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0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in PROF ED 108 ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING 2 Module No.1

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. 1

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

MODULE OVERVIEW

When considering how to assess student learning in a course, most instructors would agree that the ideal
assessment would be one that not only assesses student’s learning; it also teaches students and improves their
skills and understanding of course content. One fundamental aspect of such assessments is that they are
authentic.

No single assessment or piece of your work can provide educators, students, parents, and the public with
information about what you know and can do. High quality, comprehensive, and timely information on student
progress is critical to ensuring that schools can prepare you for success in school, college, careers, and life.

As you accomplish each activity in this module, you will be able to maximize your understanding on how
authentic assessment affects the teaching and learning process.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this Module, you should be able to

1. Discuss the nature and characteristics of authentic assessment and related terms.
2. Differentiate authentic and traditional assessments.
3. Reflect on the importance and applications of authentic assessment.
4. Make connections between the principles of high quality assessment and the development and use of
authentic assessment techniques and tools within and across teaching areas.

HIGH QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN RETROSPECT

Educators, students, parents, and the public use information from a variety of assessments of student
learning to inform and empower educational decisions in real time and across each year. Many states and
districts are working toward developing and implementing high-quality systems that align assessments with
each other, and to college and career readiness, and a comprehensive set of higher-order thinking skills. While
significant strides have been made in advancing the quality of individual assessments, there still remains much
work across our country to improve and better align systems of assessment.

In joining together, we underscore our belief that if schools implement the enclosed ten principles for
building and evolving a high-quality system of assessments, they will be taking impactful and much needed
steps to bridge from current over-burdensome and incomplete assessment practices and policies to a system
that puts each and every student’s learning at the center.

10 Principles for Building a High-Quality System of Assessments

1. Capture the array of knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed for college and career readiness (i.e.,
deeper learning).
2. Balance assessment of learning with assessment for and as learning through a comprehensive set of
tasks and measures.
3. Advance equity and be inclusive of and accessible to all students.

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Study Guide in PROF ED 108 ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING 2 Module No.1

4. Build educator and school capacity for designing and using assessments.
5. Align assessments to support learning and avoid duplication of testing.
6. Convey clear, coherent, and continuous data on student learning.
7. Include meaningful, ongoing input and collaboration from local communities and diverse stakeholders in
the development and continuous improvement of the system.
8. Encourage cycles of review, calibration, and continuous improvement of assessments individually and
as a collective system.
9. Employ high standards of coherence, validity, reliability, and fairness.
10. Protect data privacy.

In a high-quality system of assessments, a variety of different assessments work together to provide

coherent feedback on student learning and outcomes, and each assessment should be designed for its specific
use and purpose. Together, assessments in a high-quality system are built not just to measure content
knowledge but also to measure mastery of the full array of knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed for success
in K-12 and beyond, such as the ability to: master core academic content, think critically and solve complex
problems, work collaboratively, communicate effectively, learn how to learn, and develop academic mindsets.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1

Differentiate the 10 principles of high quality assessment by explaining the meaning of each and giving
examples for further clarification.

1. __________________________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________________________________
6. __________________________________________________________________________________
7. __________________________________________________________________________________
8. __________________________________________________________________________________
9. __________________________________________________________________________________
10. __________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT?

Students are well informed about behaviors are expected from them in a course/subject or learning
activity have definite guide during the learning activity and are therefore perceived to attain success. All
assessment and evaluation activities should start with the identification and clarification of the student learning
outcomes (SLO). The identified and clarified student learning outcomes serve as the load stars that will guide
both teacher and students in activities leading to the attainment of the deserved learning outcomes.

Authentic Assessment
 “A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate
meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills…” – John Mueller (2011)
 “…Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use
knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or
analogous to the kind of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the
field.” – Grant Wiggins (1987)

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Study Guide in PROF ED 108 ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING 2 Module No.1

 “Performance assessments call upon the examinee to demonstrate specific skills and competencies;
that is, to apply of the skills and knowledge they have mastered.” – Richard Stiggins (1987)
 “Authentic assessments are products and/or performances correlated with real life experiences.” –
Newton Public Schools

Let us explore various resources to have a clear understanding of this lesson. Let us unpack some
concepts and terms related to assessment. You can further find more explanation here as you go along with
other references in the library or in the web.

 Student Learning Outcomes (SLO). Every college program should have a set of college-wide
expectations from student learning which have been previously agreed upon by the faculty of the
program and which the students who pass the different courses under the college program are
expected to demonstrate. The individual teacher may add to his/her course more student learning
expectations but must adopt the agreed upon college program expectations and reflect them on
each course syllabus. The student learning outcomes in the teacher education program are the
skills, competencies and values that the students are expected to demonstrate at the end of every
course/subject which are in turn, integrated into the year-end formation of students as the progress
towards becoming professional teachers.
 Assessment. This refers to the process of gathering data and information about what students know
and can do. Such information may be sourced through observation of students during their learning
activities or testing their knowledge and skills.
 Evaluation. This involves the task of interpreting, forming conclusions and making judgments about
the information which was gathered in the process of assessment.
 Testing. This is an instrument of assessment. A test is an assessment tool that reflects the records
of the student’s learning outcomes.
 Marks. This are reports of the results of evaluating information obtained in the assessment process

Characteristics of Authentic Assessment (AA)

1. AA starts with clear and definite criteria of performance made known to students.
2. AA is criterion-referenced rather than norm-referenced and so it identifies strengths and
weaknesses, but does not compare students nor rank their levels of performance.
3. AA requires students to make their own answers to questions rather than select from given options
as in multiple choice items, and requires them to use a range of higher order thinking skills.
4. AA often emphasizes performance and therefore students are required to demonstrate their
knowledge, skills or competencies in appropriate situations. AA does not rely on ability to recall facts
or memorize details, instead students are asked to demonstrate skills and concepts they have
learned.
5. AA encourage both teacher and students to determine their rate of progress in cooperatively
attaining the desired student learning outcomes.
6. AA does not encourage rote learning and passive taking of tests; instead, students are required to
demonstrate analytical skills, work in a group, skills in oral and written communication. In brief, AA
values not only the finished products which are the learning outcomes, but also the process of
learning.
7. AA changes the role of students as passive test takers into becoming active and involved
participants in assessment activities that emphasize what they are capable of doing instead tests to
measure student’s skills or retained facts has come under scrutiny because of the limitation
encountered in determining the students’ capability to utilize their knowledge and skills in work and
professional practice. At best, these tests are able to give a “snap shot” of the students’ ability to
recall facts and information at a given time but fail to provide a “moving picture” of how they will
perform in real-world situations which exist in the workplace.

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Study Guide in PROF ED 108 ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING 2 Module No.1

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2

Identify whether each of the following is assessment, evaluation, testing or mark.

1. Administering true-false items to be answered.

2. Rating of 73-76 which is equivalent to Barely Satisfactory.
3. Submission of a research report in Biology.
4. Regular entries in a journal in English.
5. Rubric rating shows that student needs improvement.
6. Writing of a different ending to a story read.
7. Multiple-choice items to be answered.
8. Experiment performed in a laboratory.
9. Assessment results show attainment in learning outcome.
10. Proficient level.

WHY USE AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT?

We, teachers, do not just want you to know the content of the disciplines when you graduate. We, of
course, want you to be able to use the acquired knowledge and skills in the real world. So, our assessments
have to also tell us if students can apply what they have learned in authentic situations. If a student does well
on a test of knowledge we might infer that the student could also apply that knowledge. But that is rather
indirect evidence. I could more directly check for the ability to apply by asking you to use what you have learned
in some meaningful way.

How does authentic assessment differ from traditional assessment?

Traditional Assessment – is commonly associated with pre-determined choice measures of assessment

such as multiple choice tasks, fill-in-the-blanks, true-false, matching type and others. Teaching and learning are
often separated from assessment, i.e a test is administered after knowledge or skills have been acquired. TA
springs from the educational philosophy which involves the following principles and practices:
 A school’s mission is to develop useful citizens.
 To be a useful citizen, one must possess a certain body of knowledge and skills.
 The school is entrusted to teach this body of knowledge and skills.
 To determine if the students have acquired these knowledge and skills, the school must test the
students on these knowledge and skills.

Authentic Assessment – is where the same authentic task is used to measure the student’s ability to apply
the knowledge or skills that is used as a vehicle for student learning, and is the grounded on the following
principles and practices:
 A school’s mission is to develop useful citizens.
 To be a useful citizen, one has to be capable of performing useful tasks in the real-world.
 The school’s duty is to help students develop proficiency in performing the tasks that they will be
required to perform after graduation in the work place.
 The school must then require students to perform tasks that duplicate or imitate real-world
situations.

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Study Guide in PROF ED 108 ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING 2 Module No.1

LEARNING ACTIVITY 3

Determine whether each of the following assessment activities/strategies is traditional or authentic:

1. Dramatizing a story.
2. Writing business letters for various purposes.
3. Administering a multiple choice test.
4. Requiring memorization of historical facts.
5. Keeping and updating a portfolio.
6. Drawing the parts of a microscope.
7. Writing the multiplication tables 7, 8, 9.
8. Submitting a report on observation of insects in a field trip.
9. Interviewing the barangay chairman about the problems of the community and reporting on the findings.
10. Providing the answers to a filling the blanks assignment.

DEVELOPING AUTHENTIC CLASSROOM ASSESSMENTS

Fortunately, you do not have to develop an authentic assessment from scratch. You may already be
using authentic tasks in your classroom. Or, you may already have the standards written, the first and most
important step in the process. Perhaps you have a task but need to more clearly articulate the criteria for
evaluating student performance on the task. Or, you may just want to develop a rubric for the task. Wherever
you are in the process, you can use the information on this module to help you through the steps of creating
authentic assessments.

Authentic Assessment Development Process

1. Identify your standards for your students.
2. For a particular standard or set of standards, develop a task your students could perform that would
indicate that they have met these standards.
3. Identify the characteristics of good performance on that task, the criteria, that, if present in your
students’ work, will indicate that they have performed well on the task, i.e., they have met the
standards.
4. For each criterion, identify two or more levels of performance along which students can perform which
will sufficiently discriminate among student performance for that criterion. The combination of the
criteria and the levels of performance for each criterion will be your rubric for that task (assessment).

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the importance of authentic assessment in the teaching-learning process?
2. How will I apply authentic assessment when I become a teacher?

SUMMARY

Here are some pointers to remember:

 All assessment and evaluation activities should start with the identification and clarification of the
student learning outcomes (SLO).

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Study Guide in PROF ED 108 ASSESSMENT IN LEARNING 2 Module No.1

 Authentic Assessment is where the same authentic task is used to measure the student’s ability to
apply the knowledge or skills that is used as a vehicle for student learning.
 Traditional Assessment is commonly associated with pre-determined choice measures of assessment
such as multiple choice tasks, fill-in-the-blanks, true-false, matching type and others. Teaching and
learning are often separated from assessment.
 Authentic assessment is made up of 7 characteristics that will help the students to demonstrate and
perform the tasks they are expected to perform in the real world.
 Authentic assessment development is composed of 4 processes – Standard, Task, Criteria and Rubric
– that will help Students to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of
essential knowledge and skills.

REFERENCES

 Navarro, R & De Guzman-Santos, R. (2013). Authentic Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes,

Assessment of Learning 2, 2nd Edition. Quezon City, Lorimar Publishing Inc.
 De Guzman-Santos, R. (2007). Advanced Methods in Educational Assessment and Evaluation,
Assessment of Learning 2. Quezon City, Lorimar Publishing Inc.
 Authentic Assessment (2020). Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University
Bloomington. Retrieved from https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/assessing-student-learning/
authentic-assessment/index.html
 Ten Principles for a High-Quality System of Assessments (2018). Boston, MA: Jobs for the Future.
Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED581686.pdf
 Mueller, J. (2012). Authentic Assessment Toolbox. Retrieved from
https://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whydoit.htm

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