What makes a comprehension check safe to use?#
Three rules. It can be challenged. It produces no score. And it is never used for performance management. A check that feeds an appraisal stops measuring understanding and starts measuring willingness to look competent, which is the opposite of what it is for.
Keep up with the Knowledge BaseEvery two weeks, get new terms and updated definitions straight to your inbox.
What happens when a check reveals a gap?#
The first assumption is that the explanation failed, not the person. A gap is evidence about the brief: what changed was not conveyed, or the delta did not reach the reader in a form they could use.
That makes the check a feedback signal for comprehension engineering rather than a gate on the individual. It tells you the understanding did not arrive, which is a fact about the system that produced it.