Contextualising Authentic Assessment

Abstract

The term 'authentic assessment' has recently gained widespread use in education. This paper explores various ways in which authentic assessment is being interpreted and the relationship between these different interpretations and the original focus of authenticity in learning. The paper explores briefly the ways in which implicit and explicit beliefs about the nature of learning and knowledge formation direct the ways in which authentic assessment is interpreted and used. Educational issues that arise from some implementations of authentic assessment, identified as camouflage, simulation and abstraction, are discussed. The need for authentic assessment to be contextualised through a coherent teaching, learning and assessment domain is stressed.

The Development of Authentic Assessments to Investigate Ninth Graders’ Scientific Literacy: In the Case of Scientific Cognition Concerning the Concepts of Chemistry and Physics

“…The notion of authenticity has led many researchers to emphasize the importance of curriculum design for authentic science (Cunningham & Helms, 1998;Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer & Scott, 1994) and the development of authentic assessment (Cumming & Maxwell, 1999;Dori, 2003;Wiggins, 1989Wiggins, , 1993Wolf et al, 1991). Such assessment is sensitive enough to evaluate students' abilities or learning outcomes, and could reflect students' deep and broad understanding (Dori, 2003).…”

“…The main objective of the study was to develop various authentic assessments as espoused by Cumming and Maxwell (1999), to evaluate ninth graders' scientific literacy. The study described in this article was a twoyear project supported by the National Science Council (NSC) and Ministry of Education (MOE) of Taiwan, and the second author of this article was the principle investigator.…”

“…To evaluate students' learning in the everyday context, Cumming & Maxwell (1999) suggested four types of assessments related to authentic assessment but which show an integrated view of authentic assessment. The intrinsic and latent components of these four assessments are (1) performance assessment, which assesses the ability to use a disciplined-inquiry integration of knowledge to realistic tasks, (2) situated assessment, which assesses a kind of context specific performance, (3) complexity of expertise and problem-based assessment, which assesses the ability to transfer disciplined-inquiry prior knowledge to life beyond school, and (4) competence-based assessment, which assesses the values one has concerning the perspective of vocations (Cumming & Maxwell, 1999). Except for situated assessment, the other three types of authentic assessments fitted well with our six authentic assessments.…”

“…Performance assessment conformed to our assessment of process skills based on the definition that performance assessment is the execution of some task or process that should be assessed through actual demonstration (Wiggins, 1993). In addition, the theory of complexity of expertise and problem-based assessment is to develop higher-order thinking and problem solving, and an expectation that students can transfer to life what they have learnt in school (Cumming & Maxwell, 1999). Accordingly, the foundation of our assessments of scientific cognition, application of science, and habits of mind tallied with the complexity of expertise and problem-based assessment.…”

“…Accordingly, the foundation of our assessments of scientific cognition, application of science, and habits of mind tallied with the complexity of expertise and problem-based assessment. The latent component of competence-based assessment focuses on personal values, which tie to the real world (Cumming & Maxwell, 1999) and our assessments of the nature of science, and attitude towards science, also fitted in with it. Table I shows the three categories of authentic assessments linked to our authentic assessments for evaluating ninth graders' scientific literacy in our study.…”