Last week’s post offered an opportunity for reflection on the authenticity of assessments. The upcoming series is a deep dive into creating assessments which are original, sometimes exhausting, often challenging to grade, and complex to arrange. They also involve defending your methods. That clearly sounds like a lot of work with no guarantees — which is true. The pay off is outstanding!
Beginning with the nitty-gritty is wise. According to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia for Education, “authentic assessment is an effective measure of intellectual achievement or ability because it requires students to demonstrate their deep understanding, higher-order thinking, and complex problem solving through the performance of exemplary tasks” (Oxford, 2017). They indicate that the term was first coined by Grant Wiggins in 1989. Wiggins focused on authentic tasks which replicate real-world challenges and “standards of performance” that experts and professionals face in the field (Wiggins, 1989, p. 703). Hence, if teachers want to prepare learners to demonstrate skills to solve problems in the real world, deconstructed, pre-digested bits will not suffice. Students need the motivation which accompanies the context of the problem and the resources or breadth of field to complete the tasks.
It is essentially the difference between theory and practice. Both have a purpose and both are needed for true understanding. The result is engagement at a level which eclipses any classroom assignment for basic homework, such as reading and answering predictable questions, figuring a problem, or finding key elements in a text. Quite simply, the answers in finished form do not exist because they are entirely unique to the learner. Of course, embedded in the task is the academic integrity principle of not misrepresenting the work of others as one’s own. Since the work hasn’t been done by others, it cannot be copied.
Segment 1: Planning the Journey with CARE
To avoid getting lost on the journey ahead, mapping the path is an important step. The trek begins with C-A-R-E:
- Content through Context
- Autonomy
- Realism
- Engaging Tasks
Content Through Context
If a class has six to ten units per academic year, there will be just that many chances to engage in authentic assessment. Sure, a formative lesson can have authentic elements, but the depth of an authentic assessment cannot be fulfilled in a brief session or single class period, which is the heart of focus for formative assessments.
Of the six to ten summative assessments in a school year, there are likely to be reasons that certain content is assessed through a test or writing assignment. If all summative assessments were authentic in nature, students would never have the opportunity to experience a test. Understanding the dynamics of a test, learning to study appropriately for it, experiencing iterative examples of test-taking as one employs different note-taking and study methods, is a key skill in academia. Until tests are abandoned as the primary means of assessing students, classroom teachers must coach students in managing the demands of tests. Realistically, some units may be well-suited for tests as summative assessments, particularly if they are initial units with significant number of specific definitions, names, and foundational components, or if they are final units which must be evaluated quickly for posting grades.
Some units may also involve the development of key understandings or work with primary source documents leading to a response which must be communicated in a formulaic medium appropriate to the content, such as an essay or a response to a document-based question. Evaluating the skills of the learners to describe their process and draw conclusions in an academically-sound way necessitates that some summatives should be written documents.
Pervasive still is the need to vary the form of summative assessment so that students gain skills for different methods and maintain interest in the process. No one wants to do the same thing again and again. An introduction, five lessons, and then a test over and over would be a torturous way to plow through a semester. In fact, it would likely have disastrous results which would include declining performance and increased likelihood of cheating. Sad though it is, when students become accustomed to the routine, they are more likely to spend valuable time finding ways to circumvent the process — just to make it more interesting.
Selecting a unit which is ripe for authentic assessment should be an activity in exploring new possibilities. The choice begins with some level of curiosity. There really aren’t any guardrails for the teacher or the student, so it’s a careful decision. It begins with the idea that last year’s assessment — maybe ones done for several years — just don’t make the grade any more. Perhaps it is that students get to the next unit and haven’t embraced the content from the last one. Perhaps they submit work which doesn’t meet the vision with which the assessment was designed. Perhaps the potential of differentiation is not meeting the needs of current learners. The key criteria for selecting a unit for authentic assessment is one which simply yields an angst that it could be better than it is.
Finding the Context
Educators already know their content. They know the standards which must be covered. It’s like having certain ingredients in the refrigerator and making a decision about what to cook with them. They could be anything. There isn’t one right answer. Which will be the tastiest arrangement of them?
The salient question is Why. Much like the motivational buzzword, it takes “finding your why” for the unit. That can’t be provided to you any more than you can provide all of the answers for your students in an authentic process. It requires some struggle and some wrestling with possibilities.
Here are three examples:
- US History (Early) – The Articles of Confederation and the Confederation Congress are perceived as a minimal part of the picture because both were significantly flawed, but failing to understand them impairs the ability of students to truly appreciate the process of arriving at and the success of the United States Constitution. They often appear as a couple of multiple choice questions on a test and part of a lesson tucked in with Shays’ Rebellion. Posing a problem for students to grapple with the demographics of the United States at the time of the writing of the Constitution helps them to understand the conflicts between the states and regions effectively. Exploring primary source information about 1780s-1790s America holds answers, but is not easy to decipher. In some ways, students find both how robust and how limited the information from this period can be. In small doses with the help of the first census, students can learn from a snapshot of America and get an answer to a unique question which they have…only they have to push up their sleeves, get dusty, and ask questions until they find their own answers before sharing their revelation with the academic community.
- Literature – Ancient Greek drama isn’t the first thing one may think of when considering a text for high school, let alone middle school. Shakespeare is done frequently (so there are a lot of tricks to avoid doing the reading or the work). With an age-appropriate text, young readers can enjoy the work of writers over two thousand years ago because, face it, people’s issues haven’t changed much — family, career, love, misunderstandings. Taking a section from an ancient text with the goal of updating it for a modern audience fits a scenario in Hollywood for years. Being cast as a director or performer who will be demonstrating the new lines for an audience involves a wealth of learning about the excerpt in the context of the entire play, the characterization of the roles, and the needs of an audience. What greater connection to historical theatre could there be?
- Biology – Looking at prepared slides and drawing your answers to the problem, then labeling the elements on each image for a lab — ho hum. On the other hand, taking samples from door handles, the water fountain, the cafeteria tables, school IDs or pens and pencils (which sometimes go into mouths), and even parts of the restroom for analysis yield some significant results. Few lessons could have a greater personal impact on student understanding of germs and bacteria. In addition, they learn the process for collecting samples, preparing a medium, labeling the dishes, and making slides. Making reports to authorities or public service announcements to peers are a logical outgrowth of the research.
Your Turn
If you are ready for an authentic assessment, even just a chance to give it a try to arrive at an possible lesson adjustment, select the content this week. For the next ten posts, there will be a small step each week to consider, which will lay out the basic principles of authentic assessment. It’s an exploration in curiosity. Give it a try!
Teacher Takeaways
Authentic assessments begin with CARE – Content through context, Autonomy, Realism, and Engagement, but that’s only the beginning. Selecting content that gains meaning from its context is essential to a truly authentic learning experience.
Koh, K. (2017, February 27). Authentic Assessment. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Retrieved 27 Oct. 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.22
Wiggins, G. (1989). A true test: Toward more authentic and equitable assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 70(9), 703‒713.
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