Assessment and feedback live at the core of teaching. If we only spout our wonderful words to an audience, we are merely (with all due respect to William Shakespeare) performers on a stage, not true teachers in the Socratic sense. Students learn by doing. They may fail in an attempt, but they will have learned through the process.
Authentic assessment comes in many forms. In academic vernacular, it refers to a real world experience with appropriate feedback or judgment. Purely, authentic assessment is that which resonates with the learner and teaches, ingrains, or cements the concept (not just facts). It is a genuine return-on-investment rating as we would see in the finance world.
So, what is your AAQ (authentic assessment quotient)? Do you rank higher than “standard and poor” for your “investors”?
Let’s journey together over the next several months to examine authenticity, assessment, and feedback in this brand new era in education. Like caterpillars to butterflies, we can emerge from our pandemic cocoons with new tools and new lived experiences. We can crawl back inside the tattered remains of that temporary shelter OR we can take flight for the first time, strengthened by successes, but also by informative failures to reach new heights.
Before the next post, commit to an assessment inventory. As you reflect upon the summative assessments alone, are there instances in which the scored result does not reflect the level of understanding of your students, either collectively or individually? Consider why. Meditate on whom. Write a post-unit reminder to yourself before teaching the same unit again next year*.
Frazzled and frustrated? This can also look like a Post-It Note on your desk with reminders to add to your radar like an example adjustment, a note to remind absent/quarantined students, or finding a meme. It doesn’t have to be a time sucker — the mortal enemy to all that is good in the academic world — because our precious time with students is fleeting. It is a treasure AND an impermanent mystery.
(*Consider a delayed-send email scheduled three weeks before you plan to start. The option is available on many email platforms, just to the right of your send button.)
Teacher Takeaways
Reflection on the authenticity of assessment provides critical opportunity for meeting goals.
EmpowerED 