An Examination of a Teacher's Use of Authentic Assessment in an Urban Middle School Setting
Today in urban education, schools are forced to keep up and compete with students nationally with high-stake testing. Standardized tests are often bias in nature and often do not measure the true ability of a student. Casas (2003) believes that all children can learn but they may learn differently. Therefore, using authentic assessments is an alternative way to measure what students know. Conventional testing also distorts educational goals. On the other hand, authentic assessment can foster good education practices and enhance the learning process (DePascale, 2011; Kohn, 2000). The question remains, how can urban middle school teachers combine authentic and standardized assessment to improve student learning? Rule (2006) states that authentic assessment should be used simultaneously with required curriculum. It enhances development for students while redefining the curriculum. Kohn (2000) agrees that there are alternative ways of testing and assessing students. Authentic assessment brings change to curriculum and instruction. It provides stakeholders which may include parents, students, administrators, and community members with evidence of learning. Students performance can be demonstrated using an observable product (Conklin, 2010; Conklin & Frei, 2011; Kohn, 2000). Consequently, the purpose of this research is to assess how one teacher in an urban middle school located in a mid-western city combined authentic and standardized measures of assessment to support student achievement. It is hoped that this study will shed light on how to promote student learning using alternative assessments. Qualitative methodology will be employed to address the research question. Data will be collected through documents, observations, and interviews.
Educational Tests and Measurements, authentic assessments, standardized tests, student achievement, student performance, evaluation, alternative forms of assessment
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations