Alternative Assessments Compared and Contrasted Sherinda Robinson Group: MEED 122 Stephanie Jones EDTC 560 April 16, 2003

Alternative Assessments Defined Any form of measuring what students know and are able to do, other than traditional standardized tests

Types of Alternative Assessments Observations Performance-based Assessment student self-assessments portfolios Art work Inventions Notebooks Problem solving Oral reports Journals Designs and drawings Documentary reports Maps Performance, musical instrument Experiments Model construction Poetry recitations Story illustrations Performances

Common Characteristics of Alternative Authentic Assessments Asks students to perform, create or produce something Encourages student self-reflection Measures outcomes of significance Taps higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills Uses tasks that represent meaningful instructional activities Invokes real-world applications Uses human judgment (rather than machines) for scoring Requires new instructional and assessment roles for teachers Provides self-assessment opportunities for students Provides opportunities for both individual and group work Encourages students to continue the learning activity beyond the scope of the assignment Defines explicit performance criteria Makes assessment equal in importance to curriculum and instruction

Use of Alternative Assessments Provide information about the status of the educational system Aid in instructional decisions about individual students Bringing greater curricular coherence to the system Motivate students to perform better and parents to demand higher performances Act as a lever to change instructional content and strategies Hold schools and educators accountable for student performance Certify individual students as having attained specified levels of achievement or mastery.

Target Audience Like standardized assessments, alternative assessments audience would include teachers, instructors administrators, children, parents, adult learners, and anyone that plays a role in implementing, administering, taking, scoring, analyzing, and reviewing the results of the assessment

Advantages and Disadvantages of Alternative Assessments Advantages The strengths of alternative assessment lie in its ability to individualize assessment, to mimic good teaching practices, and to involve teachers more deeply in the assessment process. Currently, attempts are being made to improve the generalizability and reliability of alternative assessments in order to use them for the evaluation of school and school system efficacy Disadvantages There are again, however, several likely disadvantages as well. The first is the time and energy it would take to create or adapt these methods of alternative assessment for use at a particular program with a particular population of students

References Alternative/Performance Based Assessment. Retrieved from Bowers, B. (1989). Alternatives to Standardized Educational Assessment. ERIC Digest Series Number EA 40. Retrieved from What the Research Says About Student Assessment (1996). Improving America's School: A Newsletter on Issues in School Reform. Retrieved from