Defining
Authentic Assessment
Authentic
assessment is a process of gathering information through which the skills and
needs of a student are identified with respect to the language and curricular
demands they will encounter (Prendeville & Wellman (2011)
Language
Underpinnings
Language
underpinnings are the requisite language abilities that are needed to access
both spoken and written information.
These underpinnings are also necessary to be able to express thoughts
and ideas both through speaking and writing.
Gaps in one or more of aspect(s) of the language underpinnings can cause
challenges in interactions and participation in the curriculum. (Prendeville - 2011)
What are the specific language
underpinnings?
- Language underpinnings are the cognitive/linguistic processes needed for the understanding and application of information.
- Language underpinnings are the processes behind the product.
- Language underpinnings are the foundation for learning, reading, writing, speaking, listening. (Wellman (2011)
5 Dimensions of Authentic Assessment
Adapted from Gulikers, Bastiaens, & Kirschner (2004)
- Assessment tasks should be relevant and represent the knowledge and skills that the child needs to learn.
- The physical environment should represent the way
- that the skills are actually used.
- The social context should also represent the way the skills will be used.
- The assessment result should incorporate the performance that is required of the child.
- The criteria should be based on the level of performance indicated by the standards.
Authentic Assessments
Setting
the Stage for Authentic Assessment
* Observation
* Ethnographic
Interviewing
Progress Monitoring
* Structured
Probes
* Behavioral
Sampling
* Curriculum-Based
Assessment
* Dynamic
Assessment
* Checklists/Rating
Scales/Rubrics
Summative
* Classroom
Performance Communication Domains
* Portfolios
Continuum of Specificity
* Checklists
* Rating
Scales
* Rubrics
Checklists Defined
- Checklists are somewhat like a questionnaire in that they are a list of skills or behaviors that the respondent reads and checks to indicate the presence or absence of a particular skill/behavior.
- Checklists simply require a “yes/no” , +/- or ‘present or absent,’ response.
- Do not confuse a checklist with a rating scale.
Rubric
Defined (Wiggins, 1998)
- A rubric is a set of scoring guidelines for evaluating student’s work
- A rubric contains a scale of possible points to be assigned to the work
- A rubric provides descriptors for each level of performance
Rubrics answer the following questions:
- By what criteria should performance be judged?
- Where should we look and what would we look for to judge performance?
- What does the range of quality of performance look like?
- How do we determine validity, reliability, and fairly what scores should be given and what scores mean?
- How should the different levels of quality be described and distinguish from one another?
Scoring
Rubrics (Perlman, 2002)
Components of Scoring Rubrics:
- One or more dimensions on which performance is rated
- Definitions and examples that illustrate the attribute(s) being measured
- A rating scale for each dimension
Holistic
Rubrics (Schreyer Institute for Innovative Learning, 2001)
Holistic
- Provides a single score based on an overall impression of a student’s performance
- Advantage: quick scoring, provides and overview of student achievement
- Disadvantage: does not provide detailed information, may be difficult to provide one overall score
Rating
Scales
- Rating scales set criteria and standards for grading a student’s performance in an academic or social area.
- They are generally assignment or task specific, so they change according to task.
- Users evaluate a student on how well or to what degree he or she demonstrates a trait.
- Informs instruction &/or intervention: development requires careful reflection about learning activities and students’ strengths and weaknesses.
- Improves communication between users, students, and parents because the criteria are explicit and consistent.
- Identify a set of underlying language traits associated with an assignment or activity.
- Build a scale for scoring each trait.
- Four-point scales are the most common.
- The number of traits and complexity of each point on a scale depend on the goals of the builder.
- Holistic Rubric/Rating Scale
- Develop a set of descriptors and assign a rank to each of the descriptors
-frequently,
sometimes, rarely, never
-1-2-3-4-5
Analytic
Rubrics
Schreyer Institute for Innovative Learning (2001); Arter & McTighe (2001)
Schreyer Institute for Innovative Learning (2001); Arter & McTighe (2001)
Analytic
- Provides specific feedback along several dimensions
- Divides a product or performance into essential traits so that they can be judged separately
- Advantages: More detailed feedback, scoring more consistent across students and graders
- Disadvantage: Time consuming to score