Authentic Assessment A lightening paced tour!

Hmmm! “ At best, testing does more harm than good; at worst, it hinders, distorts, and corrupts the learning process” (p. 51). Holt, J 1970, “The underachieving school”, Penguin, London, pp

Definitions “A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real- world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills” – (Jon Mueller, 2010, Available: "...Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field." -- Grant Wiggins -- (Wiggins, 1993, p. 229).Wiggins, 1993, p. 229 "Performance assessments call upon the examinee to demonstrate specific skills and competencies, that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered." -- Richard J. Stiggins -- (Stiggins, 1987, p. 34).Stiggins, 1987, p. 34

Traditional Assessment The curriculum drives the assessment. A certain body of knowledge and skills must be possessed by an individual if they are to be that ‘productive citizen’ and this must be delivered by schools. To check whether this has occurred successfully, the schools must test the students to see if they have attained these.

Authentic Assessment Students must be able to perform meaningful tasks in the real world. The schools must make these students adept at performing such task that they will come upon when they leave school. To ensure this has occurred successfully, schools need to create meaningful tasks that duplicate real life challenges and determine whether they are capable of performing them effectively.

Mueller (p.2) produces a table to show the differentiation between the two assessment methods (below). Traditional Authentic Selecting a Response Performing a Task Contrived Real-life Recall/Recognition Construction/Application Teacher-structured Student-structured Indirect Evidence Direct Evidence

Teacher’s Role Teachers must first determine what tasks demonstrate mastery and then develop a curriculum that will ensure students can perform tasks well and also include the acquisition of essential knowledge and skills. McDonald (1992) refers to as, “planning backwards” McDonald, J 1992, “Dilemmas of Planning Backwards: Rescuing a Good Idea”, (Coalition of Essential Schools), (Accessed: 27/04/10), Available:

Authentic Assessment Process Processes involved in solving real world problems that have more than one correct solution are very important. He states that teachers, “need to use open- ended, complex challenges that enable learners to demonstrate ways in which they construct their own meaning for content and concepts, and solve various real world problems” (p.1). Source: Merickel, M.L “Integration of the Disciplines: Authentic Assessment”, (School of Education, Oregon State University), (Accessed: 9/04/10).

Authentic Assessment Techniques Using the work of Hart (1994) and Zessoules, Rieneke and Gardener (1991), Merickel describes the following techniques: Portfolios – a collection of students’ skills, ideas and accomplishments that span a period of time. They capture samples of work and can be used to show the development of s students learning over time. This is termed a ‘process- folio’ (Zessoules et al. 1991). Performance Assessment – developed to test the ability of students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a variety of real life settings. Sytematic Observations – students are observed regularly and the observations are recorded for both typical and atypical behaviours. These are then considered and interpreted to guide further student learning.

Authentic Assessment Techniques Criterion Referenced – outlines how students can achieve expertise of set out outcomes. Current practice in this area is dominated by the use of rubrics and scoring guides. Merickel points out that the difference between this system and grading is that grades are norm referenced and also do not describe what is ‘good’. An advantage of this method is that students can be involved in the creation of criteria and create it in their own language, which will have more meaning to them. Journals – a reflective process, where students consider the learning process and product and then record their ideas, experiences and interests. Hart (1994) identifies that this allows for the documentation of changing student perceptions of themselves and their abilities over time. Source: Hart, D “Authentic Assessment: A Handbook for Educators”, Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., New York. Zessoules, Rieneke, & Howard Gardner. (1991). Authentic Assessment: Beyond the Buzzword and Into the Classroom. In Vitro Perrone (Ed.), Expanding Student Assessment. (pp ). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Radical Idea We need more assessment, not less! Crazy ?

Grant Wiggins’ thinking: Substitute feedback for assessment. The point of assessment in education is to advance learning, not merely audit absorption of facts. To reach any genuine standard, we need lots of trials, errors, and adjustments. Authentic feedback gives more useful feedback than more traditional methods

Simple really! In the real world, we learn and are assessed: on our ability to learn from results. “Students improve and are engaged when they recieve feedback (and opportunities to use it) on realistic tasks requiring transfer at the heart of learning goals and real-world demands”. Wiggins, G. (2010) “Healthier Testing Made Easy: The Idea of Authentic Assessment”, (Accessed: 11/05/2010).