Authentic Assessment That Works: A Handbook For Teachers

2012

This paper underscores the process of using Authentic Assessment (AA) not only as a tool to assess learning but also as an approach to enhance learning in a school in the context of Pakistan. Data was collected through classroom observations, conducting interviews, analyzing relevant documents and maintaining person reflective diary. Findings indicate that AA helped in enhancing students’ learning such as knowledge about the noise pollution, planning, developing interview questions, interviewing people, preparing posters, giving presentation and responding to audience question. The study also revealed that in AA the student’s role changed from a passive test taker to an active participant in the process of assessment. For example, they identified issue, found out solution, presented it to the community and also took part in the assessment of their own performance through self-assessment. The teacher’s role during AA changed as a facilitator. Moreover, the study indicates that develo...

My development of the authentic assessment and rubrics. The following sections are in my paper: Introduction, Rationale for Developing the Authentic Assessment and Rubrics, Literature Review of Authentic Assessment, Method (subject and sample for the designed authentic assessment, how to align the authentic assessment with the curriculum and instruction, procedures of implementation ─ how to incorporate the designed authentic assessment and rubrics into the day-to-day classroom instruction, how to use the assessment information/results for formative and summative assessment, How to communicate the assessment results to students and parents), and Discussions on the potential benefits and/or limitations of the authentic assessment and implementation issues or challenges.

Academic Research International, 2012

This paper underscores the process of using authentic assessment as a learning tool in a school the context of Pakistan. Data was collected through classroom observations, conducting interviews, analyzing relevant documents and maintaining person reflective diary. Findings indicate desirable changes in the perception as well as practices of teachers and students. Replacement of traditional paper-pencil test with authentic assessment resulted in active participation of teachers and students in teaching and learning process. Study finding also reveal considerable improvement in high order skills of the students. They were actively engaged in planning, collecting information and disseminating it to the community. Use of rubric for assessment was found to be very effective in determining a pathway for both the teachers and the students to look for and get to the desirable results.

Education Sciences, 2024

As teachers, we are living and working in times of abundant challenge and change. These challenges transpire across different education levels and sectors, including K–12, vocational, tertiary, and adult learning. Within this vast education ecosystem, a major challenge for all teachers is to allocate time, effort, and resources to ensure that their students receive a quality education with real-world implications, influencing soft-skill attainment, such as teamwork, communication, and critical thinking skills. In this article, the authors discuss, through a theoretical lens, the value of considering a national and universal approach to self- and peer-evaluations of authentic assessment tasks to improve teacher practice in Australia. Currently, there is modest opportunity amongst K–12 and tertiary teachers to comprehensively learn together, limiting cross-fertilisation of practice and interconnectedness, and as a national community of practice. The authors argue in this paper that offering an avenue to share knowledge and practice in authentic assessment design could potentially assist in addressing this challenge. Therefore, the article is dedicated to exploring the barriers and opportunities to advance a national and universal approach to transferable professional development in authentic assessment practice within the Australian education ecosystem.

2012

This paper underscores the process of using authentic assessment as a learning tool in a school the context of Pakistan. Data was collected through classroom observations, conducting interviews, analyzing relevant documents and maintaining person reflective diary. Findings indicate desirable changes in the perception as well as practices of teachers and students. Replacement of traditional paper-pencil test with authentic assessment resulted in active participation of teachers and students in teaching and learning process. Study finding also reveal considerable improvement in high order skills of the students. They were actively engaged in planning, collecting information and disseminating it to the community. Use of rubric for assessment was found to be very effective in determining a pathway for both the teachers and the students to look for and get to the desirable results.

1995

As a challenge to traditional assessment, this paper describes how the work of a network of teachers to improve schooling through authentic assessment and practice may lead to a general reform of nearly all aspects of the educational enterprise. The paper springs from observation of participant teachers in the Four Seasons Project which is designed to promote significant school change by changing fundamental assessment practices. Four Seasons is a partnership of four school reform organizations: the Coalition of Essential Schools, the Foxfire Teacher Outreach Network, Project Zero, and the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching. Chapter 1 explores why the teachers involved in this work have made their public commitment to develop authentic assessment and finds reason.; in teachers' philosophies about teaching and learning in their autobiographical stories of experiences as students anu teachers. Chapter 2 explores teachers' views of the relationships between curricula, instruction, and assessment as inseparable elements of authentic practice. Chapter 3 explores the difficulties, false starts, and mistakes in their experiences with authentic assessment. Chapter 4 describes classroom practice to portray how assessment, curriculum instruction, and relationships are woven throughout the classroom experience of teachers and students. Chapter 5 reflects on autherLic assessment and its influence on systematic change. (Contains 37 references.) (JB)

The 2013 curriculum asks teachers to use authentic assessment as one of assessment methods. Authentic assessment is the multiple forms of assessment reflecting students' learning, achievement, motivation, and attitudes toward classroom instructional activities (O'Malley and Pierce, 1996: 4). It can enhance teachers' creativity and encourage students' motivation. Through this assessment teachers can portray students' learning progress in order to measure whether instruction objectives are reached. In contrast, utilizing this kind of assessment is quite challenging since condition of real class does not support. Further, managing time, putting fairness and purpose of the assessment, and teachers' objectivity are the major challenges that can cause problems in applying this assessment. This paper will reveal the most crucial challenges in conducting authentic assessment related to the implementation of 2013 curriculum.

Language assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning process. It is actually one subject that most teachers are familiar with, yet it is also the one that often causes uncertainty and confusion among teachers. It can be concluded that many teachers still cannot grasp clearly and comprehensively on how to design a good assessment. Consequently, they just do what they think is 'correct' assessment instinctively without proper knowledge nor training. Hence, teachers are left to wonder and unsure if their ways of assessing or testing are appropriate, correct, or even valid as far as principles of assessment are concerned. This problem gets even more complicated when assessing is related with authentic assessment as it is relatively more subjective in nature compared to traditional assessment or test. In addition, teachers still lack the skills needed to construct test items while the demand for teachers to be able to construct test items is growing and cannot be neglected. In line with the problem discussed above, the writer would like to reveal the concepts of authentic assessment, types of authentic assessment, and creating authentic assessment.

Assessment through the Looking Glass, 2010

Open Access Library Journal, 2023

Assessment is a vital aspect of curriculum practice. A prime concern of educational stakeholders is how the outcomes of instruction affect students' need to transfer knowledge, ideals, and skills to the workplace. However, social studies teachers in junior high schools in Ghana dwell much on traditional assessment methods than authentic assessment methods. The study aimed to examine social studies teachers' knowledge and practice of authentic assessment in junior high schools. The specific objectives were to examine the knowledge, practices, and strategies of authentic assessment for social studies teachers. Explanatory sequential design (mixed-method) and the census were used to collect data from 127 social studies teachers in 85 junior high schools. A 50-item questionnaire and semi-structured interview guide aided the successful data collection. From the study, social studies teachers have positive knowledge of authentic assessment. About 75 per cent of teachers showed that they practice authentic assessment by asking students to collaborate, organise ideas with a purpose, and apply their knowledge to real-life problems. Also, the teachers showed that they give students assessment tasks based on social processes or real-life situations such as oral presentations and interviews, case study discussions, and story or text retelling. The study revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in Social Studies teachers' knowledge of authentic assessment concerning gender.