Assessment in Learning 2

Topic 1. Authentic Assessment Defined

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. Define authentic assessment; and,
2. Differentiate authentic and traditional assessment.

Presentation of Content
What is Authentic Assessment?

In the 21st century education, a commonly

advocated best practice for classroom
assessment is to make assessment authentic.
Authentic is mostly used to mean mirroring of
real-world tasks or expectations. However, there
is no consensus in the actual definition of the
term or the characteristics of an
authentic classroom assessment.
Freya et.al (2012) did a conceptual analysis of
authentic assessment as it is used in educational
research and training to describe an approach to
classroom assessment.

They cited different definitional phrases from publications and the categories
into which they were ultimately placed are illustrative. For instance, these
definitional elements:

“… results in a product or presentation that has meaning or value beyond

success in school.” (Wiggins, 2006, p. 51).

“…emphasize(s) connections between assessment, learning and realworld

issues.” (Green, 1998, p. 11).

“Performance is assessed in a context more like that encountered in real

life…” (Dez, Moon & Meyer, 1992, p.38-39).

Further comparisons with traditional tests will help to clarify what "authenticity"
means when considering assessment design and use:
Authentic assessments necessitate students to be active performers
using acquired knowledge. Traditional tests lean towards revealing
only whether the student can recognize or recall what was learned
and usually not used in context.
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 Assessment in Learning 2

Authentic assessments offer the student with a plethora of tasks that

reflects the challenges found in the best instructional activities like:
conducting research; writing, revising and discussing papers;
providing an engaging oral analysis of a recent political event;
collaborating with others on a debate, etc. Meanwhile, conventional
tests are typically limited to paper-and-pencil, objective tests.

Authentic assessments can identify whether the student can craft

refined, detailed and reasonable responses, performances or
products. Conventional tests typically only ask the student to select
or write correct responses--irrespective of reasons.

Authentic assessment achieves validity and reliability by

emphasizing and standardizing 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 (Wiggins, 1990).