254 • The Educational Forum • Volume 69 • Spring 2005254 Does Assessment Kill Student Creativity?

Does assessment kill creativity? In this article, creativity is defined and discussed and an overview of creativity and motivational research is provided to describe how assessment practices can influence students ’ creativ-ity. Recommendations for protecting creativity when assessing students also are provided. Given the benefits of creativity in solving complex individual, social, and global problems (Plucker, Beghetto, and Dow 2004; Sternberg and Lubart 1999), it would seem that promoting student creativity would be the celebrated centerpiece of all educa-tional efforts. Unfortunately, efforts aimed at promoting student creativity are often marginalized and overshadowed by a myriad of other demands placed on teachers’ instructional time. One such demand, largely propelled by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, is the increased assessment of student learning. Assessments of student learning, particularly those which are externally mandated, have taken center stage in America’s classrooms. Teachers are required to devote in-creasingly large portions of their instructional time preparing students for assessments, proctoring those assessments, and communicating the results to students, parents, and related stakeholders. Though most educators would agree that assessments—even state-wide standardized assessments—are necessary for monitoring the success of educa-tional efforts, the large footprint of assessment may be stamping out student creativity along the way. Does assessment kill creativity? The answer to this question can be found by ex-amining research on the relationship among assessment, motivation, and creativity. The general consensus from this research is that assessment, in and of itself, is not necessarily a negative force, but can be depending on how it is used to motivate stu