We must not equate assessment to testing. Assessment is an ongoing process. It is indeed the way we do business - constantly monitoring student development and the outcomes of our educational activity.
There is something inherently wrong in any society that allows a felon to sit among men of honour.
What is new is that this has become a formalized and organized activity such that the use of the information to force improvements is now a requirement that must be documented.
The results would just sit in the office.
Death looses its sting when the epitaph drafted for the tombstone of the departed even by those with whom he crossed swords in his lifetime is filled with encomiums.
There was a need to embrace assessment campus-wide, and so a director was hired.