What is Authentic Assessment?

One of the things that can be frustrating when you are dealing with new ideas in any field is learning all of the jargon. Take “authentic assessment” for example.

It sounds a little bit intimidating, doesn’t it? It is also sometimes called alternative assessment, direct assessment or performance assessment. That isn’t confusing at all, is it?

There is a good chance that you have already been using authentic assessment in your classroom. When you check to see what the students have learned in a form other than what you might consider a “traditional” test, you might be using an alternative form of assessment. As an example, you might think of taking a class where you are learning the basics of playing basketball. It wouldn’t make much sense for your grade to depend solely on a multiple choice test at the end of the class. Most likely, there would be some form of assessment that allowed you to demonstrate that you could apply what the teacher was trying to get across to you. Using the same example, the teacher might also have administered some type of assessment as the class was progressing to see exactly where you were. You might have had to perform lay ups or foul shots after each skill was learned and practiced. If you were having trouble with any of the skills, the teacher could address the issues as they appeared.

Alternative assessment is supposed to compliment traditional assessment. In the example above, the student would still be expected to be able to pass a test on the history of basketball (if it was taught). Adding in an authentic assessment would just serve to further demonstrate that the student had acquired some real world, practical skills to go along with the knowledge.

Below are some resources to help you to come up with authentic assessments appropriate for your own classroom. As you might have guessed, the assessment should fit the student. You can follow this link to find a more thorough listing of authentic assessment resources.

You can use these alternative assessments as part of your approach to differentiating instruction in your classroom.

Tags: alternative assessment, authentic assessment, differentiated instruction, differentiated instruction lesson plans, performance assessment, traditional assessment

Category: Classroom Help, Differentiated Instruction