Authentic Assessment

When considering how to assess student learning in a course, most instructors would agree that the ideal assessment
would be one that not only assesses students’ learning; it also teaches students and improves their skills and
understanding of course content. One fundamental aspect of such assessments is that they are authentic.

An authentic assignment is one that requires application of what students have learned to a new situation, and that
demands judgment to determine what information and skills are relevant and how they should be used. Authentic
assignments often focus on messy, complex real-world situations and their accompanying constraints; they can
involve a real-world audience of stakeholders or “clients” as well. According to Grant Wiggins (1998), an
assignment is authentic if it

 is realistic.
 requires judgment and innovation.
 asks the student to “do” the subject.
 replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are “tested” in the workplace or in civic or personal life.
 assesses the student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to
negotiate a complex task.
 allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine
performances and products.

Authentic assessments can be contrasted with conventional test questions, which are often indirect measures of a
student’s ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained in a course. Conventional tests have an important place in
college courses, but cannot take the place of authentic assessments. The table below, drawn from Wiggins,
illustrates the differences between typical tests and authentic assessments.

Typical tests Authentic tasks Indicators of authenticity

Require correct responses
Must be unknown to the student in
advance to be valid
Are disconnected from real-world
contexts and constraints
Contain items that isolate particular
skills or facts
Include easily scored items
Are “one shot”; students get one
chance to show their learning
Provide a score
Require a high-quality product or Correctness is not the only criterion;
performance, and a justification of the students must be able to justify their
solutions to problems encountered answers.
Should be known in advance to The tasks and standards for judgment
students as much as possible should be known or predictable.
Are tied to real-world contexts and The context and constraints of the
constraints; require the student to “do” task are like those encountered by
the subject. practitioners in the discipline.
Are integrated challenges in which a
The task is multifaceted and complex,
range of skills and knowledge must be
even if there is a right answer.
used in coordination
Involve complex tasks that for which
The validity of the assessment is not
there may be no right answer, and that
sacrificed in favor of reliable scoring.
may not be easily scored
Students may use particular
Are iterative; contain recurring tasks knowledge or skills in several
different ways or contexts.
The assessment is designed to
Provide usable diagnostic information improve future performance, and
about students’ skills and knowledge students are important “consumers” of
such information.
 Authentic assessments have several advantages over conventional tests. They are likely to be more valid than
conventional tests, particularly for learning outcomes that require higher-order thinking skills. Because they involve
real-world tasks, they are also likely to be more interesting for students, and thus more motivating. And finally, they
can provide more specific and usable information about what students have succeeded in learning as well as what
they have not learned.

However, authentic assessments may require more time and effort on an instructor’s part to develop, and may be
more difficult to grade. To address the difficulty of grading authentic assessments, it is often useful to create a
grading rubric that specifies the traits that will be evaluated and the criteria by which they will be judged. (For more
information, see the CITL resource on rubrics.)

Examples of Authentic Assessments

Nursing Provide a case study of a patient and ask students to assess and create a plan of care

Develop a business/marketing/sales plan for an imaginary (or real) company in a

Business
student's area of interest.
Troubleshoot a problematic piece of code; Develop a website/app to solve a
Computer Science
particular problem and/or meet a set of criteria
Psychology Examine/critique a case study from multiple theoretical positions

Public Affairs or Service Consider how a community agency might be impacted by a particular challenge
Learning Courses (budget cuts, infrastructure outage, public health crisis, etc.)

Biology/Chemistry Draw a diagram of how a process works, indicating what happens if X occurs

Engage in a role play of a particular event in history; Describe what might have
History
happened if one element of a historical event had changed.

Examples of authentic assessments

 Oral interviews

 Writing samples

 Exhibitions

 Experiments

 Observation

 Producing a commercial

 Composing a song

 Creating a flyer

 Debating
 Portfolios

Traditional assessments are “tests” taken with paper and pencil that are usually true/false, matching, or multiple
choice. These assessments are easy to grade, but only test isolated application, facts, or memorized data at lower-
level thinking skills. Traditional assessment provides little evidence of what a language learner actually can do with
the language. In order to evaluate what a language learner can do with the language, a student must be evaluated
using various performance tasks and assessments.

Authentic versus traditional

Authentic and traditional assessments differ from each other in key ways:

Authentic assessment Traditional assessment

Perform a task Select a response

Real-life experience/scenario Contrived by the instructor

Focuses on inquiry (higher-level Bloom’s) Focuses on bits of information (lower-level Bloom’s)

Assumes knowledge has multiple meaning Assumes knowledge has a single meaning

Treats learning as active (student-structured) Believes learning is passive (teacher-structured)

Direct evidence of learning Indirect evidence of learning

What are the three averages?

The three averages are:

 The "mean" is the "average" you're used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide
by the number of numbers.
 The "median" is the "middle" value in the list of numbers. To find the median, your numbers
have to be listed in numerical order from smallest to largest, so you may have to rewrite your list
before you can find the median.
 The "mode" is the value that occurs most often. If no number in the list is repeated, then there is
no mode for the list.

The "range" of a list a numbers is just the difference between the largest and smallest values. It
expresses "spread", being how far the values are distributed (or how concentrated they are).

 Find the mean, median, mode, and range for the following list of values:
13, 18, 13, 14, 13, 16, 14, 21, 13

The mean is the usual average, so I'll add and then divide:

(13 + 18 + 13 + 14 + 13 + 16 + 14 + 21 + 13) ÷ 9 = 15

Note that the mean, in this case, isn't a value from the original list. This is a common result. You
should not assume that your mean will be one of your original numbers; you should not be surprised
when it isn't.

The median is the middle value, so first I'll have to rewrite the list in numerical order:

13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21

There are nine numbers in the list, so the middle one will be the (9 + 1) ÷ 2 = 10 ÷ 2 = 5th number:

13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21

So the median is 14.

The mode is the number that is repeated more often than any other, so 13, I see from my listing
above, is the mode.

The largest value in the list is 21, and the smallest is 13, so the range is 21 − 13 = 8.

mean: 15
median: 14
mode: 13
range: 8
Note: The formula for the place to find the median is "([the number of data points] + 1) ÷ 2", but you
don't have to use this formula. You can just count in from both ends of the list until you meet in the
middle, if you prefer, especially if your list is short. Either way will work.

 Find the mean, median, mode, and range for the following list of values:
1, 2, 4, 7

The mean is the usual average:

(1 + 2 + 4 + 7) ÷ 4 = 14 ÷ 4 = 3.5

The median is the middle number. In this example, the numbers are already listed in numerical
order, so I don't have to rewrite the list. But there is no "middle" number, because there are an even
number of numbers.

Because of this, the median of the list will be the mean (that is, the usual average) of the middle two
values within the list. The middle two numbers are 2 and 4, so:

(2 + 4) ÷ 2 = 6 ÷ 2 = 3

So the median of this list is 3, a value that isn't in the list at all.

The mode is the number that is repeated most often, but all the numbers in this list appear only
once, so there is no mode.

The largest value in the list is 7, the smallest is 1, and their difference is 6, so the range is 6.

mean: 3.5
median: 3
mode: none
range: 6

The values in the list above were all whole numbers, but the mean of the list was a decimal value.
Getting a decimal value for the mean (or for the median, if you have an even number of data points)
is perfectly okay; don't round your answers to try to match the format of the other numbers.
 Find the mean, median, mode, and range for the following list of values:
8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 12, 13

The mean is the usual average, so I'll add up and then divide:

(8 + 9 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 11 + 11 + 11 + 12 + 13) ÷ 10 = 105 ÷ 10 = 10.5

The median is the middle value. In a list of ten values, that will be the (10 + 1) ÷ 2 = 5.5-th value; the
formula is reminding me, with that "point-five", that I'll need to average the fifth and sixth numbers to
find the median. The fifth and sixth numbers are the last 10 and the first 11, so:

(10 + 11) ÷ 2 = 21 ÷ 2 = 10.5

The mode is the number repeated most often. This list has two values that are repeated three times;
namely, 10 and 11, each repeated three times.

The largest value is 13 and the smallest is 8, so the range is 13 − 8 = 5.

mean: 10.5
median: 10.5
modes: 10 and 11
range: 5

As you can see, it is possible for two of the averages (the mean and the median, in this case) to
have the same value. But this is not usual, and you should not expect it.

Note: Depending on your text or your instructor, the above data set may be viewed as having no
mode rather than having two modes, because no single solitary number was repeated more often
than any other. I've seen books that go either way on this; there doesn't seem to be a consensus on
the "right" definition of "mode" in the above case. So if you're not certain how you should answer the
"mode" part of the above example, ask your instructor before the next test.

How can I keep straight which average is which?

About the only hard part of finding the mean, median, and mode is keeping straight which "average"
is which. Use this list:
 mean: regular meaning of "average"
 median: middle value
 mode: most often

(In the above, I've used the term "average" rather casually. The technical definition of what we
commonly refer to as the "average" is technically called "the arithmetic mean": adding up the values
and then dividing by the number of values. Since you're probably more familiar with the concept of
"average" than with "measure of central tendency", I used the more comfortable term.)

 A student has gotten the following grades on his tests: 87, 95, 76, and 88. He wants
an 85 or better overall for the course. Assuming all tests are evenly weighted, what is the
minimum grade he must get on the last test in order to achieve that overall average?
The minimum grade for the last test is what I need to find. To find the average of all his grades (the
known ones, plus the unknown one), I have to add up all the grades, and then divide by the number
of grades. Since I don't have a score for the last test yet, I'll use a variable to stand for this unknown
value: "x". Then, setting the expression for the average equal to the desired average, the
computation is:

(87 + 95 + 76 + 88 + x) ÷ 5 = 85

Multiplying through by 5 and simplifying, I get:

87 + 95 + 76 + 88 + x = 425

346 + x = 425

x = 79

This is the score that he needs on the last test in order to get the overall grade that he is wanting. (If
I doubt myself, I can always plug this value into the formula for the average, and confirm that I
get 85 as the result.)

He needs to get at least a 79 on the last test.

The 12 Principles of High Quality
Assessment of Learning for Teachers
1. CLARITY & APPROPRIATENESS OF LEARNING TARGETS
Assessment should be clearly stated and specified and centered on what is truly important.
"Teaching emphasis should parallel testing emphasis."

LEARNING TARGETS

Knowledge Students’ mastery of the content.

Reasoning Students’ ability to use their knowledge.

Skills Students’ ability to demonstrate what they have

learned.

Products Students’ ability to create.

Affects Students’ emotional attainments.

2. APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT METHODS

Assessment should utilize assessment methods suitable for a particular learning target.

ASSESSMENT METHODS LEARNING TARGETS

Objective Supply Knowledge

Objective Select Knowledge

Essay Reasoning

Performance-based Skills, products

Oral-question Knowledge, reasoning

Observation Knowledge, skills

Self-report Affects

3. BALANCE
Assessment methods should be able to assess all domains of learning and hierarchy of objectives.

DOMAINS OF LEARNING:
Cognitive
Affective
Psychomotor

HIERARCHY OF OBJECTIVES
(BLOOM) (ANDERSON)

Evaluation Create

Synthesis Evaluate

Analysis Apply

Application Analyze

Comprehension Understand

Knowledge Remember

4. VALIDITY
Assessment should be valid. There are several types of validity that are to be established.

TYPES OF VALIDITY

Content Validity

Face Validity

Concurrent Validity

Predictive Validity

Discriminant Validity

Construct Validity

5. RELIABILITY
Assessment should show consistent and stable results. There are methods which can be used to
measure and establish reliability.

RELIABILITY CAN BE MEASURED USING:

Test-retake or Retest Method Giving the same examination after several

minutes to several years.

SPLIT-HALF This is used to establish internal consistency using

Pearson r formula.

Parallel-form/Equivalence test Giving the same examination within the day.

Test of Stability Giving the same examination content but not in

the same manner or form after several minutes to
several years.

Measurement of stability & Equivalence Giving the same examination content but not in
the same manner or form within the day.

Kuder-Richardson Establishment of reliability using KR 21 and KR

20 formulas.

6. FAIRNESS
Assessment should give equal opportunities for every student. There should be no discrimination of
any kind (racial, age, gender, etc.)

7. AUTHENTICITY
Assessment should touch real life situations and should emphasize practicability.

8. PRACTICALITY & EFFICIENCY

Assessment should save time, money, etc. It should be resourceful.

9. ASSESSMENT IS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS.

Because assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process, it should be continuous.

ASSESSMENT FORMS:

PLACEMENT ASSESSMENT Done before instruction to assess the needs of

the learners to determine their capacities and
 capabilities.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT Done during instruction

to monitor students’ progress and
to reinforce learning.

DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT Done to see the problems and

learning difficulties of the students.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT Done after instruction to assess students’ 

achievement and to see the result of the
teaching-learning process.

10. ETHICS IN ASSESSMENT

Assessment should not be used to derogate the students. One example of this is the right to
confidentiality.

11. CLEAR COMMUNICATION

Assessment's results should be communicated to the learners and the people involved.
Communication should also be established between the teacher and the learners by way of pre- and
post-test reviews.

12. POSITIVITY OF CONSEQUENCE

Assessment should have a positive effect. It should motivate students to learn and do more and
should give way to improve the teacher's instruction.