Testing What Matters: How Assessment Shapes Education

How we test students reveals what we truly value in education and simultaneously shapes the incentives of everyone in the classroom. Enoch and Tim discuss the economics of educational assessment, arguing that every test design sends signals to teachers and students about what is worth knowing and how it should be taught. They explore testing practices, from Finland's minimal standardized testing culture to the high-stakes approaches found in other countries, exploring the tradeoffs embedded in each model. Highlighting the remarkable story of Mississippi, which overhauled its approach to reading instruction and assessment after sitting at the bottom of national literacy rankings, Enoch and Tim unpack how a deliberate change in testing philosophy helped drive some of the most significant gains in childhood literacy seen anywhere in the country.Record Date: February 12, 2026Credits: Drew Elliot (music)