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In this artifact I showed how I am using authentic and adaptive assessments in my classroom. To me, this comes in two ways: creating tasks that students would face in the real world and creating assessments that force students to think deeper and more critically about the work they are putting forth. With elementary students it's not always feasible to give them real life situations AND stick to the millions of standards we are expected to teach, but by creating and using rubrics and learning progression sheets you are allowing students to work towards higher level thinking skills. In this artifact you will find ways that I scaffold authentic assessments for my Grade 4 students, and how I promote a sense of ownership and independency while doing so.

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In this artifact I showed how I am using authentic and adaptive assessments in my classroom. To me, this comes in two ways: creating tasks that students would face in the real world and creating assessments that force students to think deeper and more critically about the work they are putting forth.

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​ In this artifact, I demonstrate my understanding of authentic and adaptive assessments and how they are far more telling than traditional assessments. I share some of the ways I use authentic and adaptive assessments in my own classroom or how I plan to modify assessments to make them more authentic.

This artifact demonstrates my mastery of applying authentic and adaptive assessment into a personalized learning classroom. Traditional testing can often only assess a student's test-taking abilities and offers little application to the real world. It seems that we are teaching students to be good test-takers, but then they struggle to use what they learn in their everyday lives or future lives. When utilizing authentic and adaptive assessment, we can show students that what they are learning about matters, we can make them more interested and invested in these concepts, and we can better tailor our instruction based on the data these assessments give us. This is what personalized learning is all about.

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​ In this artifact, I demonstrate my understanding of authentic and adaptive assessments and how they are far more telling than traditional assessments. I share some of the ways I use authentic and adaptive assessments in my own classroom or how I plan to modify assessments to make them more authentic.

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In this artifact I developed example of strategies that all educators can use from P-12 and shape it to what it would look like in their classrooms. I was able to provide examples of strategies or resources that I use in my own classroom or across our school district. The resources that were mentioned in the podcast were listed in the bio of the episode so that educators could easily locate them, utilize them or present them to their school districts to use. One of the assessments that I focused on was a single-point rubric which provided authentic feedback through glows and grows on certain criteria that was deemed proficient. I really thought this provided educators a way to connect deeper with a student to focus on their individualized growth rather than just highlighted general boxes on a rubric.

This artifact demonstrates my mastery of developing a platform for educators to learn together and create a personalized learning environment for their students all while beginning with the understanding the importance of developing authentic and utilizing adaptive assessments to build on wonderous experiences in the classroom as well as providing strategies for educators to begin to promote key aspects of a personalized learning environment. ​

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In this artifact I developed example of strategies that all educators can use from P-12 and shape it to what it would look like in their classrooms. I was able to provide examples of strategies or resources that I use in my own classroom or across our school district.

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This module is an introduction to integrating technology in K-12 classrooms for the pre-service and in-service teacher. The goal of this module is to give teachers an overview of the basic considerations concerning integrating technology in the classroom to meet the needs of all learners.

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As a teacher, when you design a lesson or unit, you design it with the hope that everything will go according to plan, your students will learn the content, and they'll be ready to move on to the next concept. If you've been a teacher for more than a day or two, however, you know that this often isn't the case.

Some students will pick up the information and quickly get bored while others will be lost and quickly fall behind. And sometimes, the lesson will fall flat and none of your students will understand much of anything.

Other times, a lesson will work really well with one group of students, but it will flop with another. This is all just par for the course with teaching, and you never know what you're going to get on any given day.

Thankfully, there is a way you can make your lessons better, more achievable, and more appropriate for all students. The solution is to teach them how to use self-assessment.

Self-assessment is one of those "teach a man to fish" concepts-once students understand how to self-assess, they'll be more equipped to learn in all aspects of their life. At the very basic level, self assessment is simple: students need to think:

1. What was I supposed to learn?

2. Did I learn it?

3. What questions do I still have?

This formative assessment helps students and teachers understand where they're at in their learning. The more students learn to do this at your direction and the more techniques they have to self-assess, the more likely they are to inherently do it on their own.

What does self-assessment look like?

Self-assessment can take many forms, and it can be very quick and informal, or it might be more structured and important. In essence though, self assessment looks like students pausing to examine what they do and don't know. However, if you simply say, "OK, class, time to self-assess," you'll likely be met with blank stares.

The more you're able to walk students through strategies for self-assessment, the more they'll understand the purpose, process, and value of thinking about their learning. For the best results to reach the most students, aim to incorporate different types of self-assessment, just as you aim to incorporate different ways of teaching into your lessons.

Why self-assessment works

One of the reasons self-assessment is so effective is because it helps students stay within their zone of proximal development when they're learning. In this zone, students are being challenged, which means they're learning, but they're not being pushed too hard into frustration.

The reason this is so helpful is because teachers can see anywhere from 15-150+ students every day, so it's hard for a teacher to know where every single student is at in his or her learning. Without stopping for self-assessment, it's easy for a teacher to move on before students are ready or to belabor a concept students mastered days ago.

When students are able to self-assess, they take control of their learning and realize when they need to ask more questions or spend more time working on a concept. Self-assessment that is relayed back to the teacher, either formally or informally, helps the teacher get a better idea of where students are at with their learning.

Another benefit of self-assessment is that students tend to take more ownership and find more value in their learning, according to a study out of Duquesne University. According to the study, formative assessments like self-assessment "give students the means, motive, and opportunity to take control of their own learning." When teachers give students those opportunities, they empower their students and help turn them into active, rather than passive learners.

Self-assessment also helps students practice learning independently, which is a key skill for life, and especially for students who are pursuing higher education.

How to execute self assessment

To truly make this part of your classroom, you'll need to explain to students what you're doing, why you're doing it, and you'll need to hold them accountable for their self assessment. The following steps can help you successfully set up self-assessment in your classroom.

Step 1: Explain what self-assessment is and why it's important

Sometimes teachers have a tendency to surprise students with what's coming next or to not explain the reasoning behind a teaching strategy or decision. While this is often done out of a desire for control and power as the leader of the classroom, it doesn't do much to help students and their learning.

If students don't understand why they're doing what they're doing, they usually won't do it at all, or will just to the bare minimum to go through the motions and get the grade. If students don't understand the purpose of a learning strategy, they often see it as busy work. Most students are very used to being assessed only by their teachers, so they may not understand why they're suddenly being asked to take stock of their own learning.

Make sure you take the time to explain why you're implementing this new learning strategy and how it is going to directly benefit them. That explanation is going to vary based on the age of your students and other factors, but you can give students some variation of the explanation of why self-assessment works above.

Step 2: Always show a model

As you scroll down, you'll see that we give you some examples of ways to use self assessment; each time you try one of these new techniques, be sure to create an exemplar model for your students. If you want this to work, students need to know what the goal that they're working toward looks like.

Depending on the type of self-assessment you're working with, a simple model might be enough, or students might need to practice with the work of others. A low stakes way to start this out is with examples from past students. Pull out an old project from years past and have students assess the project as if it were their own.

Once students learn how to be respectful and constructive with this peer assessment, they can practice with the peers in their class. Including this step often makes it easier for students to assess their own work. It can be hard to look back at your own work or thought process, especially if not much time has passed since you did the work.

Step 3: Teach students different strategies of self-assessment

We all learn best by doing, so rather than just giving students a list of self-assessment strategies, take your time walking through different strategies together. Also remember that the strategy that works best for Jimmy might not work well for Susan, so the more you can diversify self-assessment for your students, the more students you're going to be able to reach.

Try starting with just one type of self assessment, give students time to master that type, then add another type. As time goes on, you can offer students choice in the type of self-assessment they want to use.

Step 4: Practice

Before you ask students to actively assess their own work, let them practice with some low stakes examples. It's hard for many people to critique themselves and to recognize they have room for improvement, yet it's essential.

Give students some examples of work from past students (names always removed) and walk through "self" assessment with those examples together as a class.

Step 5: Create a way to hold students accountable

Self-assessment shouldn't always be tied to a grade, but students will catch on quickly if you're not somehow holding them accountable. There are many ways to do this, for example:

Conference with each student throughout the process

Make self-assessment part of the final grade for a project or unit

Create a self-assessment reward chart

The important thing to remember with holding students accountable for their self-assessment is that you should be holding them accountable for doing the self-assessment, but not for what they do or don't know, nor for the changes they make based on their self-assessment.

Step 6: Don't stop

Sometimes we have a tendency to try a strategy once or twice and then let it slide as the school year goes on, but as students learn that they're no longer being held accountable, they will stop. You can't ever assume a student will keep using a strategy unless you give them explicit instructions and hold them accountable.

Remember that as with anything, students will get better at self-assessment the more they practice it. The more you explicitly assign self-assessment, the more it will become a normal part of the learning process.

Examples of self assessment

Remember that it's good to use a variety of self-assessment strategies so all students have a chance to find a style that works best for them. Any time you introduce a new strategy or assign self-assessment, be very clear about what students should do and how they should do it.

The strategies we suggest are broken down by age, but always use your best judgment regarding which strategies will be best for your students.

KWL chart: Before starting a lesson or unit, have students write or say what they already know (K) and what they want to know (W) about the topic. After the lesson or unit, they write or say what they learned (L). This can easily evolve into larger discussions and assignments.

Goals: At the end of each lesson, day, week, etc. students write one learning goal they would like to achieve. This can be very open-ended, or it could be very focused, asking students to reflect on one specific subject or topic. You can expand on this by having students return to their goal to see if they met it, encouraging them to ask for help if they haven't met their goal.

Red, yellow, green: Give each student three circles: one red, one yellow, and one green. Throughout the school day, students place their red circle on their desk if they're lost or confused, yellow if they're struggling a little bit, and green if they understand, and they're good to go. You can also stop to have students check their understanding by asking them to hold up a color. Some students feel shy about admitting they're confused, so this strategy can also work really well if you have students place their heads down before holding up their circle.

Objective check: In the morning, give students a list of objectives you will cover in school today. Have each student write down an objective they would really like to learn today. At the end of the day, students return to the objective and determine whether they learned it or not.

Tricky spots: Work with students to identify where they struggle (for example, "I have trouble with word problems in math," or "I have trouble spelling new words"). When starting a new lesson or unit, have each student identify one tricky spot they want to focus on. Be sure to check in with students often on their tricky spot to make sure they are making progress and not getting frustrated.

Highlighting: Have students go back to a writing assignment, worksheet, or project and highlight the section that they think was their best work. As an extension, have them explain why this was their best work. This is an excellent strategy to use with students who struggle or lack confidence in their work.

Self reflection: After a speech or presentation, have students write down three things they did well and one thing they can improve on. Extend this by returning to these during the next speech or presentation; you could even make them part of the rubric for the next assignment.

Exit tickets: Before students can leave the room, they must fill out an exit ticket and hand it to the teacher. You might ask them to write one thing they learned today and one thing they want to learn tomorrow, for example.

Think, pair, share: Pose a reflective question or prompt to students, for example you might tell them to think about or even write down the most important thing they learned in class today. Next, have them pair with a partner or small group to discuss their answer to the question or prompt, and finally, have students report back to the whole class.

Rubrics: Before completing a project, give students the rubric you will use to grade their effort. Have students complete a draft of the project and assess themselves using the rubric. After they do this, you might conference with them, give them feedback, or have them complete a reflective assignment. Then, have students complete a second draft that they will turn in for their grade (or to continue to work and improve upon).

Writing conferences: After students write an outline or first draft of an essay, hold an individual conference with each student. Before you provide your input, have students identify the strengths and weaknesses of their work. Use their self assessment as the guide of what you discuss during the conference. You might even find that students are more critical of themselves than you would have been.

Empty rubrics: At the beginning of a project, leave a space on the rubric empty. Help each student fill in the empty spot with something they need to work on, whether it's something that they're already good at and want to get even better or it's something they struggle with and want to get better at.

Similar Posts:

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Helping Students Thrive by Using Self-Assessment - Education Corner

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Once students understand how to self-assess, they'll be more equipped to learn in all aspects of their life.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Are students across an entire school or district grasping the content they are learning? Are students going to perform well on big upcoming assessments like state testing or summative exams? One effective way to answer these questions is through interim assessments.

What Are They?

Interim assessments are given at different intervals throughout the school year (hence the name). Interim assessments are often given on a district or school wide level. This allows education leaders to compare results and track progress of entire classes or schools.

It's important to note that the terms "interim assessment" and "benchmark exam" are often used interchangeably. They are used to track student mastery and understand how to guide future instruction, so students can be fully prepared for summative exams or state testing.

Components of Interim Assessment

Give insight on student progress

Term used interchangeably with benchmark exam

Given at different "intervals" throughout the school year

Used for accountability of schools, students, and teachers

Used to identify areas where adjusted instruction is needed

How Is Interim Assessment Different From Formative Assessment?

While both interim and formative assessments help teachers drive their future instruction, there are key differences between the two. Formative assessments are low stakes, quick ways to check in with students that happen frequently. In addition, they come in many forms: quiz, exit ticket, artwork, venn diagram, game, presentation, etc.

Students at John T. Nichols Middle School taking an assessment on Edulastic to help prepare for their state test, the MCAS.

On the other hand, interim assessments are formal. They typically are longer, carry more weight, and require more preparation. Beyond this, interim exams are typically given across many different classes or schools, while formative assessments usually are only assigned by one teacher in a singular class.

Keep in Mind

The terms interim assessment and benchmark exam are often used interchangeably. Both refer to exams that typically align to state learning standards - like PARCC, AIR, SBAC, FSA, or PSSA. School leaders give interim/benchmark exams to track academic trajectory and to help students practice and prepare for spring state testing.

Online Interim Assessment with Edulastic

Many teachers, schools, and districts across the country use Edulastic for their interim assessments to gain immediate insights and access robust reports. For starters, teachers can view the live class board while students are taking an exam. Student answers populate in real-time. This allows teachers to immediately identify which students are finding success and which students need more help. Once the exam is completed, the free data reports help teachers view student results in an easy-to-read yet powerful format.

At the district level, common assessments are easy with Edulastic Enterprise. Results are instant and with standards-tied questions, standards mastery tracking is a breeze. Plus, school and district leaders also can drill down the data to building, grade, teacher, class, or student. With an Enterprise administrator account, you can view data based on demographics such as gender, FRL status, race, ELL status, and more.

Edulastic assessments are powerful and are paving the way for efficient and useful testing at the class, school, and district level.

Examples of Interim Assessment

Interested in Giving Interim Assessments on Edulastic?

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What is an Interim Assessment? - Edulastic Blog

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Are students across an entire school or district grasping the content they are learning? Are students going to perform well on big upcoming assessments like state testing or summative exams? One effective way to answer these questions is through interim assessments. Interim assessments are given at different intervals throughout the school year (hence the name).

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a) Can Allison donate blood to Bob? Why or why not?
b) Allison, who is a biology student, begins to wonder if she is adopted. What would you tell her and why?

The above is an actual pre-class exercise, authored by Prof. Kathleen Marrs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The course in question was college level introductory biology, but it easily could have been a basic high school biology course. Dr. Marrs is practicing Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT), an interactive engagement pedagogy used in many courses since 1996. The instructor posts JiTT assignments on a website a day or so before the class meets. Students respond online, giving the instructor enough time to adjust the in-class activity informed by what the responses reveal. For more elaboration, see Dr. Eric Mazur discuss a strategy that incorporates JiTT, featuring short lectures interrupted by conceptual questions about physics.

Promoting Active Learning

Consider the main features of the JiTT exercise.

Students are presented with a slightly provocative and memorable statement that is open to a considerable amount of interpretation.

Students rephrase the question in their own words. The responses tell the instructor how students interpreted the assignment.

Students must take a stand and justify their position. They must examine prior knowledge, consult the course resources, and perhaps discuss the issue with classmates.

The essence of the JiTT pedagogy is timely pre-instruction assignments, usually called warm-ups, that inform the upcoming lesson by encouraging the students to examine their prior knowledge and seek information about the upcoming topic before coming to class. Involving the students in the learning process this way is in line with current education research that recommends actively involving students in learning:

To be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Within this context, it is proposed that strategies promoting active learning be defined as instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing.

Adjusting the Lesson Flow

There is room for flexibility as long as two crucial criteria are met. The assignments must be thoughtfully constructed and constitute an integral part of the lesson. Expanding on these two criteria, a good JiTT question . . .

Is informed by education research, both cognitive and discipline-specific.

Yields a rich set of student responses for classroom discussion.

Requires an answer that cannot easily be looked up.

Encourages the student to examine his/her prior knowledge and experience.

Requires that the student formulate the response, including the underlying concepts, in his/her own words.

Contains enough ambiguity to require the student to supply some additional information not explicitly given in the question. (This feature enriches the subsequent classroom discussion.)

Targets a conceptual bottleneck.

Is just outside the comfort zone.

Is extendable and memorable.

Is sufficiently captivating so that even struggling students may be interested in the answer.

Encouraging students to examine the status of their knowledge, metacognition is usually accomplished by including on the response page a free-form "comments" field.

Before going to class, the instructor looks at the responses and decides how to adjust the lesson flow. Student responses typically fall into a set of categories. The instructor selects representative examples to show in class, not ignoring the comments.

The instructor is now ready to adjust the classroom activities or lesson flow, and improvise if necessary. The flow is pretty much predetermined, but the words used in class will arise from the student responses and, most importantly, will be influenced by the feedback from the live class. Typically, the live class is shown a representative set of responses, and the authors of the responses are invited to comment and elaborate. The rest of the class is encouraged to challenge and suggest alternatives. Properly handled, this can be a teaching opportunity that goes beyond the course content. Students have an opportunity to practice critical thinking and communication skills. The course content is enriched because the wording actually comes from the live class, which makes the lesson fresh and interesting to the students.

Effective Uses of JiTT

There is a variety of ways to respond to the issues raised in the student responses to the pre-class JiTT assignment:

Here is checklist of recommendations to make the JiTT pedagogy effective:

Let students know that JiTT will be used, why, and how it works. Make clear what a quality response looks like.

Use JiTT regularly, but keep it short and manageable.

Use JITT questions on exams, and use responses in distractors. Also, let JiTT count toward the final grade. Grade for effort.

Include climate questions, and ask students how they reached their answers.

Look for patterns in responses, and link responses to in-class activities.

Make responses easy to submit and manage. Provide personal feedback as much as possible.

Have you used JiTT or other interactive engagement strategies? Please share your experiences in the comments section below.

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Just-in-Time Teaching: An Interactive Engagement Pedagogy

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a) Can Allison donate blood to Bob? Why or why not?b) Allison, who is a biology student, begins to wonder if she is adopted. What would you tell her and why? The above is an actual pre-class exercise, authored by Prof. Kathleen Marrs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

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Choosing The Right Adaptive Learning Tool

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Find out how adaptive learning solutions are helping teachers target instruction and use data more effectively-and how they're helping students learn . EDGENUITY'S UPSMART ( edgenuity.com ) Valerie Wirth's math students in the Amphitheater School District in Tucson, Arizona, learn using UpSmart.

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The purposes of the present study were twofold: (a) to compare the efficiency, reliability, and concurrent validity of scores from a newly developed adaptive tonal memory test to those from a commercially available tonal memory test, and (b) to compare examinees' attitudes about taking adaptive and paper and pencil music tests. Thirty-six marching band students responded to a computerized adaptive test of tonal memory, Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation, the Tonal Memory subtest from the Wing Standardized Tests of Musical Intelligence, the Musical Memory subtest from the Drake Musical Aptitude Tests, and questionnaires assessing demographic information, self-efficacy for auditory skills, and attitudes about music tests. The Drake test, Gordon test, and Serf-Efficacy for Auditory Skills scale served as criterion measures in the concurrent validity analysis. Results indicated that the adaptive test required an average of 71 % fewer items to yield scores with greater reliability and validity than those from the Wing Tonal Memory test. Examinees' attitudes also were significantly more favorable toward the adaptive test than toward the paper and pencil music tests. Further implications of these findings are discussed, and a review of recent adaptive testing research within and outside of music is provided.

Journal Information

The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education provides a forum where contemporary research is made accessible to all with interest in music education. The Bulletin contains current research, and reviews of interest to the international music education profession.

Publisher Information

Founded in 1918, the University of Illinois Press (www.press.uillinois.edu) ranks as one of the country's larger and most distinguished university presses. The Press publishes more than 120 new books and 30 scholarly journals each year in an array of subjects including American history, labor history, sports history, folklore, food, film, American music, American religion, African American studies, women's studies, and Abraham Lincoln. The Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses as well as the History Cooperative, an online collection of more than 20 history journals.

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Computerized Adaptive Testing of Music-Related Skills on JSTOR

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The purposes of the present study were twofold: (a) to compare the efficiency, reliability, and concurrent validity of scores from a newly developed adaptive tonal memory test to those from a commercially available tonal memory test, and (b) to compare examinees' attitudes about taking adaptive and paper and pencil music tests.

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This blog was co-authored by Ohio educators Ashli Breit and Cheryl Bledsoe. Ashli is a 6th grade ELA and Social Studies teacher at Lake Middle School. Cheryl is a 6th grade ELA teacher and gifted intervention specialist at Lake Middle School. She has provided professional development as a presenter at technology conferences, and integrates technology daily into the classroom.
Why authentic assessment?
The pressures of high-stakes testing today add stress and worry to already-busy educators. Authentic assessment provides valuable information to teachers and students, and this information is then used to create an appropriate learning path. Our classroom goal is teaching real-world application skills; authentic assessment meets the goal.

Each year, we do a nonfiction unit using Jim Murphy's text The Great Fire (Great Chicago Fire), with school fire code connections. Our superintendent created a video advising students that new school construction would use 90-year-old fire codes. The essential question guides research toward a culminating argument product: a response video detailing types of fires codes needed in our new building.

Difficult material was made applicable to today's students, addressing several skills in authentic tasks: research skills (two eras of fire codes), and argument skills (video).

All these life skills can be applied to many situations, while assessing understanding of the text and unit concepts.

Too often, students succeed on traditional assessments by guessing well or discerning the writing 'formula' for maximum scores. However, they may not be able to expand on that information or clearly explain concepts tested. Ask those same kids to teach the topic, create a video lesson, informative poster or website, and you will get a clearer picture of true understanding.
Challenges
Several possible challenges are faced in shifting toward performance-based assessment.

Students may have difficulty taking the assessments seriously and putting forth best efforts. Response: students will have voice and choice in learning and products as long as they are putting forth effort. Students sometimes ask, "When is the test on this?" Faces light up when told their project is the test. Units begin with a discussion about goals and expected learning. As products are chosen, they are reminded of those goals and encouraged to demonstrate their learning.

Parents may question assessment validity and whether it truly demonstrates understanding. Response: parents should talk to their children about what they are learning and how skills can be applied in other areas of life. One parent had concerns that a movie analysis was used for assessment. I clarified it was part of a culminating activity about overcoming adversities, and learning taken from the movie would be applied in the final product. When the digital portfolio was shared, she then understood the big picture.

Administrators may not see the benefits, possibly viewing the method as chaotic. Response: invite administrators into the classroom to watch the process and talk to kids about what is occurring. Often students are the best defense against criticism. A creative idea is having students create a pitch (their choice of medium) to sell the unit to future generations. They love giving highlights about the unit, student expectations and sometimes include warnings or 'make sure you do...' These are great to share with administrators and parents.

Student role in the process
Student voice and choice is important, mirroring much of what we face in adulthood. For example, as adults we choose books to read and how to share with others. However, just as adults do not always have total freedom, authentic assessment in classrooms has some 'must do' items and 'can do' items, all reflecting true understanding of material. Student investment in the process is important to its success.

A great example of authentic assessment is using choice boards for reading comprehension assessments, explaining to students these projects are a large part of their reading grade. We present this to students as a teacher-created website listing options and requirements, including 15 project choices. The choices address a variety of interests and learning styles (student choice), while including grammar expectations and a written component (teacher requirements).

Authentic assessment is what teachers desire: a true understanding of the impact they are making on student learning.

The result has been greater enthusiasm and interest in reading that is not developed when using a multiple-choice test. Students are not rushing, cheating, or ignoring Accelerated Reading requirements, now looking forward to choosing their books and sharing what they learned. Many projects get submitted early so the next one can be started. I love the shift to authentic assessment, especially with growing excitement in the reading classroom, demonstrated by 100% participation in the projects (versus 45-50% with previous reading assessments).

We take student suggestions for product types, and will 'negotiate' for something attractive to the learner, while still being true to what is being measured. For example, one of my students with fine motor difficulty really wanted to create a movie poster. He developed an online version of the poster including all required elements, as well as interactive features for the audience. The student was thrilled his physical needs were met, and he produced quality work. Other students loved it so much they asked to have it added as an option for everyone. Collaborative learning is wonderful! The benefits included:

authentic assessment of text comprehension

student creative design of product

class exposure to new technology features

Special education students can also benefit from these choices. These students often feel unsuccessful with traditional assessments. Allowing them choice in demonstrating understanding, gives them a chance to show mastery of standards in a way they are comfortable with. One student I am working with has sixth grade reading scores in the first percentile. He struggles to express himself in writing, often shutting down when asked to write. Giving the option to draw has allowed him to demonstrate understanding in a way he is comfortable with. He feels successful with assignments when given choice in how he expresses his knowledge. This not only helps the teacher get a better understanding of student abilities, it also builds the students' self-confidence.

All assessments should be used to guide and direct instruction within the classroom. As educators, we want to understand our students' level of understanding so we can differentiate products for our students. Authentic assessment is what teachers desire: a true understanding of the impact they are making on student learning. We should embrace that model and bring learning alive in the classroom!
Cheryl and Ashli's post is part of CTQ's November/December blogging roundtable on authentic assessment. Follow CTQ on Facebook and Twitter to see when each new blog is posted, and use #CTQCollab to join the conversation on social media.
Looking for more information like this? Click here to search our extensive library of additional resources.

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Authentic assessment in today's classrooms: Two teachers' perspectives - Center for Teaching Quality #CTQCollab

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This blog was co-authored by Ohio educators Ashli Breit and Cheryl Bledsoe. Ashli is a 6th grade ELA and Social Studies teacher at Lake Middle School. Cheryl is a 6th grade ELA teacher and gifted intervention specialist at Lake Middle School. She has provided professional development as a presenter at technology conferences, and integrates technology daily into the classroom.

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This article presents a procedure found effective for including students with special needs in daily instructional activities within a general classroom. Practices, based on authentic assessment and subsequent individual intervention decisions, resulted in full participation of students with special needs in daily classroom instruction. Individualized instruction by incorporating student choice of materials, feedback from teacher-designed rubrics, and application of student-constructed reading logs offers students with disabilities the opportunity to maintain growth and appropriate development in general education classrooms.

Knowing how and what to teach when instructing children with learning disabilities is one of the most challenging aspects of inclusive education. Instructional decision making is confounded by variability in teaching philosophy and reading interventions from one instructor to another. One fundamental in all effective teaching, however, is the use of an assessment strategy, formal and informal, to determine the most appropriate instruction. Striking a balance among the various intervention approaches is also important in the provision of an appropriate, individual education. The focus of this article deals with the question "How do teachers maximize inclusion of students with special needs in a general education classroom?" Our discussion of rubrics, miscue analysis, and reading logs for students who have learning disabilities in reading and who are served in general education classrooms may answer this question.

A rubric, a set of criteria outlining the expectations for work, can serve as an effective basis for assessment (Erickson, 1995) and consequent instructional decisions. Rubrics require the design of a Likert-type scale to quantify decisions about performance; the decision is then made more obvious to the learner by the semantic scale, which describes different levels of learning for a particular activity. A second feature of the rubric is the identification of performance competencies, which serve to separate student performance among a number of interrelated instructional concerns. Accurately developing the rubric will link instruction and learning through assessment. For instance, Criteria 1 of the rubric in Figure l refers to "meaning." The scale, or semantic descriptors, operationalizes the concept of conveying meaning for the learner, the teacher, and members of the class. Every participant understands the desired learning outcome(s).

Time spent designing the scale multiplies in value as all students gain a common focus of instruction, and the teacher maintains a basis for relating progress and performance within the context of metacognition.

Rubrics are useful in characterizing a student's strengths and weaknesses with respect to instructional design. Outcomes from a rubric include a graph, which provides a student with a vision of progress (or stagnation) in a particular aspect of learning. Outcomes may also be tailored to a specific objective, which may naturally emerge from the Individualized Education Plan. The learning process becomes more concrete with the narration and feedback inherent in the rubric. Sources of input to the rubric for a student include teacher, self, and/or peers.

The student's use of a rubric paces him or her through an internal review of a learning task. Reflecting on the learning task may empower self-assessment and self-directed instruction (Erickson, 1995). Further, a student's written reflections help the teacher because committing the learning processes to paper can illustrate a student's metacognitive processing. Corrective feedback from the teacher becomes more individual and accurate. Feedback may be one of the most neglected aspects of teaching special needs students because of the time involved in this level of decision making. The rubric makes the decision process more direct and less time consuming for a teacher and a student. Peer feedback, within the context of the classroom environment, provides a social context and often a less threatening and more inclusive response to the special learner.

Although instructional strategies vary, teachers of students with learning disabilities in reading maintain the long-term goal of preparing fluent readers. The context of the instruction presented in this article is a reading passage. Math facts, word problems, science experiments, and/or artwork are additional examples of the materials and media that challenge students. Moving a student beyond mastery to fluent use of materials occurs because an instructor matches the individual needs of a student with the appropriate instructional strategy. The instructor can often provide a reading passage that is made more meaningful by allowing student choice in the selection of the passage. Self-selection does not readily occur; however, one reason teachers often give for not allowing student self-selection of books is the inability to know what students are reading and comprehending. Using reading logs allows the teacher to monitor what is read and how completely the reading is understood. Further, a reading log encourages students to respond to literature in a reflective or analytical manner.

Reading logs generated by the student are a systematic list of materials that the student has read, which include a written response or reflection on the selection (Brown, Phillips, & Stevens, 1993). A reading log transposes the learning that occurs in a student and the meaning the student attaches to independent readings from a cognitive process to a documented product. Committing the value of reading to paper is the outcome of a reading log. Often, reading assessment is, at best, literal. The process of reading and responding through writing allows students an opportunity, to see growth, review material that has been covered, and convey personal reactions in a non-threatening manner. The reading log can be used to monitor many aspects of the reading process and confirm an appropriate balance between silent or graphophonemic reading and comprehension. Integration of meaningful, silent reading and comprehension is often a major obstacle for teachers of students with learning disabilities. Use of a rubric with the reading log may reveal that a student does not understand the text, which permits the teacher to explore comprehension breakdowns.

The cause for breakdowns in comprehension can be linked to miscue analysis. Miscue analysis refers to a systematic review of instances in which the expected response differs from the learner's given response during reading (Brown, Goodman, & Marek, 1996). The process of miscue analysis follows:

     1. Student reads aloud a predetermined, age-appropriate
        passage of text.

     2. Teacher notes the miscues (exact mistakes) in the
        read-aloud passage; miscues are then sorted into one of
        the four cueing systems (see Figure 2). Teacher asks
        questions to determine the semantic and schematic
        system.

     3. Teacher analyzes student's deficiencies and strengths.

Reading is a process of deriving meaning from print. When a child picks up a book, the four cueing systems are activated (see Figure 2). For example, a student reads a story about fishing in the ocean. In the reading log, the student writes about visiting a lake. Using the teacher-designed rubric, the teacher observes comprehension deficiencies that warrant exploration. Additional teacher examination determines that the student can decode the configuration of letters representing sounds (graphophonemic cueing) and match existing vocabulary (semantic cueing). The teacher realizes that when the reader encounters a word that cannot be decoded into a meaningful word, he or she uses context (syntactic cueing) of the passage to enhance understanding. In the example cited, however, a deficiency could be attributed to inadequate background (schematic cueing) resulting in the substitution of "lake" for "ocean" during comprehension. This analysis provides the teacher with documentation and direction to best intervene with instruction.

Poor readers read word by word, whereas more efficient readers use context and meaning before resolving to word analysis. The ability, to predict what comes next is critical. Readers constantly guess what comes next and either confirm or reject predictions based on what is actually read. Immature readers depend on graphophonemic cues as they decode unfamiliar text.

The teacher can make instructional decisions for the student by using miscue analysis. Because these decisions are based on information collected from actual student performance, instruction is more likely to meet the student's needs and promote success. For example, a third-grade student reads aloud a 50-word passage and makes eight mistakes. On analysis of these errors, the teacher determines that seven of the mistakes occurred in the syntactical cueing system. This signals the teacher to focus future instruction on sentence/story structure. Thus, rubric use and miscue analysis from actual student performance direct instruction to meet the learner's needs and result in success.

The six steps discussed in the article have proven effective with learners identified with learning disabilities participating in a general education class. No process will meet all of the needs of every inclusion student, but the outlined procedures provide the basis for individualizing instruction and promoting a more accurate teacher assessment of learner needs in the event learners experience difficulties. Rubrics have assessment application for any task and provide an extra measure of instruction to the student choosing to self-evaluate against the graduated standards. Reading logs have a somewhat narrower benefit and apply most suitably to literature, history, and social sciences. Miscue analysis has greatest application in math through examination of the cognitive processes used in computation and problem solving, although some principles may be applied to other forms of direct instruction. The most important aspect to realize is that assessment should direct instruction. Therefore, teachers must thoroughly analyze instruction and the cognitive demands of a learning opportunity, then be able to accurately translate these processes into meaningful assessment. Efforts resulting in consistency of assessment with instructional outcome will ground learning and enable ownership of learning within the student.

Teacher-----               Self-----                 Peer-----
                           Date-----
Meaning

0-----       1-----        2-----           3        COMMENTS:
Unclear    vague or        writer's intent     writer's intent
intent of  weak            somewhat clear,     is easy to follow
writer     explanation     few details         and understand,
           of writer                           numerous details

Editing

0-----       1-----        2-----           3        COMMENTS:
no evidence   little evidence   editing marks  proficient use
of editing    of editing        used, few      of editing marks,
                                corrections    appropriate
                                made           corrections made

Invented Spelling

0-----       1-----        2-----           3        COMMENTS:
no invented     little use    invented         invented
use of          of invented   spelling used    spelling used
spelling to     spelling      to convey        proficiently
convey meaning  to convey     meaning          to convey meaning
                meaning

Metacognitive Reflection

0-----       1-----        2-----           3        COMMENTS:
summary      detailed    reflection,      reflection with
only         summary     no               detailed justification
                         justification    of growth

Standard Grammar

0-----       1-----        2-----           3        COMMENTS:
inappropriate   vague            standard        proficient
use of          understanding    grammar         understanding
standard        of standard      used with       of standard
conventions     grammar          3-6 errors      evidenced,
of grammar      shown (7+ errors)               <3 errors

Level of Text: Chosen

0-----       1-----        2-----           3        COMMENTS:
inappropriate  inappropriate  appropriate      appropriate level
level and      level of       level of texts   of varied texts
number of      texts read     read with skill  read with skill
texts read

Figure 1. Rubric for reading log.

Reading is a process of sampling, predicting, confirming, and
self-correcting (Smith, 1985).

Cues:
    meaning      -           semantic cues
    context      -           syntactic cues
    letters      -           graphic-phoneme cues
    background   -           schematic cues

Strategies:

    * In-the-head problem solving
    * interact with and support each other
    * used automatically by skilled readers
    * results in a self-extending system
Flexible and independent use of strategies will result in a
self-improving system

Figure 2. Miscue analysis: The reading process.

Brown, J., Goodman, K. S., & Marek, A. M. (1996). Studies in miscue analysis: An annotated bibliography. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Brown, J. F., Phillips, L. B., & Stephens, E. C. (1993). Toward literacy: Theory and applications for teaching writing content areas. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Erickson, H. L. (1995). Stirring the head, heart and soul: Redefining curriculum and instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Smith, F. (1985). Reading without nonsense (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

~~~~~~~~

By Pokey Stanford

Pokey Stanford, EdD, is presently teaching in an inclusive kindergarten program. Her experience in the classroom includes 3 years of general classroom instruction with the inclusion of students with learning disabilities and 2 years of experience with traditional, general classroom responsibilities

James A. Siders, EdD, is a faculty member in the Department of Special Education at The University of Southern Mississippi. His experience includes 3 years of special classroom instruction, 18 years of experience in higher education, with 11 of the 18 years completed in higher education administration. Dr. Siders presently serves on the school board of a local education agency. Address: James A. Siders, Department of Special Education, Box 5115, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5115.

Copyright of Intervention in School & Clinic is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

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This article presents a procedure found effective for including students with special needs in daily instructional activities within a general classroom. Practices, based on authentic assessment and subsequent individual intervention decisions, resulted in full participation of students with special needs in daily classroom instruction.

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Personally, I enjoy reading a book made out of paper. I also like the romanticism of the Sunday New York Times and a cup of coffee. However, that's about the extent to which I consume through paper media. The rest of my world lies in a digital realm. But I'm just one person. What digital media offers us is convenience, personalization, and efficiency.

Asking the Right Questions

In my previous post, I suggested a strategy that would help organize the transition from textbooks to digital content delivery. The premise focused, not on recreating a textbook structure in digital format, but on simply remixing the idea of content delivery altogether. In essence, it's not the textbook that needs to change -- it's how we deliver content to our students. Additionally, this transition lies in how we design and integrate that delivery system and with what tools we can work.

When considering this transition, whether it's a district or school-wide initiative, or simply a personal mission, it will require some research into finding the right content and resources to deliver, as well as reimagining the instructional design process. Whether you are using technology or simply shaking up the myopic way that the textbook has forced many of us to teach for years, the key is to begin with some questions about your instructional design:

1. What skills do you want students to learn and apply?

2. What content will you deliver, and how does it connect to the desired outcome and align with standards?

3. How will you check for understanding and challenge students to apply their learning?

4. How are you transitioning the learning from a passive experience to an active, creative experience?

Ultimately, these questions will help begin the instructional design process. Additionally, it does not require any technology -- we just need to think differently about how we deliver content, check for understanding, and challenge our students to apply their learning. And by "apply," I don't mean a worksheet or a multiple-choice quiz. I mean that we must challenge them to question and use their learning to seek out an answer that cannot simply be Googled. After looking at these concepts, you'll begin to see ways in which you can integrate technology and find meaningful content for students.

Finding the Right Content

Once you've started sketching out your instructional design, you can begin seeking out resources for content. Since I first started writing about open educational resources a few years ago, there has been a flood of new sources that educators can seek out for content. But more doesn't always mean quality. I have never been one to suggest 300 apps for the iPad, or 378 Chromebook extensions for the classroom. Rather, find one or two apps or resources that work best for you, become an expert with them, and focus on student learning rather than app harvesting.

Below you will find two sources that I have used personally and recommended over the past four years. Both iTunesU and OER Commons are well-respected OER sites, and both offer a wealth of vetted, credible information that can be integrated into your instruction.

iTunesU

I mentioned this in my last post and feel that it's one of the most underutilized sources of content out there. Essentially, iTunesU is one of the largest repositories of OER in the world. Educators, professors, and academics from around the globe are sharing their teaching and their content. Depending on the licensing of the content, teachers can build their course by selecting pieces of created courses and organize it through the iTunesU course manager. This can be done on an iPad or a laptop. Additionally, educators can share courses and content with each other. School districts can also apply to get their own bookshelf in the iTunesU catalog. If your school district is using iPads, I highly suggest this option.

OER Commons

OER Commons offers educators a place where they can connect and share globally with other educators, and work with the curriculum those educators have shared. OER Commons offers a vast database of teacher-created curriculum and the ability to organize their courses. The content is vetted for credibility and provides citations for reference. Users can sign up for a free account, which lets them share, access, and curate their own content. Educators can also submit original content and house it with the other content on the site. Additionally, educators can add tags and align content with the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.

These two sources are a great starting point for organically integrating content into your instructional design. Whether you're using iPads, Chromebooks, or laptops, these resources will provide a wealth of information to add to your course. Again, we're not simply recreating the textbook in a digital form, but considering the instructional design, the technology used, and the content delivery system. Additionally, it allows teachers to have full autonomy over the content they deliver and to develop dynamic integration strategies that challenge our students not only to learn various skill sets, but to apply them creatively.

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Open Educational Resources Meet Instructional Design

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Personally, I enjoy reading a book made out of paper. I also like the romanticism of the Sunday New York Times and a cup of coffee. However, that's about the extent to which I consume through paper media. The rest of my world lies in a digital realm.

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Adaptive learning takes a personalized, often technology-centric approach to education. The tools are new, but the ideas behind them date back at least a century.

"People have been talking about and attempting to do adaptive learning under different names for many years," says Neal Kingston, an education professor at the University of Kansas. "A lot of the ideas came out of Maria Montessori's work in the early 1900s."

Tailoring the approach to each student in a classroom might sound ideal, but it comes with its own set of challenges. "When you talk to teachers about personalizing education, they imagine having to create 20 or 30 lesson plans," Kingston says. "Adaptive learning is impossible if every teacher has to invent everything for their kids every day."

Instead, districts must embrace a fundamental shift in mindset to implement adaptive learning and assessments successfully, starting with a big picture goal and harnessing technology to help them succeed. Here are four best practices for districts transitioning to assessing student progress in an adaptive framework.

Establish clear goals

Identifying project goals is an essential step toward the successful adoption of an adaptive model. "It's very helpful to have an anchor," says Maggie Wertz, dean of instruction at KIPP Generations Collegiate, part of KIPP Texas Public Schools Houston. "What is our mission? What are the quantitative and qualitative goals we're wanting to hit?"

Once the initiative is underway, Wertz recommends periodic evaluations of progress and roadblocks. "We ask, 'Are we getting there?'" she says. "If not, what is preventing us, and how can we address it?"

Evaluate potential technology issues

When considering adaptive tools that rely heavily on technology and connected devices to operate, administrators should anticipate potential implementation challenges in their district. For example, Title I schools might have a larger percentage of students who do not have a broadband internet connection at home.

"Our students' access to the internet can vary," says Wertz. "They're able to use tablets and laptops at school, but when they go home, they're not staying connected."

"Teachers need to be trained in classroom management with technology, and to adapt and apply these tools in the manner that best suits their kids," he says. "I think there's a risk of over-reliance on the technology. It's a tool to supplement, not to replace quality teaching."

Prioritize open communication

Introducing any technology-based initiative is always a daunting task, but the process will go much more smoothly if communication is a priority. Maintaining close contact with the technology provider is one key element of this, says Wertz.

"You need a solid relationship with the company you're using," she says. "Cerego always responds quickly to our questions and works with us to make changes, and it's been very helpful to have that support."

Communication between administrators, teachers and students is also essential to the success of adaptive tools. "Teachers have so much on their plates all the time, so asking them to make a fundamental shift in how their classroom functions can add more stress," says Wertz, noting that once teachers are on board, they need continuing support. "I coach the teachers who use it. We meet weekly, and that provides a solid touch point on what's happening and a place where we can address any challenges they're facing."

Districts transitioning to adaptive assessments must also prioritize communication and teacher training to reap the most benefits. "Teachers and administrators really need to understand how the test works," says McDaniel. "The data is available at the end, and they need to be prepared to interpret and apply it immediately."

Adopting an adaptive model impacts students most of all, and they need to be kept in the communication loop, as well. "Making sure our students know what we're doing and why is key," says Wertz. "Cerego asks you to study and test yourself in small increments instead of just rereading notes. We front-load that information to incoming freshmen so they will know the reasoning behind the approach."

Adaptive assessments can be unsettling to students who are unfamiliar with how they work, says McDaniel.

"The classic example is gifted and talented kids taking an assessment and instead of sailing through the first half of the test, they're having to really think after the first three questions because the computer is adjusting to their abilities," he says. "It's important to provide preparation for kids across the board as districts make these changes."

Give teachers the tools they need

Ultimately, successful implementation of an adaptive approach depends on giving teachers the tools they need - first to understand their students' individual abilities and needs, and then to use adaptive methods to meet them where they are.

The learning maps illustrate pathways between various skills, suggesting different teaching methods based on the student's learning style, preferences and abilities. "For example, if short-term memory is a problem for a student, some approaches wouldn't be helpful, but others would. We lay out what these approaches are for the teacher to be able to navigate the landscape."

The learning map model is being piloted by hundreds of teachers in five states, while Kingston is tracking its efficacy. The adaptive market boasts an extensive range of software tools and applications, but the jury is still out on the lasting impact of the trend. Kingston emphasizes that adaptive education is a fundamental shift from traditional K-12 education in the U.S.

"Certainly for the last 50 years or more, we have been bound by the structure of grades, buildings and walls between everything - and that gets in the way," he says. "Unless we start to consider changes from a systems point of view, we're not going to have the success we need."

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4 best practices for implementing adaptive assessments

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Adaptive learning takes a personalized, often technology-centric approach to education. The tools are new, but the ideas behind them date back at least a century. "People have been talking about and attempting to do adaptive learning under different names for many years," says Neal Kingston, an education professor at the University of Kansas.

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Creating Authentic Learning Experiences in the Literacy Classroom

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When students are able to have a say in their education and explore topics of interest to which they feel a personal connection, they are excited to spend time learning. Creative teachers are harnessing that excitement by integrating authentic learning into their classroom instruction.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Open Educational Resources (OER): Resource Roundup

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An educators’ guide to open educational resources with information about online repositories, curriculum-sharing websites, and sources for lesson plans and activities.

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Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services

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Assessment is a critical component of the online classroom. It provides students with an idea of their progress in a course, identifies individual strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately serves as the measure of whether students achieve the course's learning objectives. Although each of these characteristics serves a valuable instructional or pedagogical function, it's also important that assessments engage students and prepare them with the skills they'll need in future courses, practicums, and even their careers.

Assessment isn't just important from a student perspective. With the online marketplace becoming increasingly crowded, it's critical that institutions ensure they are offering the courses and experiences that students are looking for.

In their survey of more than 1,500 past, present, and prospective online college students, Magda and Aslanian (2018) found that 74% of online college students are pursuing their program for career-focused reasons, such as transitioning to a new career, updating the skills required for their current job, increasing wages, or meeting employers' requirements.

Because the majority of online students are career-focused, courses and degree programs must provide those ties to the real world for institutions to stand out in the online landscape. Given its importance to the online classroom, assessment can be a great starting point for integrating this type of relevance into your course.

Authentic assessment is the idea of using creative learning experiences to test students' skills and knowledge in realistic situations. Authentic assessment measures students' success in a way that's relevant to the skills required of them once they've finished your course or degree program. In this article, we'll discuss the benefits and challenges of this type of assessment and how you can incorporate authentic assessment in your online course.

What Is Authentic Assessment?

Before we dig too far into how to create an authentic assessment, let's look at what makes an assessment authentic. Wiggins (1998) identifies a few key criteria:

1. It's realistic.

2. It requires judgement and innovation.

3. It asks the student to "do" the subject.

4. It replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are "tested" in the workplace, in civic life, and in personal life.

5. It assesses the student's ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skill to negotiate a complex task.

6. It allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances and products.

Simply put, an authentic assessment is one that requires students to apply what they've learned in a new, complex circumstance or situation. Typically, this can take one of two forms: real-world assessments that require students to engage in actual situations in their field, or realistic assessments that are relevant in nature but have students engage in situations that mimic the real world (e.g., a case study).

Regardless of the type, authentic assessment is often coupled with opportunities for rehearsal and/or practice. Authentic assessments are often scaffolded throughout a course and allow the instructor to provide feedback that students can then implement in subsequent drafts. Unlike traditional assessments (such as essays and multiple-choice exams), authentic assessments ask students to engage in scenarios or practices that are complex, realistic, and sometimes messy.

Benefits of Authentic Assessment

Shank (2009) identifies a few key challenges of assessments in the online environment: expecting a bell curve, using the wrong type of assessment (performance assessments vs. test assessments), not creating valid (enough) assessments, and using poorly written multiple-choice tests. Although authentic assessment is unlikely to overcome all of these challenges, it offers a number of benefits in an online course.

Notably, authentic assessment breaks the traditional paradigm of multiple-choice or automatically scoring tests and quizzes, which can lead students to believe that learning means staying up all night and cramming to memorize terms or expected answers. Instead, authentic assessments tend to be more student centered, as they ask students to demonstrate their learning through hands-on activities. Rather than asking students to memorize and recall facts, authentic assessments ask students to actively participate in situations that require them to apply the principles they've learned about in the instructional material. Thus, learning isn't about recalling; it's about performing, which, ideally, will motivate students to engage in the course and succeed in their endeavors.

Drawbacks of Authentic Assessment

As beneficial as authentic assessments can be, they do present challenges as well. First and foremost, authentic assessments require more time for both students and instructors than traditional assessments. For students, authentic assessments typically take longer to complete than an average quiz or test. Because these types of assessments are task based, they might be scaffolded over a number of modules or some other period of time. In addition, students might be more accustomed to traditional assessment, meaning that despite the advantages we've discussed, they might need some time to adjust to this new method.

For instructors, time is also of concern. Developing an authentic assessment can be an intense experience that requires course writers to identify and/or research relevant tasks, ensure that those tasks are applicable to students in different areas, and align those tasks with learning objectives and instructional materials. Also, given that students in online courses tend to be in a variety of geographic locations, it can be difficult to build an authentic assessment that's relevant to everyone. This challenge can vary by discipline, but it's important for course writers to remember that their students can be from anywhere.

In addition, unlike many traditional assessments, grading an authentic assessment is largely subjective. Because these types of assessments typically address more complex levels of learning, grading will likely take much longer. Authentic assessments typically require detailed, personalized, and specific feedback, meaning that, as beneficial as they can be for students and your course, they will require additional time to design and implement.

Education
Create a classroom management plan and/or lesson plan for the student's subject matter and/or intended audience.

Nursing
Assess a mock patient's health and plan and implement that patient's care.

Business
Develop a business plan for a company in the student's location and desired field.

Computer Science

Troubleshoot faulty code or create a website or application.

Exercise Science
Record and analyze a mock client's diet and come up with a nutrition and/or exercise plan.

How to Develop an Authentic Assessment

Now that we've explored the benefits and drawbacks of authentic assessment and looked at a handful of examples, let's move on to the steps involved in designing one. The following steps, based on those developed by the University of Florida's Center for Instructional Technology and Training (2018), can help set you on your way toward developing an authentic assessment that addresses your learning objectives, enhances your course, and meets your students' needs.

Identify Learning Objectives

Your learning objectives are the cornerstone of your course; they communicate what students should be able to do and what skills they'll develop during the course. Thus, it goes without saying that developing an authentic assessment should begin with these objectives. By starting this process with an objective in mind, you ensure that the authentic assessment you're developing will align with the objective and any corresponding instructional material.

In most instances, you'll want to focus on a macro objective-that is, an objective that illustrates what students will be able to do by the conclusion of the course. In a traditional setting, a final exam might be the assessment for a macro objective.

When you look at your objectives, it's also important to keep relevance in mind. After all, one of the major benefits of an authentic assessment is how it allows students to engage in a relevant or new environment, so you'll want to make sure that your learning objectives lend themselves to that type of activity. If your learning objectives are already measurable and student centered, though, this shouldn't be a problem.

Define Relevant Tasks

After identifying the learning objective(s) you're looking to measure through your authentic assessment, you can then start defining what students will actually do. Given that the assessment should be, well, authentic, start by looking at what professionals in your field do on a daily basis and how those tasks might relate to your selected learning objective. Although your task doesn't ultimately have to relate to your field, it should require students to apply themselves in a relevant and new situation. Ultimately, the relevance of your assessment to students' lives and/or goals should be clear. In fact, it's helpful to state the relevance explicitly at the outset of the assessment.

If you're struggling to identify a relevant task, consider starting with the verb of your learning objective. Oftentimes, you'll find that you're able to define your task by looking at what the objective asks students to do. For instance, if the objective for a business course is that students will be able to analyze the local and global impact of organizational decisions, consider creating a fictional scenario in which students have to make organizational decisions for a business and analyze the impact of those decisions. Looking at your objective's verb also ensures that your assessment aligns with your learning objective, which is a pillar of effective course design.

Identify Essential Performance Criteria

If the previous step was to define what students will do to complete your authentic assessment, this step focuses on how you'll know whether they've done it well. After all, just because an authentic assessment doesn't look like a traditional assessment doesn't mean that the goal isn't the same. You still need to have an indication of how well students have performed and whether they've achieved mastery.

With this in mind, it's important for these performance criteria to align with the nature of your task. To return to our business example from earlier, you'd want to make sure that the way you measure students' performance is reflective of or similar to the expectations they would encounter in a business scenario. For example, you'd want to create performance criteria specific to how students should make the organizational decisions and how accurately and/or appropriately they analyze those decisions. Although students shouldn't be held to the same standards as professionals in the field (they're novices, after all), it's still possible to measure student success in a new and relevant way.

Develop a Rubric

Rubrics are a powerful tool for many assessment types, and they're an essential component of authentic assessment. After all, authentic assessments are fairly subjective, and rubrics help ensure instructors are grading fairly and consistently from assessment to assessment and student to student. With this in mind, once you've identified the task and essential performance criteria (that is, what students will do and what benchmarks exist to make sure students do it well), the next step is to develop a rubric.

You might be thinking that this seems pretty similar to that last step. Well, it is! When designing your rubric, you should use the performance criteria you've identified and come up with measurable levels for each. Once you've developed your rubric, consider presenting it to students before they begin the assessment. That way, they know what you expect of them and can more readily gauge their own performance.

For more information on rubrics, feel free to check out our article "The Benefits of Rubrics in Online Courses."

Conclusion

Authentic assessment has the outstanding ability to make a long-lasting impact on not only your course, but also the students enrolled in it. By providing students with an opportunity to test their skills in new and relevant situations, you'll prepare them for how they'll be assessed in their professional lives and show them the relevance of your course's content outside the classroom. With that in mind, here are some of the key takeaways from this article:

Authentic assessment refers to an assessment that requires students to apply what they've learned in a new circumstance or situation, typically one that mirrors what would be expected of them in that discipline or field.

When preparing an authentic assessment for your course, remember that this kind of assessment will likely take more time on both the students' and facilitator's parts.

Authentic assessments should always align with the course's learning objective(s).

When identifying a relevant task for your learning objective(s), consider starting with the objective's verb. In most cases, this will provide an idea of what actions students should be able to perform.

Essential performance criteria help frame what performance will look like. Without them, it's difficult to assess students' work on a fair and consistent basis. Fortunately, instructors can use these criteria to develop a rubric, which in turn helps them evaluate fairly and consistently.

References

Magda, A. J., & Aslanian, C. B. (2018). Online college students 2018: Comprehensive data on demands and preferences. Louisville, KY: The Learning House, Inc.

Shank, P. (2009, May). Four typical online learning assessment mistakes. In R. Kelly (Ed.), Assessing online learning: Strategies, challenges and opportunities (pp. 4-6). Madison, WI: Magna Publications Inc. Available from https://www.facultyfocus.com/free-reports/assessing-online-learning-strategies-challenges-and-opportunities/

University of Florida. (2018). Authentic assessment in online learning. Retrieved from http://citt.ufl.edu/online-teaching-resources/assessments/authentic-assessment-in-online-learning/

Wiggins, G. (1998). Education assessment: Designing assessments to inform and improve student performance. San Francisco: Joey-Bass Publishers.

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Authentic Assessment in the Online Classroom - Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services

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Assessment is a critical component of the online classroom. It provides students with an idea of their progress in a course, identifies individual strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately serves as the measure of whether students achieve the course's learning objectives.

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This is a module about Authentic and Adaptive Assessment for ITEC7603 Personalized Learning.