Authentic assessment requires students to apply what they've learned to new situations that mimic real-world challenges. It contrasts with traditional tests that assess isolated skills and facts through multiple choice questions. Authentic tasks are complex, open-ended problems that replicate real-world contexts and constraints. They provide direct evidence of a student's ability to use knowledge and skills effectively. While more valid than traditional tests, authentic assessments may be more difficult for instructors to develop and score.

1. AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
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
Require a high-quality product or
performance, and a justification of the
solutions to problems encountered
Correctness is not the only criterion;
students must be able to justify their
answers.
Must be unknown to the student in
advance to be valid
Should be known in advance to
students as much as possible
The tasks and standards for judgment
should be known or predictable.
Are disconnected from real-world
contexts and constraints
Are tied to real-world contexts and
constraints; require the student to “do”
the subject.
The context and constraints of the
task are like those encountered by
practitioners in the discipline.
Contain items that isolate particular
skills or facts
Are integrated challenges in which a
range of skills and knowledge must be
used in coordination
The task is multifaceted and complex,
even if there is a right answer.
Include easily scored items
Involve complex tasks that for which
there may be no right answer, and that
may not be easily scored
The validity of the assessment is not
sacrificed in favor of reliable scoring.

2. Are “one shot”; students get one
chance to show their learning
Are iterative; contain recurring tasks
Students may use particular
knowledge or skills in several
different ways or contexts.
Provide a score
Provide usable diagnostic information
about students’ skills and knowledge
The assessment is designed to
improve future performance, and
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
Business
Develop a business/marketing/sales plan for an imaginary (or real) company in a
student's area of interest.
Computer Science
Troubleshoot a problemmatic piece of code; Develop a website/app to solve a
particular problem and/or meet a set of criteria
Psychology Examine/critique a case study from multiple theoretical positions
Public Affairs or Service
Learning Courses
Consider how a community agency might be impacted by a particular challenge
(budget cuts, infrastructure outage, public health crisis, etc.)
Biology/Chemistry Draw a diagram of how a process works, indicating what happens if X occurs
History
Engage in a role play of a particular event in history; Describe what might have
happened if one element of a historical event had changed.
What is Authentic Assessment?
Definitions
What Does Authentic Assessment Look Like?
How is Authentic Assessment Similar to/Different from
Traditional Assessment?
 Traditional Assessment
 Authentic Assessment
 Authentic Assessment Complements Traditional Assessment

3.  Defining Attributes of Authentic and Traditional Assessment
 Teaching to the Test
Alternative Names for Authentic Assessment
Definitions
A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that
demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills -- Jon Mueller
"...Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must
use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either
replicas of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers
or professionals in the field." -- Grant Wiggins -- (Wiggins, 1993, p. 229).
"Performance assessments call upon the examinee to demonstrate specific skills and
competencies, that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered." -- Richard
J. Stiggins -- (Stiggins, 1987, p. 34).
What does Authentic Assessment look like?
An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students to perform and a rubric by
which their performance on the task will be evaluated. Click the following links to see
many examples of authentic tasks and rubrics.
 Examples from teachers in my Authentic Assessment course
How is Authentic Assessment similar to/different from Traditional Assessment?
The following comparison is somewhat simplistic, but I hope it illuminates the different
assumptions of the two approaches to assessment.
Traditional Assessment
By "traditional assessment" (TA) I am referring to the forced-choice measures of
multiple-choice tests, fill-in-the-blanks, true-false, matching and the like that have been
and remain so common in education. Students typically select an answer or recall
information to complete the assessment. These tests may be standardized or teacher-
created. They may be administered locally or statewide, or internationally.
Behind traditional and authentic assessments is a belief that the primary mission of
schools is to help develop productive citizens. That is the essence of most mission
statements I have read. From this common beginning, the two perspectives on
assessment diverge. Essentially, TA is grounded in educational philosophy that adopts
the following reasoning and practice:

4. 1. A school's mission is to develop productive citizens.
2. To be a productive citizen an individual must possess a certain body of knowledge and
skills.
3. Therefore, schools must teach this body of knowledge and skills.
4. To determine if it is successful, the school must then test students to see if they
acquired the knowledge and skills.
In the TA model, the curriculum drives assessment. "The" body of knowledge is
determined first. That knowledge becomes the curriculum that is
delivered. Subsequently, the assessments are developed and administered to determine
if acquisition of the curriculum occurred.
Authentic Assessment
In contrast, authentic assessment (AA) springs from the following reasoning and
practice:
1. A school's mission is to develop productive citizens.
2. To be a productive citizen, an individual must be capable of performing meaningful
tasks in the real world.
3. Therefore, schools must help students become proficient at performing the tasks they
will encounter when they graduate.
4. To determine if it is successful, the school must then ask students to perform
meaningful tasks that replicate real world challenges to see if students are capable of
doing so.
Thus, in AA, assessment drives the curriculum. That is, teachers first determine the
tasks that students will perform to demonstrate their mastery, and then a curriculum is
developed that will enable students to perform those tasks well, which would include the
acquisition of essential knowledge and skills. This has been referred to as planning
backwards (e.g., McDonald, 1992).
If I were a golf instructor and I taught the skills required to perform well, I would not
assess my students' performance by giving them a multiple choice test. I would put
them out on the golf course and ask them to perform. Although this is obvious with
athletic skills, it is also true for academic subjects. We can teach students how
to do math, do history and do science, not just know them. Then, to assess what our
students had learned, we can ask students to perform tasks that "replicate the
challenges" faced by those using mathematics, doing history or conducting scientific
investigation.
Authentic Assessment Complements Traditional Assessment
But a teacher does not have to choose between AA and TA. It is likely that some mix of
the two will best meet your needs. To use a silly example, if I had to choose a chauffeur
from between someone who passed the driving portion of the driver's license test but
failed the written portion or someone who failed the driving portion and passed the
written portion, I would choose the driver who most directly demonstrated the ability to
drive, that is, the one who passed the driving portion of the test. However, I

5. would prefer a driver who passed both portions. I would feel more comfortable knowing
that my chauffeur had a good knowledge base about driving (which might best be
assessed in a traditional manner) and was able to apply that knowledge in a real context
(which could be demonstrated through an authentic assessment).
Defining Attributes of Traditional and Authentic Assessment
Another way that AA is commonly distinguished from TA is in terms of its defining
attributes. Of course, TA's as well as AA's vary considerably in the forms they take. But,
typically, along the continuums of attributes listed below, TA's fall more towards the left
end of each continuum and AA's fall more towards the right end.
Traditional --------------------------------------------- Authentic
Selecting a Response ------------------------------------ Performing a Task
Contrived --------------------------------------------------------------- Real-life
Recall/Recognition ------------------------------- Construction/Application
Teacher-structured ------------------------------------- Student-structured
Indirect Evidence -------------------------------------------- Direct Evidence
Let me clarify the attributes by elaborating on each in the context of traditional and
authentic assessments:
Selecting a Response to Performing a Task: On traditional assessments, students
are typically given several choices (e.g., a,b,c or d; true or false; which of these match
with those) and asked to select the right answer. In contrast, authentic assessments ask
students to demonstrate understanding by performing a more complex task usually
representative of more meaningful application.
Contrived to Real-life: It is not very often in life outside of school that we are asked to
select from four alternatives to indicate our proficiency at something. Tests offer these
contrived means of assessment to increase the number of times you can be asked to
demonstrate proficiency in a short period of time. More commonly in life, as in authentic
assessments, we are asked to demonstrate proficiency by doing something.
Recall/Recognition of Knowledge to Construction/Application of
Knowledge: Well-designed traditional assessments (i.e., tests and quizzes) can
effectively determine whether or not students have acquired a body of knowledge. Thus,
as mentioned above, tests can serve as a nice complement to authentic assessments in
a teacher's assessment portfolio. Furthermore, we are often asked to recall or recognize
facts and ideas and propositions in life, so tests are somewhat authentic in that sense.

6. However, the demonstration of recall and recognition on tests is typically much less
revealing about what we really know and can do than when we are asked to construct a
product or performance out of facts, ideas and propositions. Authentic assessments
often ask students to analyze, synthesize and apply what they have learned in a
substantial manner, and students create new meaning in the process as well.
Teacher-structured to Student-structured: When completing a traditional
assessment, what a student can and will demonstrate has been carefully structured by
the person(s) who developed the test. A student's attention will understandably be
focused on and limited to what is on the test. In contrast, authentic assessments allow
more student choice and construction in determining what is presented as evidence of
proficiency. Even when students cannot choose their own topics or formats, there are
usually multiple acceptable routes towards constructing a product or performance.
Obviously, assessments more carefully controlled by the teachers offer advantages and
disadvantages. Similarly, more student-structured tasks have strengths and weaknesses
that must be considered when choosing and designing an assessment.
Indirect Evidence to Direct Evidence: Even if a multiple-choice question asks a
student to analyze or apply facts to a new situation rather than just recall the facts, and
the student selects the correct answer, what do you now know about that student? Did
that student get lucky and pick the right answer? What thinking led the student to pick
that answer? We really do not know. At best, we can make some inferences about what
that student might know and might be able to do with that knowledge. The evidence is
very indirect, particularly for claims of meaningful application in complex, real-world
situations. Authentic assessments, on the other hand, offer more direct evidence of
application and construction of knowledge. As in the golf example above, putting a golf
student on the golf course to play provides much more direct evidence of proficiency
than giving the student a written test. Can a student effectively critique the arguments
someone else has presented (an important skill often required in the real world)? Asking
a student to write a critique should provide more direct evidence of that skill than asking
the student a series of multiple-choice, analytical questions about a passage, although
both assessments may be useful.
Teaching to the Test
These two different approaches to assessment also offer different advice about teaching
to the test. Under the TA model, teachers have been discouraged from teaching to the
test. That is because a test usually assesses a sample of students' knowledge and
understanding and assumes that students' performance on the sample is representative
of their knowledge of all the relevant material. If teachers focus primarily on the sample
to be tested during instruction, then good performance on that sample does not
necessarily reflect knowledge of all the material. So, teachers hide the test so that the
sample is not known beforehand, and teachers are admonished not to teach to the test.
With AA, teachers are encouraged to teach to the test. Students need to learn how to
perform well on meaningful tasks. To aid students in that process, it is helpful to show
them models of good (and not so good) performance. Furthermore, the student benefits
from seeing the task rubric ahead of time as well. Is this "cheating"? Will students then
just be able to mimic the work of others without truly understanding what they are

7. doing? Authentic assessments typically do not lend themselves to mimicry. There is not
one correct answer to copy. So, by knowing what good performance looks like, and by
knowing what specific characteristics make up good performance, students can better
develop the skills and understanding necessary to perform well on these tasks. (For
further discussion of teaching to the test, see Bushweller.)
Alternative Names for Authentic Assessment
You can also learn something about what AA is by looking at the other common names
for this form of assessment. For example, AA is sometimes referred to as
 Performance Assessment (or Performance-based) -- so-called because students
are asked to perform meaningful tasks. This is the other most common term for
this type of assessment. Some educators distinguish performance assessment
from AA by defining performance assessment as performance-based as Stiggins
has above but with no reference to the authentic nature of the task (e.g., Meyer,
1992). For these educators, authentic assessments are performance assessments
using real-world or authentic tasks or contexts. Since we should not typically ask
students to perform work that is not authentic in nature, I choose to treat these
two terms synonymously.
 Alternative Assessment -- so-called because AA is an alternative to traditional
assessments.
 Direct Assessment -- so-called because AA provides more direct evidence of
meaningful application of knowledge and skills. If a student does well on a
multiple-choice test we might infer indirectly that the student could apply that
knowledge in real-world contexts, but we would be more comfortable making that
inference from a direct demonstration of that application such as in the golfing
example above.
enefits of Authentic Assessment
Shank (2009) identifies a few key challenges of assessments in
the online environment: expecting a bell curve, using the wrong type of assessment
(performance assessments vs. test assessments), not creating valid (enough)
assessments, and using poorly written multiple-choice tests. Although authentic

8. assessment is unlikely to overcome all of these challenges, it offers a number of benefits
in an online course.
Notably, authentic assessment breaks the traditional paradigm of multiple-choice or
automatically scoring tests and quizzes, which can lead students to believe that learning
means staying up all night and cramming to memorize terms or expected answers.
Instead, authentic assessments tend to be more student centered, as they ask students
to demonstrate their learning through hands-on activities. Rather than asking students
to memorize and recall facts, authentic assessments ask students to actively participate
in situations that require them to apply the principles they’ve learned about in the
instructional material. Thus, learning isn’t about recalling; it’s about performing, which,
ideally, will motivate students to engage in the course and succeed in their endeavors.
Drawbacks of Authentic Assessment
As beneficial as authentic assessments can be, they do present challenges as well. First
and foremost, authentic assessments require more time for both students and
instructors than traditional assessments. For students, authentic assessments typically
take longer to complete than an average quiz or test. Because these types of
assessments are task based, they might be scaffolded over a number of modules or
some other period of time. In addition, students might be more accustomed to
traditional assessment, meaning that despite the advantages we’ve discussed, they
might need some time to adjust to this new method.
For instructors, time is also of concern. Developing an authentic assessment can be an
intense experience that requires course writers to identify and/or research relevant
tasks, ensure that those tasks are applicable to students in different areas, and align
those tasks with learning objectives and instructional materials. Also, given that
students in online courses tend to be in a variety of geographic locations, it can be
difficult to build an authentic assessment that’s relevant to everyone. This challenge can
vary by discipline, but it’s important for course writers to remember that their students
can be from anywhere.
In addition, unlike many traditional assessments, grading an authentic assessment is
largely subjective. Because these types of assessments typically address more complex
levels of learning, grading will likely take much longer. Authentic assessments typically
require detailed, personalized, and specific feedback, meaning that, as beneficial as they
can be for students and your course, they will require additional time to design and
implement.
Field Authentic Assessment
Education
Create a classroom management plan and/or lesson plan for
the student’s subject matter and/or intended audience.
Nursing
Assess a mock patient’s health and plan and implement that
patient’s care.
Business
Develop a business plan for a company in the student’s
location and desired field.
Computer
Science
Troubleshoot faulty code or create a website or application.

9. Exercise Science
Record and analyze a mock client’s diet and come up with a
nutrition and/or exercise plan.
How to Develop an Authentic Assessment
Now that we’ve explored the benefits and drawbacks of authentic assessment and
looked at a handful of examples, let’s move on to the steps involved in designing one.
The following steps, based on those developed by the University of Florida’s Center for
Instructional Technology and Training (2018), can help set you on your way toward
developing an authentic assessment that addresses your learning objectives, enhances
your course, and meets your students’ needs.
Identify Learning Objectives
Your learning objectives are the cornerstone of your course;
they communicate what students should be able to do and what skills they’ll develop
during the course. Thus, it goes without saying that developing an authentic assessment
should begin with these objectives. By starting this process with an objective in mind,
you ensure that the authentic assessment you’re developing will align with the objective
and any corresponding instructional material.
In most instances, you’ll want to focus on a macro objective—that is, an objective that
illustrates what students will be able to do by the conclusion of the course. In a
traditional setting, a final exam might be the assessment for a macro objective.
When you look at your objectives, it’s also important to keep relevance in mind. After
all, one of the major benefits of an authentic assessment is how it allows students to
engage in a relevant or new environment, so you’ll want to make sure that your learning
objectives lend themselves to that type of activity. If your learning objectives are
already measurable and student centered, though, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Define Relevant Tasks
After identifying the learning objective(s) you’re looking to measure through your
authentic assessment, you can then start defining what students will actually do. Given
that the assessment should be, well, authentic, start by looking at what professionals in
your field do on a daily basis and how those tasks might relate to your selected learning
objective. Although your task doesn’t ultimately have to relate to your field, it should
require students to apply themselves in a relevant and new situation. Ultimately, the
relevance of your assessment to students’ lives and/or goals should be clear. In fact, it’s
helpful to state the relevance explicitly at the outset of the assessment.

10. If you’re struggling to identify a relevant task, consider starting with the verb of your
learning objective. Oftentimes, you’ll find that you’re able to define your task by looking
at what the objective asks students to do. For instance, if the objective for a business
course is that students will be able to analyze the local and global impact of
organizational decisions, consider creating a fictional scenario in which students have to
make organizational decisions for a business and analyze the impact of those decisions.
Looking at your objective’s verb also ensures that your assessment aligns with your
learning objective, which is a pillar of effective course design.
Identify Essential Performance Criteria
If the previous step was to define what students will do to complete your authentic
assessment, this step focuses on how you’ll know whether they’ve done it well. After all,
just because an authentic assessment doesn’t look like a traditional assessment doesn’t
mean that the goal isn’t the same. You still need to have an indication of how well
students have performed and whether they’ve achieved mastery.
With this in mind, it’s important for these performance criteria to align with the nature of
your task. To return to our business example from earlier, you’d want to make sure that
the way you measure students’ performance is reflective of or similar to the
expectations they would encounter in a business scenario. For example, you’d want to
create performance criteria specific to how students should make the organizational
decisions and how accurately and/or appropriately they analyze those decisions.
Although students shouldn’t be held to the same standards as professionals in the field
(they’re novices, after all), it’s still possible to measure student success in a new and
relevant way.
Develop a Rubric
Rubrics are a powerful tool for many assessment types, and
they’re an essential component of authentic assessment. After all, authentic
assessments are fairly subjective, and rubrics help ensure instructors are grading fairly
and consistently from assessment to assessment and student to student. With this in
mind, once you’ve identified the task and essential performance criteria (that is, what
students will do and what benchmarks exist to make sure students do it well), the next
step is to develop a rubric.
You might be thinking that this seems pretty similar to that last step. Well, it is! When
designing your rubric, you should use the performance criteria you’ve identified and
come up with measurable levels for each. Once you’ve developed your rubric, consider

11. presenting it to students before they begin the assessment. That way, they know what
you expect of them and can more readily gauge their own performance.
For more information on rubrics, feel free to check out our article “The Benefits of
Rubrics in Online Courses.”
Conclusion
Authentic assessment has the outstanding ability to make a long-lasting impact on not
only your course, but also the students enrolled in it. By providing students with an
opportunity to test their skills in new and relevant situations, you’ll prepare them for
how they’ll be assessed in their professional lives and show them the relevance of your
course’s content outside the classroom. With that in mind, here are some of the key
takeaways from this article:
 Authentic assessment refers to an assessment that requires students to apply
what they’ve learned in a new circumstance or situation, typically one that mirrors
what would be expected of them in that discipline or field.
 When preparing an authentic assessment for your course, remember that this kind
of assessment will likely take more time on both the students’ and facilitator’s
parts.
 Authentic assessments should always align with the course’s learning objective(s).
 When identifying a relevant task for your learning objective(s), consider starting
with the objective’s verb. In most cases, this will provide an idea of what actions
students should be able to perform.
 Essential performance criteria help frame what performance will look like. Without
them, it’s difficult to assess students’ work on a fair and consistent basis.
Fortunately, instructors can use these criteria to develop a rubric, which in turn
helps them evaluate fairly and consistently.
References
Magda, A. J., & Aslanian, C. B. (2018). Online college students 2018: Comprehensive
data on demands and preferences. Louisville, KY: The Learning House, Inc.
Shank, P. (2009, May). Four typical online learning assessment mistakes. In R. Kelly
(Ed.), Assessing online learning: Strategies, challenges and opportunities (pp. 4-6).
Madison, WI: Magna Publications Inc. Available from https://www.facultyfocus.com/free-
reports/assessing-online-learning-strategies-challenges-and-opportunities/
University of Florida. (2018). Authentic assessment in online learning. Retrieved
from http://citt.ufl.edu/online-teaching-resources/assessments/authentic-assessment-
in-online-learning/
Wiggins, G. (1998). Education assessment: Designing assessments to inform and
improve student performance. San Francisco: Joey-Bass Publishers.

12. Development Of Affective Assessment Tools
The relevance of affective targets, attitude traits and how these concepts are related to
student learning were discussed in the preceding chapter. Assessment of the affective
domain is one of the requirements of the 21st teaching-learning proposition. A holistic
approach is required so as to have a meaningful evaluation of student learning. Both the
traditional and authentic assessment tools are to be utilized to come up with a good and
quality results. There are various instruments or tools that can be used but each has its
own focus and each instrument is designed to cater to a specific purpose. In this chapter
are the various methods and assessment tools that can be used to assess affective
domain of learners. Samples are provided to help you craft your own affective
assessment tools.
Chapter Intended Learning Outcome
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to develop instruments for assessing
affective learning.
Cognitive and affective domains are inseparable aspects of a learner. Each completes
one another with respect to learners’ important domains. Proper, ongoing assessment of
the affective domain—students attitudes, values, dispositions, and ethical perspectives—
is essential in any efforts to improve academic achievement and the quality of the
educational experience provided. Unfortunately, the practice of routinely assessing
learners’ affective constructs are often left behind and focus is given most of the time to
assessing learners’ cognitive aspect. In addition, unlike cognitive domain, less
assessment tools are available for the affective construct.
1. Methods of Assessing Affective Targets
There are three feasible methods of assessing affective traits and dispositions. These
methods are: teacher observation, student self-report, and peer ratings. (McMillan,
2007). Since affective traits are not directly observable, they must be deduced from
behaviour or what students say about themselves and others. There are variety of
psychological measures that assess affective traits, but due to sophistication of such
instruments, classroom teachers rarely use them. Instead, own observations and
students self-reports are mostly used.
There are three considerations in assessing affect. These are:
1. Emotions and feelings change quickly most especially for young children and
during early adolescence. Which means that to obtain a valid indication of an individual
student’s emotion or feeling, it is necessary to conduct several assessments over a period

13. of time. A single assessment is not enough to see what prevalent affect is. It needs to be
repeated over several times.
2. Use varied approaches in measuring the same affective traits as possible. It is
better not to rely on a single method because of limitations inherent in the method. For
example, students’ self-report maybe faked hence may significantly meddle in the results.
(However, if the self-reports are consistent with the teacher’s observation, then a stronger
case can be made.)
3. Decide what type of data or results are needed, is it individual or group
data? Consideration of what the purpose of assessment is will influence the method that
must be used. For reporting or giving feedback to parents or interested individuals about
the learner, individual student information is necessary. Thus, multiple methods of
collecting data over a period of time and keeping records to verify judgements made is
appropriate. If the assessments is to improve instruction, then results for group or whole
class is more proper you use. This is one of the usefulness of affective assessment. It is
more reliable to use anonymous student self-reports.
1.1 Teacher Observation
Teacher observation is one of the essential tools for formative assessment. However, in
this chapter, the emphasis is on how to use this method so that teachers can make
more systematic observations to record student behaviour that indicates the presence of
targeted affective traits.
In using observation, the first thing to do is determine in advance how specific
behaviours relate to the target. Its starts with a vivid definition of the trait, then
followed by list of student behaviours and actions are identified initially by listing what
the students with positive and negative behaviours and say. Classify those and create a
separate list of the positive student behaviours and another list for the negative student
behaviours. These lists will serve as the initial or starting point of what will be observed.
Contained in the table below are some possible student behaviours indicating positive
and negative attitude toward learning.
Student Behaviours Indicating Positive and Negative Attitudes Toward
Learning
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Rarely misses class
Rarely late to class
Asks lots of questions
Helps other students
Works well independently without
supervision
Is involved in extracurricular activities
Is frequently absent
Is frequently tardy
Rarely asks questions
Rarely helps other students
Needs constant supervision
Is not involved in extracurricular activities
Says he or she doesn’t like school

14. He or she likes school
Comes to class early
Stays after school
Volunteers to help
Completes homework
Tries hard to do well
Completes assignments before they are due
Rarely complains
Is rarely off-task
Rarely bothers students
Rarely comes to class early
Rarely stays after school
Doesn’t volunteer
Often does not complete homework
Doesn’t care about bad grades
Never does extra credit work
Never completes assignments before the due
date complains
Sleep in class
Bothers other students
Stares out window
These behaviors provide foundation in developing guidelines, checklists or rating scales.
The positive behaviors are called approach behaviors while the negative ones are
termed avoidance behaviors. Approach behaviors result in less direct, less frequent,
and less intense contact. These dimensions are helpful in describing the behaviors that
indicate positive and negative attitudes.
These behaviors may serve as a vital input on how to perform observation, particularly
the teacher observation.
McMillan (2007) suggested that the best approach is to develop a list of positive and
negative behaviors. Although published instruments are available, the unique
characteristic of a school and its students are not considered in these instruments when
they were developed.
After the list of behaviors has been developed, the teacher needs to decide whether to
use an informal, unstructured observation or a formal one and structured. These two
types differ in terms of preparation and what is recorded.
1.1.1 Unstructured Observation
Unstructured observation (anecdotal) may also be used for the purpose of making
summative judgements. This is normally open-ended, no checklist or rating scale is
used, and everything observed is just simply recorded. In using unstructured
observation, it is necessary to have at least some guidelines and examples of behaviors
that indicate affective trait. Thus it is a must to determine in advance what to look for,
however it should not be limited to what was predetermined, it also needs to be open to
include other actions that may reflect on the trait.
Unstructured observation is more realistic, which means teachers can record everything
they have observed and are not limited by what is contained in a checklist or rating
scale.
1.1.2 Structured Observation

15. Structured observation is different from unstructured observation in terms of
preparation needed as well as in the way observation is recorded. In structured
observation, more time is needed since checklist or rating forms are to be made since it
will be used to record observations. The form is generated from a list of positive and
negative behaviors to make it easy and convenient in recording.
Below are the things that should be considered if teacher observation method will be
used to assess affect.
 Determine behaviors to be observed in advance.
 Record student’s important data such as time, data, and place
 If unstructured, record brief descriptions of relevant behaviour
 Keep interpretations separate from description
 Record both positive and negative behaviors
 Have as much observations of each student as necessary
 Avoid personal bias
 Record immediately the observations
 Apply a simple and efficient procedure
1.2 Student Self-Report
There are varied ways to express students’ affect as self-report. The most common and
direct way is while having a casual conversation or interview. Students can also respond
to a written questionnaire or survey about themselves or other students.
1.2.1 Student Interview
There are different types of personal communication that teachers can use with their
students, like individual and group interviews, discussions, and casual conversations to
assess affect. It is similar to observation but in here, there is an opportunity that
teachers may have direct involvement with the student wherein teachers can probe and
respond for better understanding.
1.2.2 Surveys and Questionnaire
The second type under self-report method is questionnaires and surveys. The two types
of format using questionnaires and surveys are: (a) Constructed-Response format; and
(b) Selected-Response format.
Constructed-Response format
It is a straight forward approach asking students about their affect by
responding to simple statement or question. Another way to implement constructed-
response format is by means of an essay. Essay items provide more in-depth and
extensive responses than that of the simple short sentences. Reasons for their attitudes,
values and beliefs are expressed better using essays.
Selected-Response format
There are three ways of implanting the selected response format in assessing
affective learning outcomes. These are rating scale, semantic differential scale, and
checklist.

16. The advantage of selected-response formats is that it assures anonymity. It is an
important aspect when considering the traits that are personal such as values and self-
concept. This self-response formats are considered to be an efficient way of collecting
information.
Checklist for Using Student’s Self-Response to Assess Affect (McMillan, 2007):
 Keep measures focused on specific affective traits
 Establish trust with students
 Match response format to the trait being assessed
 Ensure anonymity if possible
 Keep questionnaires brief
 Keep items short and simple
 Avoid negatives and absolutes
 Write items in present tense
 Avoid double-barreled items
1.2.3 Peer Ratings
Peer ratings or appraisal is the least common method among the three methods of
assessing affect discussed in this chapter. Because of the nature of learners, they do not
always take this activity seriously and most often than not they are subjective in
conducting this peer rating. Thus, peer rating is seen as relatively inefficient in terms of
nature of conducting, scoring, and interpreting peer ratings. However, teachers can
accurately observe what is being assessed in peer ratings since teachers are very much
engaged and present inside the classroom and thus can verify the authentically of
results of peer rating. The two methods of conducting peer ratings are: (a) guess-who
approach; and (b) socio-metric approach. These approaches can be used together with
observations and self-reports to strengthens assessment of interpersonal and classroom
environmental targets.
2. Utilizing the Different Methods or Combination of Methods in Assessing Affect
Each of the three methods (observation, self-report, peer ratings) that was discussed
previously has its own advantage and disadvantages. In choosing for which method or
methods to use, consider the following factors:
2.1 Type of affect that needs to be assessed;
A general reaction to something or someone can best be gathered through observation.
However, if attitude components is to be diagnosed, a self-report will give a better
information. Observation can be supported by peer rating method if the target is
socially-oriented affect.
2.2 If the information needed is from grouped or individual responses; and
If grouped response and tendencies are needed, selected response self-report method is
suited because it assures anonymity and is easily scored.
2.3 The use of information

17. If the intention of the affective assessment is to utilize the results as supporting input to
grading, then multiple approaches is necessary and be mindful of the possibility of
having fake results from self-report and even from peer judgement.
3. Affective Assessment Tools
The affective domain encompasses behaviors in terms of attitudes, beliefs, and feelings.
Sets of attitudes, beliefs, and feelings comprise one’s value. There are various
assessment tools that can be used to measure affect.
3.1 Checklist
Checklist is one of the effective assessment strategies to monitor specific skills,
behaviors, or dispositions of individual or group of students (Burke, 2009).
Checklists contain criteria that focus on the intended outcome or target. Checklists help
student in organizing the tasks assigned to them into logically sequenced steps that will
lead to successful completion of the task. For the teachers, a criteria checklists can be
used for formative assessments by giving emphasis on specific behaviors, thinking skills,
social skills, writing skills, speaking skills, athletic skills or whatever outcomes are likely
to be measured and monitored. Checklists can be used for individual or group cases.
3.1.1 Criteria for Checklists
In planning for criteria that will be used in checklists, the criteria must be aligned with
the outcomes that need to be observed and measured. Generally criterion is defined as a
standard that serves as reference for judgement or decision. Popham (1999) explains
that when teachers set criteria, the main emphasis is to use these criteria in making
judgement regarding the adequacy of student responses and the criteria will influence
the way the response is scored.
3.1.2 Why Use Checklists
Checklists should be utilized because these
1. Make a quick and easy way to observe and record skills, criteria, and behaviors prior to
final test or summative evaluation.
2. Provide information to teachers if there are students who need help so as to avoid failing.
3. Provide formative assessment of students of students’ learning and help teachers monitor
if students are on track with the desired outcomes.
3.2 Rating Scale
According to Nitko (2001), rating scales can be used for teaching purposes and
assessment.
1. Rating scales help students understand the learning target/outcomes and to focus
students’ attention to performance.
2. Completed rating scale gives specific feedback to students as far as their strengths and
weaknesses with respect to the targets to which they are measured.

18. 3. Students not only learn the standards but also may internalize the set standards.
4. Ratings helps to show each student’s growth and progress.
Example: Rating Scale (Attitude towards Mathematics)
Directions: Put the score on the column for each of the statement as it applies to you.
Use 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest possible score.
score
1. I am happy during Mathematics class.
2. I get tired doing board work and drills.
3. I enjoy solving word problems.
3.2.1 Types of Rating Scales
The most commonly used type of rating scales are:
Numerical Rating Scales
A numerical rating scale translates the judgements of quality or degree
into numbers. To increase the objectivity and consistency of results from numerical
rating scales, a short verbal description of the quality level of each number may be
provided.
Example:
To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions?
1 2 3 4
Descriptive Graphic Rating Scales
A better format for rating is this descriptive graphic rating scales that replaces
ambiguous single word with short behavioural descriptions of the various points along
the scale.
Example:
To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions?

19. Never participates participates
Participates as much as more
than any
Quiet, other team other
team
Passive members memb
er
-
______________________________________________________________________
________
3.2.2 Common Rating Scale Errors
The table below contains the common rating scale errors that teachers and students
must be familiar with in order to avoid committing such kind of errors during
assessment.
Error Description
Leniency Error
Occurs when a teacher tends to make almost
all ratings towards the high end of the scale,
avoiding the low end of the scale.
Severity Error
A teacher tends to make almost all ratings
toward the low end of the scale. This is the
opposite of leniency error.
Central Tendency Error
Occurs when a teacher hesitates to use
extremes and uses only the middle part of
the scale.
Halo Effect
Occurs when a teacher lets his/her general
impression of the student affect how he/she
rates the student on specific dimension.
Personal bias Occurs when a teacher has a general
tendency to use inappropriate or irrelevant
stereotypes favouring boys over girls, from

20. rich families over from middle-income
families, etc..
Logical Error
Occurs when a teacher gives similar ratings
to two or more dimensions that the teacher
believes to be related where in fact they are
not related at all.
Rater Drift
Occurs when the raters, whose ratings
originally agreed, begin to redefine the
rubrics for themselves.
3.3 Likert Scale
Another simple and widely used self-report method in assessing affect is the use of
Likert scale wherein a list of clearly favourable and unfavourable attitude statements are
provided. The students are asked to respond to each of the statement.
Likert scale uses the five-point scale: Strongly Agree (SA); Agree (A); Undecided (U);
Disagree (D); and Strongly Disagree (SD).
The scoring of a Likert scale is based on assigning weights from 1 to 5 to each position
of scale. In using attitude scale, it is best to ask for anonymous responses. And in
interpreting the results, it is important to keep in mind that these are verbal
expressions, feelings and opinions that individuals are willing to report.
Example: Likert Scale
Directions: put a check on the column for each of the statement that applies to you.
Legend: SA – Strongly Agree, A – Agree, U – Undecided, D – Disagree, SD –
Strongly Disagree
(SA)
5
(A)
4
(U)
3
(D)
2
(SD)
1
1. I am happy during Mathematics class.
2. I get tired doing board work and drills.
3. I enjoy solving word problems.
3.3.1 Constructing Likert Scale Instrument
Below are the steps in constructing Likert scale instrument:

21. 1. Write a series of statements expressing positive and negative opinions toward attitude
object.
2. Select the best statements expressing positive and negative opinions and edit as
necessary.
3. List the statements combining the positive and negative and put the letters of the five-
point scale to the left of each statement for easy marking.
4. Add the directions, indicating how to mark the answer and include a key at the top of the
page if letters are used for each statement.
5. Some prefer to drop the undecided category so that respondents will be forced to indicate
agreement or disagreement.
3.4 Semantic Different Scale
Another common approach to measuring affective traits is to use variations of semantic
differential. These scales use adjective pairs that provide anchors for feelings or beliefs
that are opposite in direction and intensity. Students would place a check between each
pair of adjectives that describes positive or negative aspects of the traits.
Example: Traits/attitude toward Mathematics subject
Mathematics
Boring __ __ __ __ __ Interesting
Important ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Useless
Semantic differential like other selected-response formats, is that it makes it easier to
assure anonymity. Anonymity is important when the traits are more personal, such as
values and self-concept. It is also an efficient way of collecting information. Though this
may be an efficient way note that it is not good to ask too many questions. It is
important to carefully select those traits that are concerned or included in the defined
affective targets or outcomes. It is also a good point to have open-ended items such as
“comments” or “suggestions”.
3.5 Sentence Completion
The advantage of using the incomplete sentence format is that it captures whatever
comes to mind from each student. However, there are disadvantages too for this. One is
students’ faking their response thinking that the teacher will notice their penmanship,
hence students will tend to give answers favourable to be liked responses of the teacher.
Another is scoring, which takes more time and is more subjective than the other
traditional objective formats.
Examples:
I think Mathematics as a subject is ________________________________.
I lie my Mathematics teacher the most because ______________________.
Blogasiaph May 8, 2019

22. THE K – 12 GRADING SYSTEM
Blogasiaph May 8, 2019
THE PORTFOLIO
Blogasiaph May 8, 2019
Different Types Of Assessment Tasks
Blogasiaph May 8, 2019
VALIDITY OF TEACHER-MADE TESTS
Blogasiaph May 8, 2019
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES USED BY TEACHERS
Blogasiaph May 8, 2019
APPROACHES TO ASSESSMENT
Blogasiaph May 8, 2019
Z SCORES
Blogasiaph April 6, 2019
Variance And Standard Deviation Grouped And Ungrouped Data
Blogasiaph April 6, 2019

23. When it comes to teaching we must remember that it's only the learners, not the teacher,
who create learning. The teacher’s role in learning is guiding the process by responding to
a learner’s performance.
Ultimately the best way for that to happen is by designing the best and most authentic
formative assessments possible. Using them to helpstudents improve and excel as they
learn is what mindful assessment is about.
One of the most passionate proponents of authentic formative assessment was the late Grant
Wiggins. He pennedan article in 1989 proposing a laundry list of student-centered
qualities for defining the ideal formative assessment. It was called Teaching to the
(Authentic) Test. In this article, he suggested there were 27 things that he considered the
hallmarks of authentic formative assessments. In the spirit of the great man himself, we'd
like to share them with you below.
The 27 Characteristics of Authentic Formative Assessments
The qualities Grant suggests below are broken down into 4 different categories for easier
reference. Use these ideas as you visualize building authentic formative assessments for
using with your learners.
Structure & Logistics
Authentic Formative Assessments:
1. Are more appropriately public; involve an audience, panel, etc.
2. Do not rely on unrealistic and arbitrary time constraints
3. Offer known, not secret, questions or tasks
4. Are not one-shot – more like portfolios or a season of games
5. Involve some collaboration with others
6. Recur – and are worth retaking
7. Make feedback to students so central that school structures and policies are modified to
support them
Intellectual Design Features
Authentic Formative Assessments:
1. Are “essential” – not contrived or arbitrary just to shake out a grade
2. Are enabling, pointing the student toward more sophisticated and important use of skills
and knowledge
3. Are contextualized and complex, not atomized into isolated objectives

24. 4. Involve the students’ own research
5. Assess student habits and repertories, not mere recall or plug-in
6. Are representative challenges of a field or subject
7. Are engaging and educational
8. Involve somewhat ambiguous (ill-structured) tasks or problems
Grading and Scoring
Authentic Formative Assessments:
1. Involve criteria that assess essentials, not merely what is easily scores
2. Are not graded on a curve, but in reference to legitimate performance standards or
benchmarks
3. Involve transparent, de-mystified expectations
4. Make self-assessment part of the assessment
5. Use a multi-faceted analytic trait scoring system instead of one holistic or aggregate grade
6. Reflect coherent and stable school standards
Fairness
Authentic Formative Assessments:
1. Identify (perhaps hidden) strengths [not just reveal deficits]
2. Strike a balance between honoring achievement while mindful of fortunate prior
experience or training [that can make the assessment invalid]
3. Minimize needless, unfair, and demoralizing comparisons of students to one another
4. Allow appropriate room for student styles and interests [ – some element of choice]
5. Can be attempted by all students via available scaffolding or prompting as needed [with
such prompting reflected in the ultimate scoring]
6. Have perceived value to the students being assessed
These authentic formative assessments characteristics are from an article published on
TeachThought.