Classroom Assessment Assessment: Assessment as defined by the Encyclopedia of Educational Evaluation (1975) is the process of gathering information to meet a broad range of evaluation needs.  So what is evaluation?  Evaluation is defined as the process of making judgements and supporting one’s viewpoints with specific criteria, facts, and values.  It also determines the effectiveness of a lesson or unit in terms of student outcomes. (Alternative Assessment Resource Guide) In the past, the quest for assessment was to discover what content students had mastered after a given unit of instruction.  This type of assessment is characterized as traditional assessment.  Traditional assessment consists of paper and pencil testing.  This form of assessment lacks the ability to determine a student’s understanding of a given concept or idea. Today assessment is beginning to be characterized in a new reform style method.  It is most commonly called authentic or alternative assessment.  The goal of authentic assessment is to get students actively involved in the assessment process so that they can learn from it.  Authentic assessment gives students another opportunity to learn and describe their knowledge and skills throughout instruction. There are also other forms of assessment that can occur in a classroom.  All are classified as some form of authentic or alternative assessment.  They include naturalistic, performance, process, and product/project assessment.  Naturalistic assessment involves observation of student performances and behavior in an informed context.  Performance assessment provides students with the opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and to apply knowledge, skills, and habits of mind in a variety of structured and unstructured situations.  Process assessment refers to assessing a student’s skill in progressing through a series of actions or operations.  Product or project assessment on the other hand assesses individuals or a group of students of their ability to produce a product or project that is related to a topic in that curriculum. Here is a comparison of traditional and authentic assessment.

Traditional Assessment Emphasis on end-of-unit or semester test Annual standardized tests Separate from instruction Alignment of curriculum and instruction to standardized test Paper-and-pencil-oriented Recall and memorization Individual assessment Test score given to student Looking for knowledge possessed Compared students; grades Emphasis on grades as reflecting Teacher tests Teacher-directed (centered) Structured, classroom setting

Authentic Assessment Integral part of instruction Ongoing, evolving, cumulative Used to provoke further learning or to inform instruction Alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment Demonstration-, performance-, and product-oriented; multimethod and multitrait Higher-order thinking; inquiry Collaborative assessment Detailed feedback provided by student Looking for understanding and application of learning; mastery of ongoing processes; mastery of outcomes Mastery of outcomes De-emphasis on grades; emphasis on learning Teacher/student/peer appraisals Teacher-facilitated; student self-directs and judges own work Real-world setting

* Handout from Alternative Assessment Resource Guide Assessment differs for students, teachers, administrators, and even employers.  For this situation we will just focus on the effects that assessment has for students and teachers.  For students, assessment promotes efficient learning, retention and transfer of learning, and self-evaluation and self-monitoring.  It also motivates learning through communication and the sharing of ideas. For teachers on the other hand, assessment provides formative and summative data about what students have learned and what they actually understand.  It can assist in the instructional planning by providing informed feedback and helps to determine teaching effectiveness. Here are some examples of authentic assessment that can be incorporated into any lesson plan.  These assessment approaches will allow students to gain a better understanding of the ideas that are presented through instruction.

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Tests Essay Multiple-choice Matching Short answer True/False

Products/Projects Ads Advice columns Artifacts Audiocassettes Autobiographies Banners Blueprints Book reviews Books Brochures Bulletin boards Cartoons Case studies Collages Computer creations Costumes of characters Crossword puzzles Databases Diaries of historical periods Directories Displays Drawings Foods of a country or time period Games Graphs, charts, diagrams Graphic organizers Handbooks How-to books In-class group essays Job applications Job descriptions Journals Lab reports Learning centers Learning logs Letters to parents, editor, TV station, Products/Projects or a business Maps "Me Bag" for          introductions Mobiles Models Movie reviews Newspapers for historical periods Pamphlets Parenting job descriptions Patterns Peer editing critiques Pen-pal letters Photographs Picture dictionaries Portfolios Posters Product descriptions Projects Proposals Protest letters Questionnaires Research centers Research papers Results of surveys Resumes Reviews of TV programs Scrapbooks Short stories Simulation games Slide presentations Soap opera parodies Story illustrations Student-kept charts Tests Timelines Travel folders Videotapes Want ads Work products Writing portfolios

Performances Activities Announcements Anthems Apologies Ballads Beauty tips Campaign speeches Character sketches Charades Classroom maps Commercials Conferences Cooperative learning group activities Dances Debates Demonstrations Discussions Dramas Exercise routines Experiments Explanations Fashion shows Field trips Interactive book reviews Interviews Introductions Jingles Job interviews Jump-rope rhymes Laboratory experiences Person-on-the-street interviews News reports Oral histories of events Pantomimes Plays Presentations Psychomotor skills Anecdotal records Checklist observations for processes Concept mapping Conferences--teacher and peer Debriefing interviews Debriefing questioning for lesson closure Experiences checklists Interaction analyses Interviews Invented dialogs Journal entries regarding processes Learning logs Metaphor analyses Observations Oral questioning Process-folios Question production Responses to reading Retelling in own words Tailored responses Telling how they did something and justifying the approach used Puppet shows Reports Role plays Sales pitches Simulations Singing of songs from historical periods Skits Sociograms Song writing to fit a topic Speeches Spoofs Storytelling Surveys Tongue twisters TV talk shows Verbal comparisons Warnings Weather reports

Process Skills Anecdotal records Checklist observations for processes Concept mapping Conferences--teacher and peer Debriefing interviews Debriefing questioning for lesson closure Experiences checklists Interaction analyses Interviews Invented dialogs Journal entries regarding processes Learning logs Metaphor analyses Observations Oral questioning Process-folios Question production Responses to reading Retelling in own words Tailored responses Telling how they did something and justifying the approach used

Assessment Ideas for Individuals and Groups