CONCLUSION: IS MORALLY JUSTIFIABLE ASSESSMENT POSSIBLE? Con't 2

Whose values are these? What kinds of value, in turn, are assigned to students on the basis of these tests? I suggest that in addressing the moral complexities of teaching each individual teacher needs to consider the values inherent in the tests used in her own educational setting. Finally, though I am rendering myself particularly vulnerable to attack here, I would strongly advocate the need for flexibility in assessment procedures. Given the multiple uncertainties that attend the design and the taking of a test, we simply cannot rely on raw, unmediated scores to give us accurate and fair information about a student’s level, ability, or amount of learning. The learning process is a highly individual one, and the teacherstudent relation is similarly unrepeatable. If assessment is to be an integral part of teaching—which, I have argued, it needs to be—then it must be included in that relation, inside what Noddings called “the uniqueness of human encounters” (1984, p. 3). This does not exclude the use of externally written and scored standardized tests, but I believe that, in essence, assessment in the classroom must be brought within the bounds of the unique relation between teacher and student and that in order for this to happen, we need the flexibility that comes from a deep knowledge of our students and their circumstances. Of course, it is also clear that another word for this flexibility is subjectivity, and to misquote a famous saying as it might apply to teaching, the price of subjectivity is eternal vigilance.