Weighing the Pig

I cannot take credit for this adage, but I love it, and I repeat the moral of the story quite often. In this day and age of tests, tests, and more tests, let us keep this story in mind:

There once was a farmer who wanted to take his pig to the county fair. He was determined that his pig would win a blue ribbon as the largest pig in the entire county.  One day, about a month before the county fair, he took his pig into the barn and weighed it.  "This here pig weighs 45 pounds," he told his wife.  She just shook her head, knowing no matter what she said to her husband, she wouldn't be able to deter his ambition of winning first prize or make a difference in his approach.
The farmer took the pig back to his pen. But the next day, he weighed the pig again, certain that this time he would weigh more. "That's odd," the farmer commented upon seeing the scale. The pig only weighs 44 pounds today." Once again, the wife shook her head, knowing her husband would never take any advice she had to offer.

What are we accomplishing when we weigh the pig so frequently?

For the next few weeks, the farmer weighed the pig every single day. And each time, he grew more and more frustrated because the pig was not gaining any weight.  One day he exclaimed to his wife, "I don't understand! I'm weighing this pig every single day! No one could possibly be paying more attention to how much their pig weighs than I, and yet he simply refuses to gain weight! I've tried weighing him in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night. I've weighed him facing this way and that way, on his front and on his back. I've even tried weighing him with a different scale, but no matter what, he doesn't ever gain weight! In fact, he is losing weight! What is the matter with this pig?" Once again, the wife shook her head and walked away.
The next day, the day before the county fair, the farmer went out to get the pig to bring it to the barn to weigh it. But, alas, the pig was dead.  The farmer was furious.  "How can this pig be dead?" he asked of his wife. "I've weighed it every single day for a month!"
Finally, the wife spoke up and said, "In order to grow a pig, you must do more than weight it. You must feed it! Only then will your pig truly grow!"
The moral of the story is this: if we want to grow our students as readers and thinkers, we must do more than assess them. We must teach them. If we continue to assess our students in the intrusive and overwhelming manner many school districts are currently employing, our students will never reach the goals we set.  Let's stop weighing our students and feed them!