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Selecting the right players (students) for the right ballpark (school) is high stakes.

With fall upon us, whether you are a baseball fan or not, you will undoubtedly hear about the road to the fall classic, the World Series.  This reminds me that well back, before the beginning of the season, many “experts” predicted which teams would be there.  But well before that, players were recruited (maybe the Cleveland Indians sent a Viewbook to their recruits?), drafted (admitted) and signed (enrolled) with their team (school.)

Then they had to perform (this would be when we all learn if the assessment tools were accurate) to get to the playoffs and eventually, to the World Series.

Admission assessment and selection is in every education news article you see these days and the more I think of it, the more it is like Major League Baseball.  Finding, recruiting, admitting and enrolling the right players (students) for your ballpark (school) requires one thing above all..the ability to assess that student’s talent and potential to perform in your school.

As  long suffering Red Sox fan, till 2004 that is, I acknowledge that the Red Sox had the wrong Director of Admission (or GM rather)…and frankly one might argue, overall leadership team, as they did not attract and enroll players who would do well in their ballpark…or media market for that matter.

Enter GM Theo Epstein and presumed to be washed up Minnesota Twin player turned Boston star, David Ortiz.

Epstein had the strategy (strategic enrollment plan) and Ortiz was just in the wrong ballpark with the wrong teachers and coaches.

Assessment played a large role in this heroic story of the Red Sox return..or arrival..to glory.

In this blog I hope to comment on how assessment fits into our professional world, what we can learn from the past and what’s in store in the future.  I hope you’ll join the team.