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Hi Everyone! I see we have a discussion thread on Formative Assessments and Summative Assessments. I though maybe we could have a discussion about Authentic Assessments as well.
I have made a collection called: Authentic Problems, Authentic Assessment where I pulled a few book chapters and journal articles on the topic.
I am interested in knowing what others' definitions of the term 'authentic assessment' is and how they use this form of assessment in their teaching.
Thanks for your input,
Carolyn

Thanks for your post, Carolyn. Our school district advocates a teaching philosophy called the Rigor-Relevance Framework. This Framework was drafted by the International Center for Leadership in Education. The goal is to move students from the straight forward “acquisition” of knowledge—which I think would be tested through traditional assessment methods (tests, etc.) to the “adaptation” of knowledge, which I think would be tested through Authentic Assessments. Here is an excerpt describing the framework Here's the link: http://www.leadered.com/pdf/R&Rframework.pdf -------Quadrant A ? Acquisition Students gather and store bits of knowledge and information. Students are primarily expected to remember or understand this acquired knowledge. Quadrant B ? Application Students use acquired knowledge to solve problems, design solutions, and complete work. The highest level of application is to apply appropriate knowledge to new and unpredictable situations. Quadrant C ? Assimilation Students extend and refine their acquired knowledge to be able to use that knowledge automatically and routinely to analyze and solve problems and create unique solutions. Quadrant D ? Adaptation Students have the competence to think in complex ways and also apply knowledge and skills they have acquired. Even when confronted with perplexing unknowns, students are able to use extensive knowledge and skill to create solutions and take action that further develops their skills and knowledge.------- I define Authentic Assessments as some type of task that asks students to adapt their knowledge to solve some type of real-world problem. I think Authentic Assessments should have some meaning for the students outside of the classroom environment. Personally, I struggle with incorporating Authentic Assessment into my classroom. I think I incorporate some “Authentic Instruction,” especially in the sciences because I like to set up science explorations for students that have some relevancy to their experiences outside of the classroom. However, I find it much more challenging to create Authentic Assessments in which students would be demonstrating what was already taught. I would love to hear some ways that other teachers, like you, Carolyn, have had success with that type of assessment.

Thank you, Jennine, for sharing your district's thinking routine for planning and facilitating student learning. You asked, "I would love to hear some ways that other teachers, like you, Carolyn, have had success with that type of assessment." There seem to be a few different definitions for authentic assessment floating around. If we think of it as providing a real-life problem and after teaching students some strategies to solve similar problems, they are able to use these skills in a new situation, then I think that would be one definition of authentic assessment. Here is an example of an authentic assessment I used when teaching 8th grade science: After learning about the periodic table of elements and how the elements that make it up are arranged, students are asked to create their own periodic table of anything using new rules for why their "elements" are in a particular row or column. With this assessment, students are asked to authenticate that there is a reason behind the arrangement and not asked to memorize a bunch of elements' atomic numbers and symbols. I, like Jennine, would love to hear how authentic assessments are being used in others' classrooms. What other definitions of authentic assessment are floating around?

I attended a workshop this summer that addressed standards based grading as a means to authentic assessment. We watched a video by Rick Wormeli that you can see on YouTube.
Here's a link to it:
Standards based grading
I think that authentic assessment requires that teachers know their standards and grade students purely on their mastery of those standards.

Kayla, Thank you for introducing me to Rick Wormeli. I am enjoying, not just the linked video but others as well. Carolyn, I have had students classify and create "periodic" tables of cereals and spices to introduce the concept of a periodic table. I love the idea of using this as an assessment. Thank You!

Tina asks, "If I was to do something similar with topics we cover now (now that I finally have classroom computers again!), we would probably include flip videos of student raps/songs/skits, interactive quizzes, and other things that just weren't available then at my school. Has anyone else done similar student-led projects for authentic assessments?" Your question reminded me of the public service announcements our communications teacher did with her students every semester. Students would work in groups to create a video that would be appropriate for showing to health classes. It was great. I can see how this could be used for science safety.

One authentic assessment I do in my chemistry classroom is related to % composition. After we learn what % composition is, I give the students a forensics paper based lab. Prior to starting the lab, we watch a video clip of NCIS where there is a discussion about the GC-MS and the kind of drugs found in the victim's body. I then pass out the lab. There is list of suspects and descriptions and % of different drugs that have been found in each of their bodies. The students work in teams to figure out which drugs are in each person based on the % of each element found . From the percentages they have to figure out the empirical formulas. Students are then given a list of potential drugs and the effects of each drug. Students have to match the empirical formulas to the specific drug and then match the drug to the person it was found in. This is an authentic assessment because it takes the skills and concepts they have learned and apply it to a situation that a chemist could actually encounter.

I have yet to define what an 'authentic assessment' really means. I guess I try to go back to my background as a researcher and create an assessment in which a student needs to apply their knowledge in a meaningful way. Most of these assessments link to a real problem which the students are experiencing. For instance, one month ago, students planted some plants stalks to stimulate vegetative growth yet some of these plants are not growing as compared to the positive controls. These results are stimulating some interesting discussion an generating some questions I never thought of. This type of collaboration is very similar to what I experienced in my professional career, so does this make it 'authentic?'

Tina thanks for sharing these resources, now I am a little more clarity with what “authentic assessment” may mean in education. I would support the definition provided by Mueller which is also enhanced by Grant Wiggins.
It’s also safe to say that when introducing a “real world” problem there may be several answers/or ideas related to solving the problem. I favor these types of problems because they force the student to extend beyond what they were taught while using their base knowledge/experiences to support their ideas-Robert Marzano refers to this as “mastery.” During such an assessment, a student will need to take intellectual risk and have freedom to “think outside of the box.” My question to the group is: How do you create an environment in which “authentic assessments” and “intellectual risk taking” can take place?. Unlike many disciplines, science provides opportunities for creative thinking and ingenuity yet I'm not sure such thinking is fostered in most classes.