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Contents
Alternative Assessment ....................................................................................................................... 2
Features of alternative assessment ................................................................................ 3
Advantages of Alternative Assessments......................................................................... 3
Disadvantages of Alternative Assessments .................................................................... 4
Designing tasks for alternative assessment .................................................................... 4
Guidelines for Constructing Alternative Assessments..................................................... 4
Alternative assessment methods .................................................................................... 7
Checklists ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Rubrics ........................................................................................................................... 8
Primary trait rubrics .................................................................................................................... 9
Incorporating alternative assessment into classroom activities ..................................... 10
40 Alternative Assessment Ideas for Learning .................................................................................. 10
Alternative Reading Assessments ................................................................................ 11
Alternative Writing Assessments .................................................................................. 12
Alternative Math Assessments ..................................................................................... 12
Alternative Science Assessments ................................................................................ 13
Alternative Social Studies Assessments ....................................................................... 14
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 15
E-graphy ............................................................................................................................................ 15
Anexes ............................................................................................................................................... 16

Alternative Assessment
Alternative assessments, also referred to as performance tests or authentic
assessments, are used to determine what students can and cannot do, in contrast
to what they do or do not know. In other words, an alternative assessment
measures applied proficiency more than it measures knowledge. Typical examples
of alternative assessments include portfolios, project work, and other activities
requiring some type of rubric
Alternative assessment uses activities that reveal what students can do with
language, emphasizing their strengths instead of their weaknesses. Alternative
assessment instruments are not only designed and structured differently from
traditional tests, but are also graded or scored differently. Because alternative
assessment is performance based, it helps instructors emphasize that the point of
language learning is communication for meaningful purposes.

Alternative assessment methods work well in learner-centered classrooms

because they are based on the idea that students can evaluate their own learning
and learn from the evaluation process. These methods give learners opportunities
to reflect on both their linguistic development and their learning processes (what
helps them learn and what might help them learn better). Alternative assessment
thus gives instructors a way to connect assessment with review of learning
strategies.

The essence of a performance assessment is that students are given the

opportunity to do one or more of the following:

Demonstrate their ability

Perform a meaningful task
Receive feedback by a qualified person in terms of relevant and defensible
criteria
In short, the purpose for using alternative assessments is to assess students
proficiency in performing complex tasks that are directly associated with learning
outcomes.

Features of alternative assessment:

Assessment is based on authentic tasks that demonstrate learners' ability to

accomplish communication goals
Instructor and learners focus on communication, not on right and wrong
answers
Learners help to set the criteria for successful completion of communication
tasks
Learners have opportunities to assess themselves and their peers.

Advantages of Alternative Assessments

They provide a means of assessing valued skills that cannot be directly

assessed with traditional tests.

They provide a more realistic setting for student performance than traditional
tests.
They focus on student performance and the quality of work performed by
students.
They can be easily aligned with established learning outcomes.
Process can be costly in terms of time, effort, equipment, materials, facilities,
or funds.

Disadvantages of Alternative Assessments

Process can be costly in terms of time, effort, equipment, materials, facilities,

or funds.
Rating process is sometimes more subjective than traditional exams.

Designing tasks for alternative assessment

Successful use of alternative assessment depends on using performance tasks
that let students demonstrate what they can actually do with language. Fortunately,
many of the activities that take place in communicative classrooms lend
themselves to this type of assessment. These activities replicate the kinds of
challenges, and allow for the kinds of solutions, that learners would encounter in
communication outside the classroom.

Guidelines for Constructing Alternative Assessments

1. Define the instructional outcome you want to assess as clearly and
unambiguously as possible in terms of both the subject-matter content and the
set of skills or operations that a skillful performer would exhibit.

Example: Students will perform five types of Cha Cha steps in correct
dance
position
without
error.

2. Distinguish between those outcomes that can validly be assessed solely by

performance assessments and those that can be assessed just as effectively
by objective measures.
Students would have a difficult time demonstrating dance steps on paper.
3. Create tasks that elicit evidence of the students ability to perform the targeted
skill.
Task: Set aside a block of classroom time for students to dance with a
partner, two or three couples at a time. Allow students to dance for at
least 2 minutes so they have time to demonstrate all the steps they know.
Students should have sufficient time to practice the steps before they are
assessed.
4. Decide what kinds of teacher guidance can be used while still
students the freedom to learn and do it their own way.
Students may do the steps in whatever order they would like.
may put the names of the different steps on the board to help
remember
them
if

allowing
Teacher
students
needed.

5. Try out the assessment and make revisions as necessary.

Revisions could include giving more detailed instructions and
expectations to the students or inviting an assistant to write down dictated
comments while the teacher keeps his or her attention on the dancers.
The following criteria define authentic assessment activities:

They are built around topics or issues of interest to the students

They replicate real-world communication contexts and situations
They involve multi-stage tasks and real problems that require creative use of
language rather than simple repetition
They require learners to produce a quality product or performance
Their evaluation criteria and standards are known to the student
They involve interaction between assessor (instructor, peers, self) and
person assessed
They allow for self-evaluation and self-correction as they proceed

Introducing alternative assessment

With alternative assessment, students are expected to participate actively in
evaluating themselves and one another. Learners who are used to traditional
teacher-centered classrooms have not been expected to take responsibility for
assessment before and may need time to adjust to this new role. They also may be
skeptical that peers can provide them with feedback that will enhance their
learning.
Instructors need to prepare students for the use of alternative assessments and
allow time to teach them how to use them, so that alternative assessment will
make an effective contribution to the learning process.

Introduce alternative assessment gradually while continuing to use more

traditional forms of assessment. Begin by using checklists and rubrics
yourself; move to self and peer evaluation later.
Create a supportive classroom environment in which students feel
comfortable with one another (see Teaching Goals and Methods).
Explain the rationale for alternative assessment.

Engage students in a discussion of assessment. Elicit their thoughts on the

values and limitations of traditional forms of assessment and help them see
ways that alternative assessment can enhance evaluation of what learners
can dowith language.
Give students guidance on how to reflect on and evaluate their own
performance and that of others (see specifics in sections on peer and self
evaluation).

As students find they benefit from evaluating themselves and their peers, the
instructor can expand the amount of alternative assessment used in the classroom.
Alternative assessment methods
Effective alternative assessment relies on observations that are recorded using
checklists and rubrics.
Checklists

Checklists are often used for observing performance in order to keep track of a
student's progress or work over time. They can also be used to determine whether
students have met established criteria on a task.
To construct a checklist, identify the different parts of a specific communication
task and any other requirements associated with it. Create a list of these with
columns for marking yes and no.
For example, using a resource list provided by the instructor, students contact and
interview a native speaker of the language they are studying, then report back to
the class. In the report, they are to

Briefly describe the interviewee (gender, place of birth, occupation, family)

Explain when and why the interviewee came to the United States
Describe a challenge the person has faced as an immigrant
Describe how the person maintains a connection with his/her heritage

Students are told that they will need to speak for a minimum of three minutes and
that they may refer only to minimal notes while presenting. A checklist for
assessing students' completion of the task is shown in the popup window.
Checklists can be useful for classroom assessment because they are easy to
construct and use, and they align closely with tasks. At the same time, they are
limited in that they do not provide an assessment of the relative quality of a
student's performance on a particular task.

Rubrics
Whereas a checklist simply provides an indication of whether a specific criterion,
characteristic, or behavior is present, a rubric provides a measure of quality of
performance on the basis of established criteria. Rubrics are often used with
benchmarks or samples that serve as standards against which student
performance is judged.
Rubrics are primarily used for language tasks that involve some kind of oral or
written production on the part of the student. It is possible to create a generic rubric
that can be used with multiple speaking or writing tasks, but assessment is more
accurate when the instructor uses rubrics that are fitted to the task and the goals of
instruction.
There are four main types of rubrics.
1. Holistic rubrics
Holistic scales or rubrics respond to language performance as a whole. Each score
on a holistic scale represents an overall impression; one integrated score is
assigned to a performance. The emphasis in holistic scoring is on what a student
does well.
Holistic rubrics commonly have four or six points. The popup window shows a
sample four-point holistic scale created for the purposes of assessing writing
performance.
A well-known example of a holistic scale is the American Council on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)Proficiency Guidelines (1986). However, the ACTFL
guidelines are not appropriate for classroom use, because they are intended for
large-scale assessment of overall proficiency and are not designed necessarily to
align with curricular objectives or classroom instruction.
Holistic scoring is primarily used for large-scale assessment when a relatively quick
yet consistent approach to scoring is necessary. It is less useful for classroom
purposes because it provides little information to students about their performance.
2. Analytic rubrics
Analytic scales are divided into separate categories representing different aspects
or dimensions of performance. For example, dimensions for writing performance
might include content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. Each
dimension is scored separately, then dimension scores are added to determine an
overall score.

Analytic rubrics have two advantages:

The instructor can give different weights to different dimensions. This allows
the instructor to give more credit for dimensions that are more important to
the overall success of the communication task. For example, in a writing
rubric, the dimension of content might have a total point range of 30,
whereas the range for mechanics might be only 10.
They provide more information to students about the strengths and
weaknesses of various aspects of their language performance.

However, analytic scoring has also been criticized because the parts do not
necessarily add up to the whole. Providing separate scores for different dimensions
of a student's writing or speaking performance does not give the teacher or the
student a good assessment of the whole of a performance.
Primary trait rubrics

In primary trait scoring, the instructor predetermines the main criterion or primary
trait for successful performance of a task. This approach thus involves narrowing
the criteria for judging performance to one main dimension.
For example, consider a task that requires that a student write a persuasive letter
to an editor of the school newspaper. A possible primary trait rubric for this task is
shown in the popup window.
This kind of rubric has the advantage of allowing teachers and students to focus on
one aspect or dimension of language performance. It is also a relatively quick and
easy way to score writing or speaking performance, especially when a teacher
wants to emphasize one specific aspect of that performance.
4. Multitrait rubrics
The multitrait approach is similar to the primary trait approach but allows for rating
performance on three or four dimensions rather than just one. Multitrait rubrics
resemble analytic rubrics in that several aspects are scored individually. However,
where an analytic scale includes traditional dimensions such as content,
organization, and grammar, a multitrait rubric involves dimensions that are more
closely aligned with features of the task.
For example, on an information-gap speaking task where students are asked to
describe a picture in enough detail for a listener to choose it from a set of similar
pictures, a multitrait rubric would include dimensions such as quality of description,
fluency, and language control, as the example in the popup window shows.

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Incorporating alternative assessment into classroom activities

Instructors should plan to introduce alternative forms of assessment gradually, in
conjunction with traditional forms of testing. Using a combination of alternative
assessments and more traditional measures allows the instructor to compare
results and obtain a more comprehensive picture of students' language
performance than either alternative or traditional measures alone would provide.
At first, the instructor should use checklists and rubrics to evaluate student
performance but not ask students to do self and peer evaluation. When creating
checklists and rubrics, instructors can ask students to provide input on the criteria
that should be included in each. This approach gives the instructor time to become
more comfortable with the use of alternative assessments, while modeling their use
for students. The process helps students understand how they will benefit from
alternative assessment and how they can use it effectively.
Because alternative assessment depends on direct observation, instructors can
most easily begin to use it when evaluating students' writing assignments and
individual speaking tasks such as presentations. Once an instructor has reached a
level of comfort with checklists and rubrics, they can also be used when observing
students interacting in small groups. When doing this, however, the instructor
needs to be aware that group dynamics will have an effect on the performance of
each individual.
Once students are familiar with the use of checklists and rubrics for evaluation,
they can gradually begin to assess their own learning and provide feedback to their
peers. This aspect of alternative assessment can easily be included in the
evaluation segment of a lesson (see Planning a Lesson). In classrooms where
traditional forms of assessment are required, this gives the instructor multiple ways
of measuring progress without increasing the time students spend taking traditional
tests.
Examples

40 Alternative Assessment Ideas for Learning

When people think of assessment, pencils and bubble sheets may be the first things that
come to mind. Assessment does not always have to involvepaper and pencil, but can instead
be a project, an observation, or a task that shows a student has learned the material.
In the end, all we really want to know is that the skillwas mastered, right? Why not make it fun
and engaging for students as well?

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Many teachers shy away from alternative assessments because they take extra time and effort
to create and to grade. On the other hand, once the assessment guidelines and
grading rubricare created, it can be filed away and used year after year.
The project card and rubric can be run on card stock (one on each side of the page),
laminated, and hole punched with other alternative assessment ideas. Keep them all together
in a binder or with an o-ring. Assessment just became a snap!
Here are 40 alternative assessment ideas to get you started!

Alternative Reading Assessments

1. Bookmark
Create a bookmark to match the theme of the last book read.
2. Time Capsule
Put together a group of 5 things from the story of the week.
3. Stuffed Animal
Students can make a stuffed animal that matches the theme of the story read.
4. Business Card
Summarize the story by designing a business card (this will be harder than it sounds).
5. Radio Show
Create a radio program that is set in the same time as the book.
6. Recipe
Make a recipe (or just the instructions) for something that a character in the story might make.

7. Paper Doll
More geared towards the younger set, this activity involves creating paper dolls and costume
changes for the characters in the story.
8. Wanted Poster

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Make a wanted poster for the antagonist in the book.

Alternative Writing Assessments

9. Eulogy
Write a eulogy for a word that is overused in the students own writing samples.
10. Infomercial
Students will tape a segment that uses persuasion.
11. Bumper Sticker
Design a bumper sticker with a catchy slogan for each of the writing genres.
12. PowerPoint
Pairs can create a slideshow about their writing process from start to finish.
13. Newscast
Students can form teams to create a news program about writing conventions (run-on
sentences, spacing, punctuation, etc.)
14. Comic Strip
Draw a comic strip that shows examples of figurative language.
15. Brochure
Create a brochure that explains the steps involved when writing for different audiences.
16. Survey
Create a survey of students favorite writing styles or writing pet peeves. Make a graph that
explains the results.

Alternative Math Assessments

17. Acrostic Poem

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Using one math term, such as geometry or algebra, make an acrostic poem.
18. Internet Resource List
Students will find a list of websites that explain the current math concepts correctly.
19. Readers Theater
Perform a readers theater that is all about the current topic.
20. Crossword Puzzle
Use the vocabulary from the assessed chapter to create a crossword puzzle, including the
design and matching clues.
21. Scrapbook Page
Each student makes a page that describes a certain vocabulary word. Combine them to
provide a future review tool for students.
22. Paint By Number
More artistically-inclined students may want to create a paint by number portrait that includes
math terms and examples. They can also write and solve problems that match the paint-bynumber answers.
23. Pattern
Find a pattern in the current math unit that can be explained.
24. Collage
Using magazines, students can cut up and paste math strand examples.

Alternative Science Assessments

25. Help Wanted Ad

Write an ad to find a professor who can help to explain the subject at hand.
26. Singing Telegram

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More musically-inclined students may love to create a song about the latest chapter.
27. Calendar
Mark on a calendar (paper or electronic copy) the time frame for how long it takes to see
changes in a scientific event (such as erosion or plants growing).
28. Diary
Pen a diary entry from a famous scientist.
29. Advice Column
Students write advice to an anonymous friend who has a scientific problem that needs
solved.
30. Trivia Game
Students create the questions (and answers) that will be used in a review game.
31. T-shirt
Design a t-shirt that matches the current science concepts.
32. Experiment
No explanation needed for this one.

Alternative Social Studies Assessments

33. Cheer
Compose a cheer for someone in history who has struggled through something in your latest
unit.
34. Fashion Sketch
Draw an example of what a person would wear from the era being studied.

35. Toy

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Create a drawing (or a prototype) of a toy that might have been used from the children of that
specific time period.
36. Documentary
Recreate an important historical event.
37. Family Tree
Research the family tree of a famous historical person.
38. Time Line
Students create a class timeline as they study different eras. Post the master time line up in
the classroom and add as new eras are learned.
39. Speech
Memorize and recite an important historical speech.
40. Museum Exhibit
Students each create a museum artifact and set them up in the classroom as a museum,
where they will stand next to their artifact to explain and answer questions from visitors. Invite
other classes or parents to come do a walkthrough of your museum.

Conclusion
Every person is unique and different. Students learn in a variety of ways. We face the reality
of the mixed-ability classroom, not only regarding the level of English, but also regarding
learning styles, background, interests, age, sex, etc. Considering this diversity, alternative
assessment is a useful, important and a necessary tool to try to reduce the gap among
students and to provide them equal opportunities according the their individual characteristics.

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E-graphy
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/7041
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/alternative-assessment.html
http://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/alternative_assessment/
http://www.teachhub.com/40-alternative-assessments-learning
http://ctl.byu.edu/collections/using-alternative-assessments

Anexes