Assessment as Science and Story: A Roadmap for Christian Higher Education

Abstract

Institutions of higher education face an increasing demand for evidence that they are providing the high-quality educational experience promised in promotional materials. Accrediting bodies require assessment for accountability to ensure continuous improvement. Faculty at Christian higher education institutions join their secular counterparts in questioning the value of time-consuming assessment activities, disconnected from meaningful teaching designed to fulfill distinctly Christian missions, often understood as “the integration of faith and learning.” In 2016, Paul Kaak, faith integration editor of Christian Higher Education, called for “explorers and cartographers” to devise more detailed maps of academic faith integration leading to learning in all disciplines that is carried out “in the light of faith” (p. 189). This essay answers that call for an integration roadmap as it relates to assessment, planting signposts grounded in Reformed epistemology and framing it as science and story. Three key principles shape the argument: (a) educational assessment constitutes a God-designed natural act of human knowing and valuing, though finite and distorted by sin; (b) human fallibility necessitates assessment processes that are characterized by transparency, enabling learners to use their gifts for God’s glory; and (c) assessment is most effective when enacted in a loving community of learners who recognize that performance does not determine worth in God’s eyes. Finally, the article concludes with practical guidelines to implement a Christian vision of assessment.