Here is a short draft of what I have been working on this week: Authentic Assessment
As previously mentioned, standardized tests have many limitations and thus cannot be used as the sole form of student assessment. One of standardized testing’s main limitations is that it is merely a snapshot of a student’s work on one given day. This form of assessment is not capable of showing student progress as he or she learns and grows throughout the year (Five Dimensions of Authentic Assessment). Another shortcoming of standardized tests is that questions and problems are often taken out of context and do not allow for students to explain their reasoning and thinking process (Five Dimensions of Authentic Assessment). Finally, it must be taken into account that multiple-choice tests as a whole do not assess all of the capabilities of students and all “student outcomes” (American Association of School Librarians). Some capacities that multiple choice and short answer assessments do not assess are a student’s ability to formulate responses, as well as their ability to synthesize and analyze (American Association of School Librarians).
A second major issue with current student assessment, as pointed out by Dr. Jon Downs, Director of the Delta Program in State College Pennsylvania, is the arbitrariness of letter grades. More often than not students are give a letter grade on work that they have completed but are given little to no explanation for the grade. If students do not receive more in depth feedback this impedes upon their ability to make adjustments and improve their work.
In order to combat these limitations of current assessment measures, we propose that schools invest time and resources in to the development of authentic assessment as well as more in depth teacher feedback.
Authentic Assessment, as defined by the American Association of School Librarians website is “…an evaluation process that involves multiple forms of performance measurement reflecting the student’s learning, achievement, motivation, and attitudes on instructionally-relevant activities.” Authentic Assessment demands that students use knowledge and skills to solve problems and show their work instead just plugging-in answers on multiple-choice tests. Authentic assessment, as mentioned in the definition above, involves many forms of work. This type of assessment comes in the form of portfolios, exhibitions, performance assessment as well as self-assessment.
Portfolios are collections of student work that help to track student progress. This allows teachers and students to see how the student’s work has changed throughout the year instead of just seeing a snapshot of their work in a standardized test score. Performance assessment is “any form of assessment in which the student conducts a response orally or in writing.” (American Association of School Librarians). Exhibitions are displays of student work or performances. (Columbia University: Authentic Assessment). Finally, self-assessment allows students to give feedback on their own progress and learning, giving them the opportunity for more ownership of their education (Authentic Assessment in Primary Education).
The citations are not all properly done yet but this is just an excerpt from the section on alternative forms of assessment.