Assessment Practices and Students’ Creativity

It is my belief that assessment practices in the classroom can be used to protect students’creativity by recognizing and appreciating creative expression. This doesn’t mean that teachersshould throw out standards or provide empty praise for inappropriate ideas. If responses are notappropriate, teachers should provide suggestions on how students might adapt the idea so that it isuseful while still preserving the novelty. For students to be willing to express their creativity, theymust feel that their ideas, especially those that are unconventional, are welcome in the classroom.Students can be taught how and when to express novel ideas so that they are appropriate and usefulwithin a given context. By recognizing novelty and helping students calibrate that novelty so that itis appropriate and useful, teachers can go a long way in supporting and promoting studentcreativity.