Authentic assessment encourages the integration of teaching, learning and assessing.

Authentic Assessment

1. An authentic assessment includes an authentic task for students to perform.

2. And a scoring guide/rubric by which their performance on the task will be evaluated.

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Think of authentic assessment development in four steps

Step 1: Indentify your Outcomes

Outcomes are a description of what a student is expected to attain in order to meet a specified learning outcome or objective. 

Outcomes are typically one-sentence statements of what students should know and be able to do at a certain point.

Often a outcomes will begin with a phrase such as "Students will be able to ..." (SWBAT).

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Types of Outcomes

As with many of the authentic assessment terms, there is not a consistent set of labels for the different types of outcomes. 

These labels may be useful.

Outcomes can address course content, process skills or attitudes towards learning.

Step 2: Select an Authentic Task

An authentic task is an assignment to assess how learners apply objective-driven knowledge and skills to real-world challenges.

We are less interested in how much information students can acquire than how well they can use it.

Authentic Task

Types of Authentic Tasks

Step 3: Identify the Criteria for the Task

ASK

1."What does good performance on this task look like?" or

2."How will I know they have done a good job on this task?"

These questions identify the criteria for good performance on the task.

The criteria is used to evaluate how well students completed the task and, how well they have met the standard or standards.

Recommended Guidelines

Is each criterion...

Step 4: Create the Rubric

A rubric, or scoring scale, is typically created to measure student performance against your set of criteria.

The rubric contains the essential criteria for the task and appropriate levels of performance for each criterion.

Example

This rubric (scoring scale) covers the research portion of a project.

Criteria Poor (1) Good (2) Excellent (3)

Number of Sources

x1 1-4 5-9 10-12

Historical Accuracy

x3 Lots of historical inaccuracies

Few inaccuracies

No apparent inaccuracies

Organization x1 Can not tell from which source information came

Can tell with difficulty where information came from

Can easily tell which sources info was drawn from

Bibliography x1 Bibliography contains very little information

Bibliography contains most relevant information

All relevant information is included

Criteria and levels of performance

A rubric is comprised of two components:  criteria and levels of performance. 

•Every rubric has at least two criteria and at least two levels of performance. 

•The criteria, characteristics of good performance on a task, are listed in the left-hand column in the rubric.

•For each criterion, determine to what degree the student has met the level of performance.

Criteria Poor (1) Good (2) Excellent (3)

Number of Sources

x1 1-4 5-9 10-12

Historical Accuracy

x3 Lots of historical inaccuracies

Few inaccuracies

No apparent inaccuracies

Organization x1 Can not tell from which source information came

Can tell with difficulty where information came from

Can easily tell which sources info was drawn from

Bibliography x1 Bibliography contains very little information

Bibliography contains most relevant information

All relevant information is included

Levels of Performanc

e