Although some teachers and many students have been increasingly critical of tests and testing programs, teaching and learning without some form of continuous and cumulative evaluation of learning seems idealistic, impractical, and inefficient. Learning implies change, but change that is undertaken without careful consideration of the results of prior learning may be more harmful than beneficial. Classroom evaluation, both the spur-of-the-moment, subjective judgments and the more formal, prepared tests, provides the necessary feedback to maximize the effectiveness of classroom instruction and the efficiency of classroom learning. Distasteful as the process and the results
may be at times, both to the teacher who has to prepare and to grade the tests and to the students who have to prepare for and take them, they do furnish needed bases for the teacher to improve his teaching and for the students to expand their knowledge of and ability in the subject. Subjective evaluation and prepared classroom tests remain important components in the instructional process. Not only do they provide feedback in learning, but they also help to motivate and, in the case of those students who do well, give a feeling of satisfaction for a job well done.