Creativity: The Essence of Learning

Originally Published November 2014

State testing came to Ohio in 1994 with the Ninth Grade Proficiency Test. That started a twenty-year (now thirty-year)  focus on testing and accountability in Ohio.  What has it done for education?  Well, it has provided some benefits.  We now have clear standards for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level and in each subject.  What a student learns in classroom A should not be different from what a student learns in classroom B.  We have also been able to benchmark our students’ progress toward those standards.  And most teachers would say that the standards are good. They provide a guide for designing meaningful learning experiences.  

However, hyper focus on test scores has also created an atmosphere of anxiety for many students, teachers, and parents.  It is the over-emphasis on scores that has led some teachers to say that creativity has been taken out of teaching, or they don’t have time to let their students be creative in the classroom.  

That does not need to be the case in schools.

We have highly creative teachers who understand that learning is more effective and fun when students and teachers get to be creative.  Not only that, we know that the future prosperity, security, and sustainability of our nation is dependent upon the creative and innovative abilities of our citizens. One of the most sought after skills by employers is problem-solving.  Solving problems requires one to be creative.  To see a situation from multiple perspectives, to research background and related areas, to brainstorm and collaborate with others in order to solve a problem or to create something new is the very essence of creativity.  

So encourage your own child to be creative, and support your child’s teachers as well.  It will be worth it!