Assessing Assessment

In previous articles, we examined work being done by education practitioners and researchers to define the process of mathematical modeling and the product produced by teaching modeling to students. It makes sense to dedicate this final chapter to the topic of assessment and the efforts made by that same body of professionals to measure their accomplishments. Niss (1987) cautioned the world that:

Application and modeling qualifications, especially in handling real problems, are difficult to assess, let alone test, by traditional evaluation tools, in particular in educational systems which make use of centrally constructed written examination papers.