Alternative Assessment Concepts

• Pre-service teachers should be able to explain alternative assessment and related concepts
• Pre-service teachers should understand the principles of assessing learning using alternative methods of assessment

Assessment

• It involves gathering quantitative and/or qualitative data to aid in decision-making.

Assessment OF Learning

• It involves the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of student learning evidence to make informed decisions relevant to learners.

Assessment FOR Learning

• It uses assessments to identify student needs to modify instruction or learning activities in the classroom.

Assessment AS Learning

• Assessment tasks, results, and feedback help students practice self-regulation and make adjustments to achieve curriculum outcomes.

Traditional Assessment

• It uses traditional strategies or tools to provide information on student learning.
• Objective and subjective paper-and-pencil tests are traditional assessments
• Serves as the basis for student evaluation and grading.

Alternative Assessment

• It uses alternative or non-traditional strategies or tools to collect information on student learning
• Alternative Assessments are both performance and product-oriented

Features of an Alternative Assessment

• Assessment is based on authentic tasks that showcase learners' ability to achieve the communication goals.
• Instructors and learners focus on communication rather than on right or wrong answers.
• Learners contribute in setting the standards for successful communication tasks.
• Learners have chances to evaluate themselves and their classmates.

Traditional vs. Performance Assessment

• The use of alternative assessment or assessment using nontraditional methods enhances the capturing of learning targets and outcomes in more authentic ways.
• Alternative assessment can lead to a more authentic assessment of learning.

Performance Assessment

• Student learning is evaluated via tasks or creating something that demonstrates the knowledge learned
• It provides an opportunity for students to apply what they've learned through task performance or product creation.
• The emphasis is on assessing what students know and are capable of doing.
• When a task closely resembles real-world experiences, the performance assessment becomes more authentic.

Portfolio Assessment

• This assessment includes students purposefully constructing and using portfolios to track their progress toward learning objectives.
• A portfolio includes the learning and work samples created by a student, usually with personal reflections.
• Portfolios allow students to show their accomplishments and give students and teachers the opportunity to assess progress over a period of time.
• Portfolio assessment comprehensively and integratively assesses students' learning processes and products/outputs.

Other Alternative Strategies

• Assessing noncognitive learning outcomes can be achieved through performance rubrics
• Rating scales and checklists are useful for assessing affective or dispositional outcomes
• Utilize self and peer assessment

Emergent Assessment

• Emergent assessment is based on Michael Scriven’s Goal Free Evaluation Model (1967)
• It focuses on determining the effects of instruction on students
• Emphasizes assessing both intended and unintended learning result or outcomes
• Analyzes how and what the educational program and instruction accomplish to address student needs
• Direct and indirect evidence of student learning is collected

Developmental Assessment

• The intent of assessment is to see the degree to which students acquire the skills from teaching
• Employs pre and post-testing techniques to obtain data

Authentic Assessment

• Authentic assessment is the most popular form
• Performance and creation of a product are both tools that allows learners to evaluate the concepts they apply in real-world situations
• The most genuine assessments closely resemble real-world activities or uses in real-world circumstances or contexts.

Criteria for Authentic Assessment Tasks/Activities

• Tasks should stem from topics of interest to students.
• It should simulate real-world communication contexts.
• It involves multistage tasks
• Tasks should require learners to produce a quality product or performance
• Evaluation criteria and its standards must be introduced to students
• Encourages interaction between instructor, peers, and self-assessment.
• Allows for self-evaluation and self-correction.

Principles in Assessing Learning

• Assessment should be process and product-oriented giving equal importance to performance/product
• Assessment should emphasize higher-order cognitive outcomes to check the validity and authentication of student knowledge
• Assessment can incorporate a way of expressing any noncognitive learning outcomes
• Assessment should emulate real-life scenarios for learners
• Assessment should be comprehensive and holistic using various strategies to gauge student learning
• Assessment should facilitate student learning like classroom instruction