Performance Anxiety — What Can Health Care Learn from K–12 Education?

Abstract

Critiques of performance measurement in education include familiar themes: measures are focused too narrowly and sometimes on the wrong aspects of process or outcomes; they don't account for the whole student, nor do they assess everything that makes teachers effective. Although there is some adjustment of scores for baseline characteristics of the student population, it's often inadequate and does nothing to improve things for the least fortunate. Moreover, assessors' expectations may be impossible to meet. Bottom-up approaches won't solve all quality problems or eradicate top-down mandates. Local performance measures may not be comparable across institutions. If pay is linked to metrics, the gaming will continue. Although in theory multiple measures make assessments fair, in practice, qualitative evaluations may be unduly influenced by quantitative ones. Successful local assessment systems can't merely be cloned, since the collaborative development process is essential. And reacting to generic external mandates consumes resources that could be devoted to creating better systems. But despite government pressure, Tomberlin, for one, is encouraging teachers to build their evaluation system carefully, to avert more ineffective or harmful policies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)