Traditional Assessments Vs Alternative Assessments

Comparison and Contrast between Traditional Assessment and Alternative Assessment

by Jon Mueller (2014)

Traditional Assessment

Students typically select an answer or recall information to complete the assessment. These tests may be standardized or teacher-created.  They may be administered locally or statewide, or internationally.

TA is grounded in educational philosophy that adopts the following reasoning and practice:

1. A school's mission is to develop productive citizens.
2. To be a productive citizen an individual must possess a certain body of knowledge and skills.
3. Therefore, schools must teach this body of knowledge and skills.
4. To determine if it is successful, the school must then test students to see if they acquired the knowledge and skills.

In the TA model, the curriculum drives assessment.   "The" body of knowledge is determined first.  That knowledge becomes the curriculum that is delivered.  Subsequently, the assessments are developed and administered to determine if acquisition of the curriculum occurred.

Authentic Assessment

In contrast, authentic assessment (AA) springs from the following reasoning and practice:

1. A school's mission is to develop productive citizens.
2. To be a productive citizen, an individual must be capable of performing meaningful tasks in the real world.
3. Therefore, schools must help students become proficient at performing the tasks they will encounter when they graduate.
4. To determine if it is successful, the school must then ask students to perform meaningful tasks that replicate real world challenges to see if students are capable of doing so.

Thus, in AA, assessment drives the curriculum.  That is, teachers first determine the tasks that students will perform to demonstrate their mastery, and then a curriculum is developed that will enable students to perform those tasks well, which would include the acquisition of essential knowledge and skills.


Who is Jon Mueller?

• He is Professor of Psychology at North Central College in Naperville, IL.
• For more than 15 years he has taught a graduate course entitled "Assessment Strategies for the Classroom" as part of North Central's Master's of Education program. 
• Jon has also consulted with teachers, schools and districts, colleges and universities, on the development, review and revision of assessments and standards/outcomes.
• Most of the examples shown in the website come from teachers who were students in Jon's graduate course and who graciously permitted Jon to share them with you.

 Interested for more ideas on TA and AA by Dr.Mueller, click here.

Teachers' perspectives on Alternative Assessment

POSITIVE / NEGATIVE PERSPECTIVES

• According to Nurfaradilla Nasri, Siti Norhidayah Roslan, Mohammad Iskandar Sekuan, Kasmah Abu Bakar and Sharifah Nor Puteh (2010), a sample of 50 secondary teachers in Brunei asserted that the most outstanding implications of alternative assessment is the demands on their time and the increase in the paperwork.

• According toAkbulut, O.E. and Akbulut, K. (2011), teacher candidates did not have sufficient information about alternative assessments. 

•  According to Tan (2013) :

          One of the prevailing notions of AA [Alternative Assessment] in Singapore amongst teachers is that it represents an alternative to examinations. However, teachers with a conservative conception of AA focus on preparing students for performing well in national examinations, and in that context AA is understood as a distraction because it does not contribute to better performance in the examinations. Such teachers do not dispute the utility of AA, but maintain that it is a luxury they can afford only if it does not interfere in students’ preparations for their examinations. Consequently, the perception that AA lacks relevance to students’ performance in examinations results in teachers (with
a conservative conception of AA) sidelining AA as a supplement to existing ‘mainstream’
assessment practices. (p.28)

• According to Akdemir and Oquz (2008), the undergraduate students' scores in the computer-based test and in the paper-and-pencil test show no difference; hence, lead to a conclusion that computer-based testing can be applied as a capable alternative assessment for Turkish undergraduate students.

 

Video is taken from http://www.lretprod.com website

Students' perspectives on Alternative Assessment

• Students will think more critically and be able to conclude complicated problems by involving themselves in the alternative assessments (Herman,Klein, & Wakai, 1997).  

• According to Burksaitiene and Tereseviciene (2008):

         The integrated approach to learning English

         for Law was very well accepted by the students due to the following benefits it presented:

           (i) this approach is effective and useful in promoting students’ productive and receptive 

             language skills

           (ii) it enhances students’ satisfaction with their results 

           (iii) it fosters one’s motivation  to learn a foreign language

           (iv) it promotes students’ development as independent learners.     

                                                                                                                                   (p.155)

• According to Herman, Klein and Wakai (1997):                                                             One claim is that students will find these assessments more meaningful and more motivating than traditional tests. These claims stem from the realistic and complex nature of the problems: All students should be encouraged by these types of tasks to show what they know and can do, rather than just those students who are motivated by the external rewards afforded them in high standardized test scores. Another claim is that these assessments truly stimulate students to engage in complex thinking and thus reflect higher standards of excellence than old-style standardized tests. Their ability to target higher level thinking and problem-solving skills makes these assessments suitable targets for instruction. (p.3)

Alternative Assessment

a) What is Alternative Assessment?

Alternative assessment is a term that being used for different ways of assessing students apart from using standardized tests. This term is derived due to the fact that traditional paper and pencil tests are only assessing certain skills while other skills are being neglected. (Assessment,Articulation, and Accountability, 1999).Apart from that, Brigham Young University (n.d) defines Alternative Assessment as authentic assessment and performance test which assess students on what they can do and cannot do instead of assessing them solely on what they know and do not know.

b) Examples of Alternative Assessment:

-Performance-based assessments 
(projects, exhibitions, role playing, experiments and demonstrations)

-Writing samples

-Interviews

-Journals and learning logs

-Story of text retelling

-Portfolios

-Self and peer assessments

-Teacher observations

-Checklists 

For more examples, click this link :  Forms of Alternative Assessments

For further explanation of Popular Alternative Assessment, click here : Popular Alternative Assessment

c) The rationale of having Alternative Assessment:

1- Alternative Assessment promotes variety of skills
Alternative Assessment does not merely testing knowledge and facts. It promotes life-long skills which are needed for instance creative thinking, problem solving, summarizing, synthesizing and reflecting. All these skills will be gained during the process of completing the alternative assessment.

2- Alternative Assessment provides authentic task
The tasks for Alternative Assessment are based on real-life situation where it gives realistic context to students. Students who undergo the assessment will experience meaningful learning.

3- Alternative Assessment also cater to students different learning styles.
Students in this era are no longer the ones suitable for the chalk and talk methods in learning. They need to discuss, point out their opinion and get others opinion since they themselves loves to discover new things. Alternative assessment promotes collaborative and cooperative learning and these strategies in learning is appropriate for the students.


d) Options for recording students' performance in Alternative Assessment.

taken from Assessment,Articulation, and Accountability (1999)

There are many options that teachers can choose to record students' performance in Alternative Assessment. Among the options are rubrics, checklists, anecdotal records and observations. It is advisable for teachers to look thoroughly on the strengths and weaknesses of each options and to be suited with the types of assessments that they are having.

References

Assessment, Articulation & Accountability (1999). Alternative Assessment. Retrieved from www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/curriculum/worldlanguages/.../altc3.pdf‎

Brigham Young University (n.d). Using alternative assessment. Retrieved from http://ctl.byu.edu/collections/using-alternative-assessments.