What is Authentic Assessment?

Authentic assessment means measuring students' abilities using formative assessments, presentations, exhibitions, and task-oriented tests.  The assessments are connected to real-world problems, making learning relevant and meaningful.   The best way to explain authentic assessment is to say simply that students are assessed on solving problems, performing experiments, conducting research, synthesizing findings, and many more verbs.  It is important to notice the emphasis is on what the students are doing, how they are demonstrating their learning and NOT on standardized testing scores.

The School of the Futre is a small public school on the East side of Manhattan.  They have seen phenomenal success using authentic assessments; 40% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, yet 98% graduate and go to college.

Ben Mook teaches 7th and 8th grade mathematics and algebra.  He uses authentic assessment to explore what students know -- and more importantly what they don't know.  He asks students to explain their process, and that becomes foundational for the next day's lesson.  Watch this short video to learn more (3:54). 

Why Authentic Assessment?

Students are engaged in meaningful learning.  Often they are more motivated because they are interested in what they are doing especially when students work on content that is of high interst to them.

Students must use critical-thinking skills when trying to solve problems.  They must make choices, test them out, and learning continues as they modify their processes.

References:

Edutopia. (2011). How the School of the Future Got it Right. http://www.edutopia.org/stw-assessment-school-of-the-future

This installment of Schools That Work was produced exclusively for Edutopia by The Digital Learning Group.