Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Alternative Assessments FOUN 3100 Fall 2003 Sondra M. Parmer

Alternative Assessments Authentic assessment includes dance, music, art, physical education, papers, projects, experiments, and portfolios. Authentic assessment means evaluating a student’s knowledge or skill in a context that approximates real world or real life as closely as possible. 2

Alternative Assessments  Direct Assessment  Realism  Activities with no “correct” answer  Group and individual performance  Self-assessment  Open-ended tasks involving higher level thinking Performance-Based Assessments are evaluated when specific criteria (behaviors) are performed by the student. 3 Components of Alternative Assessment

Advantages of Performance Assessment  Can measure timing, speed, precision, sequence, and appearance (e.g., drawing a picture, throwing a ball, operating equipment).  Can be motivational for outgoing students.  Provides an alternative for students who may not prefer other forms of assessments.

Disadvantages of Performance Assessment  Students perform individually and may become self- conscious.  Can be very time consuming for the teacher and the student.  Requires careful teacher attention.  Has the potential to introduce teacher biases in the grading process.

Criteria for Selecting Performance Assessment Tasks  Does the task truly match the outcome(s) you're trying to measure?  Does the task require the students to use critical thinking skills?  Is the task a worthwhile use of instructional time?  Does the assessment use engaging tasks from the "real world?"  Can the task be used to measure several outcomes at once?  Are the tasks fair and free from bias?  Will the task be credible?  Is the task feasible?  Is the task clearly defined? --Adapted from Herman, Aschbacher and Winters (1992)

Designing Performance Assessments  Define and analyze the expected performance.  Identify total skills and proper sequence.  Select the components to be analyzed.  Select observable skills.  Watch proficient students perform the task.  Modify if necessary.  Develop a form with procedures and instructions.  Provide students with written instructions and rubric to ensure tasks are doable and consistent for all students.  Observe and rate the student with the provided rubric.

Alternative Assessments Artifacts: Students’ papers and homework Reproductions: Documentation of a student’s work outside the classroom Attestations: Teachers’ or others’ documentation of a student’s work Productions: Documents prepared especially for the portfolio Portfolio Assessment: Consists of evaluating a systematic and organized collection of a student’s work that demonstrates the student’s skills and accomplishments. 8

Portfolio Guidelines  Good portfolio design is time consuming.  The kind of portfolio you choose should be “doable.”  The portfolio should be useful for what it is intended.  The containers should depend on how many students you have, the space you have to keep them, and the information contained in them.  Students should be active participants in putting the portfolio together.

What is a Rubric?  Because a performance assessment does not have an answer key in the sense that a multiple choice test does, scoring a performance assessment necessarily involves making some subjective judgments about the quality of a student's work.  Many people feel uncomfortable with making and using subjective judgments and find that a good set of scoring guidelines or "rubric” provides a way to make those judgments fair and sound.  It does so by setting forth a uniform set of precisely defined criteria or guidelines that will be used to judge student work.  The rubric should organize and clarify the scoring criteria well enough so that two teachers who apply the rubric to a student's work will generally arrive at the same score.

A Good Scoring Rubric will:  Help teachers define excellence and plan how to help students achieve it.  Communicate to students what constitutes excellence and how to evaluate their own work.  Communicate goals and results to parents and others.  Help teachers or other raters be accurate, unbiased and consistent in scoring.  Document the procedures used in making important judgments about students. --Adapted from Herman, Aschbacher and Winters (1992)

Rubric Example: Self-Assessment

Rubric Example: Project 1. Effort - 5 possible points. 5 - It's easy to tell that you did your best. 4 - You worked hard on your project. 3 - You just did the minimum. 2 - It looks like you didn't try very hard at all. Points _________ 2. Information and Accuracy - 5 possible points 5 - Your information is accurate, and it answers all the assigned questions. 4 - Your information is accurate, but you left some things out. 3 - Your information is not very accurate or not very complete. 2 - You didn't include enough information, or much of it is not correct. Points _________ 3. Spelling and Grammar - 5 possible points 5 - Your spelling and grammar are excellent. 4 - You made one or two minor errors. 3 - You made more than a few errors. 2 - It's obvious that you didn't check your work. Points __________ 4. Own Work - 5 possible points 5 - All the writing in the project was in your own words. 4 - A few sentences in the project are not your own. 3 - More than a few of the sentences in the project are not your own. 2 - Most of the project's writing is not your own. Points __________ Total Points _____________ Grade _____________

Rubric Example: Generic