Authentic Assessment What is it? “Authentic assessment is a _________________________ assessment that requires a student to go beyond basic recall and demonstrate his/her knowledge and understanding through a ________________, ________________, or ________________.” -Grant Wiggins Types of Authentic Assessment  ____________ ___________________or _______________ _________________exercises are questions or other prompts that require students to explore a topic orally or in writing.  ________________ ________________are assignments that require sustained attention in a single work area & are carried out over several hours or longer.  ________________are selected collections of a variety of performance-based work. A portfolio might include a student's "_______ _________" & the student's evaluation of the strengths & weaknesses of several pieces. The portfolio may also contain some "_________ ______ _________________" that illustrate the improvements the student has made over time. Criteria for An Authentic Assessment The task… is ________________ ; meaningful is ________________ ; found in the real world is ___________ ; involves a variety of higher thinking skills is ________________ & student-centered is ________________ ; learning is by discovery is ________________ for all students is ______________ __________________ ; supports a variety of responses and/or may support more than one solution process has clear & tangible ________________/________________ to meet; process & product measured (scoring guides) 1

2 What thinking skills are involved? Structuring the Task 1. Give the students a _______. 2. Use direction words so that they are thinking on a _______of levels. 3. Ensure that the task is something done by an _______in the real-world. 4. Ensure that the student can complete the task in an _______way. 5. Tell the students who the _______is (if you can find a real audience, it is truly authentic). 6. Give the students a “_______” and stick to it. 7. List all _______for the project.

Example Task Task: You work for the U.S. government in the Office of War Information, and you have been assigned to create a piece of propaganda convincing the young men in the country to enlist OR convincing all Americans to do their part in the war effort (ex. buy bonds). Take into consideration the elements that make propaganda effective and synthesize them into an effective product. Audience: American Men or American Men, Women, & Children of all ages. Deadline: Monday, November 25. Requirements: at least one relevant graphic, catchy text/slogan, attention- getting color (See also: scoring guide.) Creating a Scoring Guide Making your own: –Identify the overall performance or task to be assessed, & _______it yourself or imagine yourself performing it. –List the _______ _______of the performance or product. (Try to limit the number of performance criteria, so they can all be observed during a pupil's performance.) –Describe what each level of performance “looks” like in _____, _______language. Using a Template: –use _______ ( 3

Types –_____________ –________________ 4

Let’s Try it for Your Classroom. Task: Audience: Deadline: Requirements: Scoring Guide criteria:

Types of Tasks Your ideas: 6

Differentiating with Authentic Tasks 7 Tic Tac Toe Students choose questions to answer in an effort to complete a vertical or diagonal row, thereby answering a question at each of the different levels of thinking. Application & Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Cubing In teams of 3 or 4, one student rolls the cube or die. The student who rolls the cube begins by discussing the authentic “thinking question” (TQ) that is face up. While the TQ is discussed by all members of the team, the student who rolled the dice acts as the facilitator & summarizes the conversation before the next player rolls the cube. Variation Use cubing in a learning center. The student will roll the cube or die and then complete the authentic task that is face up on the cube/die

References Airasian, P.W. (1991). Classroom assessment. New York :McGraw-Hill. A Question of Thinking: A First Look at Students' Performance on Open-ended Questions in Mathematics, copyright 1989, California Department of Education Wiggins, G. (1989). A true test: Toward more authentic and equitable assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, May, Wiggins, G. (1993). Assessment, authenticity, context, and validity. Phi Delta Kappan, November, Wiggins,G. (1998). Educative assessment: designing assessments to inform and improve student performance San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 9