Week 11: Alternate assessment

Question 1

Describe the different forms of Assessment (11 points)

Answer 1

1. Alternative assessment
   - Assessment that differs from a traditional test/measure
   - Examples:
   
   • Projects
   • Portfolios
   • Event tasks
   • Logs
   • Journals
   • Observations
2. Authentic Assessment
   - Emphasises a test taking place in a “real world setting”

Question 2

List the types of alternative assessment (6 points)

Answer 2

1. Event tasks
2. Projects
3. Journals
4. Log
5. Portfolios
6. Observations

Question 3

Describe Event tasks (5 points)

Answer 3

• A performance task that asks individuals to apply what they have learned in a real-world situation
• Examples:
  
  • Demonstrate skill in a sport or activity
  • Show an ability to work in a group
  • Plan and rehearse outside of class

Question 4

Describe Projects (4 points)

Answer 4

• Individual or group
• Activities in which concepts are incorporated into a finished project
• May require additional information to be integrated
• E.g. Research articles related to the topic

Question 5

Describe Journals (2 points)

Answer 5

• Feelings, thoughts, attitudes, perceptions, reflections
• Opportunity to process and analyse feelings

Question 6

Describe Log (1 point)

Answer 6

• Record of performance (specific behaviours) over a specified period of time

Question 7

Describe Portfolios (1 point)

Answer 7

• A collection of work compiled over time and reviewed against criteria

Question 8

Describe Observations (2 points)

Answer 8

• Can be done by anyone
• Appropriate to use checklist to maintain reliability

Question 9

Describe validity (4 points)

Answer 9

• VALIDITY = Measures the attribute it is designed to measure
• Two question technique (Wiggins, 1998)
  1. Could the individual do well at the task for reasons that have little to do with desired understanding of the skill assessed?
  2. Could the individual do poorly at the task for reasons that have little to do with the desired understanding or skill?

Question 10

Describe reliability (4 points)

Answer 10

• Three conditions should be satisfied (Morrow et al., 2005)
  1. Clearly defined, specific criteria for judging performance or product
  2. Assessors must thoroughly understand the criteria
  3. Assessors must apply the scoring criteria in a consistent manner.

Question 11

Describe objectivity (2 points)

Answer 11

• OBJECTIVITY = Free of bias
• Closely related to validity and reliability

Question 12

List types of performance evaluation (3 points)

Answer 12

1. Rubrics
2. Checklists
3. Rating scales

Question 13

Describe rubrics (3 points)

Answer 13

• A rubric describes to the individual what their work/performance needs to look like in order to earn a specific grade
• A rubric is a guide used by the assessor to determine an individual score or grade
• Provides individual feedback

Question 14

Describe the benefits of rubrics (8 points)

Answer 14

• Defines and communicates excellence
• Helps individual understand expectations
• Helps individual plan and achieve excellence
• Enables individual to evaluate then modify own work
• Accurate, unbiased and consistent scoring
• Helps to ensure objectivity as the graded rubric describes to the individual what the assessor has seen
• Enables grades to be defensible
• Ensure reliability in assessing

Question 15

Describe the issues of rubrics (3 points)

Answer 15

• Halo effect – A type of bias: Impression of an individual impacts evaluation.
• Reluctance to use full rating scale
• Difficult to write

Question 16

Describe checklist (4 points)

Answer 16

• Detects the presence or absence of the desired behaviour
• Are generally very straight forward – yes / no
• Popular when mastery of a task is an objective
• Commonly used in workplace assessing

Question 17

Describe the advantages and disadvantages checklist (2 points)

Answer 17

• Disadvantage: Doesn’t distinguish between quality of performance
• Advantage: Objective, reliable, valid for present/absent objectives

Question 18

List the steps in developing a checklist (9 points)

Answer 18

1. Decide skill or behaviour to be assessed
2. Determine important elements to include
3. Use concise language
4. Determine order of listed elements
   - Typically in order of how skills are performed
   - May be from simple to hard OR
   - Most important to least important
5. Pilot the checklist
6. Revise as necessary

Question 19

Describe rating scales (4 points)

Answer 19

• Used to determine the degree to which a desired behaviour has been observed
• Can be numerical, qualitative or both
  
  • Numerical e.g. 1 2 3 4 5
  • Qualitative e.g. Poor - Excellent

Question 20

Describe the advantages and disadvantages rating scales (2 points)

Answer 20

• Disadvantage: Less objective, reliable, or valid than a rubric
• Advantage: Only need to set highest performance indicators

Question 21

List the steps in developing a rating scales (7 points)

Answer 21

1. Decide skill or behaviour to be assessed
2. Determine how many levels of performance to include in the rating scale
3. Determine highest performance indicators
   - What does excellent look like?
   - If you don’t do this, how will you know when you see it?
4. Pilot the rating scale
5. Review as necessary