counts as evidence of learning. When we value transformation alongside information, we begin assessing not just what students know, but how learning is shaping the people they are becoming.

For years, we've been asking an important question in education: What do students know?

In Indigenous education, that's certainly part of the story. Students should learn about treaties, residential schools, the Indian Act, Indigenous rights, cultures, languages, and histories. Knowledge matters.

But Indigenous education has never been only about the facts. Its purpose reaches much deeper. It asks students to question assumptions, recognize the ongoing impacts of colonization, understand Indigenous perspectives, build respectful relationships, and consider their own responsibilities within reconciliation. It invites them to think differently and relate differently.

When we are looking towards assessment of that, then the question might be: If Indigenous education is meant to change how students understand, relate, and act in the world… then shouldn't our assessment reflect that?

When looking to the problem with traditional assessment in Indigenous Education, too often, our assessment practices focus on what is easiest to measure what the students know?

We ask students to complete quizzes, memorize terminology, identify historical events, or write reports demonstrating what they remember. These assessments are telling us whether students can recall information, but they do not reflect if the student has had a meaningful or transformational learning experience with the knowledge they gained.

A student might earn 100% on a test about residential schools while still holding stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples.

Another student may struggle to remember dates but leave the classroom with a profound shift in how they see Indigenous histories, communities, and their own role in reconciliation.

Then we as educators need to think about what it is that we want students to gain from the work we are doing together. Is it just about recalling facts in the moment? Or is it someone who now can see past their own worldview in the places they live and work?

When thinking about this, which student has experienced the deeper learning? Which student is better prepared for supporting Indigenous education beyond the classroom?  I think this is a good starting place for us to think about what is the goal of our lesson/unit plan? How do we want the students to show us their learning? What is our main goal as an educator in this process?

One of the greatest gifts Indigenous education offers is an opportunity to transform relationships. Relationships with Indigenous Peoples, with the land, with our shared collective history, with one another, and most importantly ourselves. These are not outcomes that fit neatly into a test, yet they may be the most important learning students take with them.

When looking at assessment of Indigenous education and reducing it to content alone, we risk missing the very transformation we hope to inspire in students with the knowledge of Indigenous peoples of this land.

I am guessing now that you are saying, ok Carolyn then how should we do this? We can start with changing the question from What did students learn? To:

• How has this learning challenged their thinking?

• What assumptions have they begun to question?

• How have their perspectives changed?

• What new responsibilities do they recognize?

• How are they building respectful relationships?

• What actions are they inspired to take?

These questions acknowledge that Indigenous education is not simply about accumulating facts. It is about developing understanding, empathy, responsibility, and relational accountability.

This doesn't mean every assessment becomes subjective or impossible to evaluate. Instead, it invites us to broaden what evidence of learning looks like. This could be:

·      Reflection journals.

·      Learning conversations.

·      Engagement with storytelling.

·      Self-assessment.

·      Community-based projects.

·      Land-based learning.

·      Collaborative inquiry.

These approaches allow students to demonstrate not only what they know but also how they are growing. Growth is rarely linear. It unfolds over time through reflection, experience, dialogue, and relationship. Thinking about this through assessment, our assessment practices should make room for that complexity.

When looking at the assessment piece of Indigenous education we can see evidence of their learning through the relationships they begin building, the perspectives they reconsider, and the responsibilities they choose to carry forward. Those are the changes that endure long after a test has been forgotten.

If we believe that Indigenous education is truly about transforming understanding, relationships, and responsibility, then our assessment practices should reflect those goals. Because the most meaningful learning isn't always what students can repeat. Sometimes, it's about who they are becoming.