What's wrong with multiple-choice assessment?

Not much (I am assuming that you read the headline). What's wrong with the use of multiple-choice assessment? Plenty. It's typically not fit for purpose, and it's generally misunderstood and/or over-valued.

By multiple choice, I mean those tasks where there is a prompt or question and then usually four options, "multiple", one of which suits the prompt or answers the question and students must choose the correct or best "choice". I am including True / False and matching exercises here as my thoughts apply also to these.

In general terms, assessing educational attainment means looking at the "what" and the "how". The former represents knowledge and understanding, information and data; the latter represents implementation, demonstration or application of the former. The "what" in Science is the periodic table, the "how" is running an experiment or the steps in the scientific method. In PE, the "what" is knowing how to do a layup and the "how" is actually doing one.

Multiple-choice assessment cannot measure the "how". It can measure knowledge or understanding of the processes of "how", but a student must actually show her how for us to measure her performance. In my younger years, I met many international students with truly impressive TOEFL scores who were unable to speak or to write. The test of the time did not measure those skills. The new TOEFL I believe includes writing and speaking, both "hows".

Before the "new" AP, I met students who scored 5s in English literature without having read a book but who had bought (and memorized) study guides. Today they must demonstrate analysis, critical approaches and essay writing - all "hows".

Multiple-choice is useful for checking - did you read the book? Do you know the symbols for these elements or the dates of these events? Can you (plug in the valuies and) solve these equations? I like to think of it as product assessment. Weight, length, price, shininess, quality of ingredients. It is not process assessment. If they have read the book, you can move on to what really matters. If they reach the right answer, you can move onto area under a curve. (If not, you need to look at their working or method or "how".)

If we want to assess the "how", we must observe students doing the thing. Sometimes this is known as skills-assessment, competency-assessment, even standards assessment. These assessments all consider how the students reaches the destination, not just the arrival time. We could arrange to meet for dinner at restaurant x in city y. He might walk, she might fly you might drive and I might take the bus. If only two of us sit down at the appointed spot, we would know where to begin looking if we know the how.

If you tell me Lady Macbeth is a goodie, I want to know your reasons. I want to know your how. If you tell me Columbus discovered America, I want to know the how. If you tell me the length of a second, or of a yard, I want to know how. You see, knowledge changes and we need to be able to find that knowledge, to test it and to confirm it and these are all hows. Multiple-choice assessment can check the what, but we need other instruments to test the how.

**Please leave your comments and queries below.**