Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Philosophy

First Advisor

Mark Rockwell

Abstract

The essential aim of education is learning, and our assessment practices have the potential to subvert that aim. In the United States, assessment has become ubiquitous in education. Students are presented with exams and assignments that are judged by their teachers and returned to them, usually graded and occasionally with feedback. Taking and passing these assessments has become a central focus of our educational system. However, Goodhart’s law – “when a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure” – warns us there may be a problem with using grades as a target (Strathern, 1997). This problem has been considered by other researchers at a high organizational level, mainly, federal and state, universities, academic publishing, and specific educational programs. What is missing from the literature thus far is a conceptual understanding of what ties each of these publications together, as well as consideration of Goodhart’s law at the student-teacher level. Thus, the primary objective of this project is to illuminate the conditions that make Goodhart’s law possible and demonstrate how the problem plays out at the student-teacher level. This project unfolds as follows. First, I will review important concepts used when talking about assessment and learning. Second, I will explain how they relate to the problem pointed out by Goodhart’s law and review the current literature that talks about this problem. Third, I will outline the conditions that make this problem possible and compare those conditions to the current state of our education system. Lastly, this project will conclude with a reflection on each of the conditions identified in order to address the question, ‘what should we do about this?’ as well as considering a few other roles that assessment could play with respect to Goodhart’s law.

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