Subject

Authentic Assessment

Purpose

The purpose is to describe a plan for using portfolios as a tool for authentic assessment.

Population

The targeted population is fifth grade, eight grade and twelfth grade students in three urban school settings.

Findings/Results

The findings or results were that the current traditional methods focused on memorization rather than acquisition of knowledge. Teachers found that the portfolio assessments involved major investments in time, storage and money. Portfolios more currently coincide with teaching strategies in the classroom.

Reference

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/19/40/84.pdf

Implications for Education

All assessments need to be reliable and valid in order to actually capture that data that is needed to make sure the students are making progress. Decision making practices must be in place for the safety and guidance of the children. Assessments are useful for checking how well students are learning at those initial and intermediate points and for providing information for improvement when learning is less than satisfactory. Through assessments teachers are able to understand and promote learning. They also can increase their ability to make the students elf-directed learners.  

            There are three steps to put in place in order to ensure positive assessments. The steps are as follows: plan, implement, and respond. Plan your lessons around the needs of the students. Implement a schedule or plan and stick to it. Respond to the students to motivate them to become more involved in mastering skills. All decisions made by teachers are essential to the development of every child in the classroom.

            There are eight stages in the decision making process. First, recognize the problem. Big problems need to be broken into smaller problems. Second, analyze the problem. Find out exactly what is causing the problem to occur. Third, consider your goals. Become aware of your values and priorities. Fourth, look for alternatives. Try to find all possibilities to solve the problem at hand. Fifth, select the best alternative. Make sure you have the resources needed in order to support this alternative and keep in mind the goals you want to achieve. Sixth, put your decision into action. Put your plan(s) into action and see if they resolve the problem. Seventh, accept the responsibility. Teachers must take responsibility and all consequences for making the decisions you made. Finally, evaluate your results. The results should be evaluated consistently to make sure that the plan was effective.

            In the classroom teachers have a hard time making sure that all students are mastering objectives and deciding which best practices shall be put in place in order to achieve mastery among most if not all students. There are many assessments that may be used to evaluate the progress of students but all assessments but be valid and reliable in order for the data to be any good or useful to administrators and teachers. In decision making practices teachers sometimes incorporate their values and ethics in order to make sound decisions while also using the steps listed above.