Why Do Students Need Project-Based Assessments?

Project-based assessments can be both stressful and helpful. First, students tend to be too tired, stressed, and irritable from staying up to finish the project for the assessment to think clearly the next day. It adds extra pressure to the students, and it forces them to stay awake at inhumanly late hours at night to finish. The students are not just students; they have extracurricular activities, usually ending later. They also need time set aside to spend with family. The last thing they need is to be looked down upon and admonished for not understanding the rubric at 11:30PM. No one is perfect. Most are too tired to think, and they do not have time to study for the test which will make or break their grade in their worst class. Certain students finish early and expect all

They did not "procrastinate", rather, they did not have time to do it any earlier. Though students can benefit from the projects if they are not rushed, only a few students get that opportunity. Most students have sports or other after school activities and do not return home until later at night, around 9PM or 10PM. Normal homework is stressful enough for anyone. Making the project may be alright, but forcing students to present them without being mentally prepared does not help. There are also a few with mental disorders such as anxiety, when even raising their hands can be nerve-racking. Presenting without at least three days to practice and mentally prepare makes them want to leave, turn invisible, and not want to exist until all of the projects are presented. No one should have to