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Authentic Assessment

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Prepare a 3-page research-based and professional-practice-based rationale that supports the use of authentic types of assessments. (By "professional practice" we mean the literature written by educators who describe how and why they use authentic assessment methods.)

Examine multiple strategies of authentic assessment, including student-centered and teacher-centered scenarios, as well as self-assessment, surveys, and portfolios.

This rationale must clearly address each of the following:

What is "authentic assessment"?
What is a specific example of an authentic assessment that you do (or would) use in your current (or future) classroom?
How is authentic assessment different from traditional assessment measures?
What are the benefits/advantages of authentic assessments over traditional assessment measures?

Your research and professionally based rationale is to clearly illustrate your understanding of authentic assessments as depicted in the Background information reading.

This essay is considered the signature assignment of the course. A signature assignment reflects knowledge or skills essential to meeting a student learning outcome—in this case, information literacy. The signature assignment can be viewed as a milestone in the student's progress toward fulfilling one or several program outcomes.

Use a number of resources from the research and professional literature to support your claims. In particular:

Be sure to use at least 3-5 references to scholarly literature.

The references should be properly cited in the text and the reference section.

Remember, Wikipedia is not considered an acceptable resource for academic writing.

The structure of your submission should demonstrate your ability to present and support your insights in a clear, organized, and professional manner.

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Solution Summary

This assignment focuses on the characteristics of authentic assessment. Differences (advantages and disadvantages) are exhibited between traditional assessment and authentic assessment.

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Authentic Assessments
What is "authentic assessment"?

Some Definitions:
Wiggins (1990) states that: "Assessment is authentic when we directly examine student performance on worthy intellectual tasks. Traditional assessment, by contract, relies on indirect or proxy 'items'—efficient, simplistic substitutes from which we think valid inferences can be made about the student's performance at those valued challenges." Additional points that Wiggins state regarding authentic assessment are as follows:
- Authentic assessments require students to be effective performers with acquired knowledge. Traditional tests tend to report only what is recalled, recognized, or "plug in" only what was learned out of context.
- Authentic assessments present the student with the full array of tasks that mirror the priorities and the challenges found in the best instructional activities: conducting research; writing, revising and discussing papers; providing an engaging oral analysis of a recent event; collaborating with others on a rebate, etc. Whereas, conventional tests are usually limited to paper to paper-and-pencil, one-answer questions.
- Authentic assessment achieves validity and reliability by emphasizing and standardizes the appropriate criteria for scoring such (varied) products; traditional testing standardizes objective "items" and, hence, the (one) right answer for each.
- Authentic tasks involve "ill-structured" challenges and roles that help students rehearse for the complex ambiguities of the "game" of adult and professional life. Traditional tests are more like drills, assessing static and too often arbitrarily discrete or simplistic elements of those activities.

Mueller (2015) defines authentic assessment as a "form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills. He further states that: "An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students to perform and a rubric by which their performance on the ...

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  • Special Education-Cognitive Impairment (B.S), Western Michigan University
  • ZA Endorsement Early Childhood & Parent Education (Endorsement only), Wayne State University
  • PhD, Eastern Michigan University
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