Alternative Assessment Tools

Alternative assessment tools can be defined as those that are not discrete point tests. The advantages of alternative assessment focus on "how well," rather than "how many" (Gripps, 1994) and the individual achievement relative to self. The other advantage of alternative assessment is the emphasis on competence rather than intelligence or in simpler terms, how well one knows the material for the test.

In these best case scenarios, the students are not haunted by standardization, but focus on how to improve rather than to prove. An individual student can make an enormous amount of progress and can learn a great deal from working with alternative assessment tools.

Student Assessment

Student assessment, otherwise known as self-assessment, is one of the most reliable forms of assessment. Here are a few examples of student assessment.

At the end of each lesson, learners can either fill in a type of student assessment form or write for ten minutes what they have learned from the following main assessment tools:

Individual projects. The focus is on self-assessment or the learner is responsible for giving him/herself a grade based on performance.
Criteria for grading is known from the start of the project work. The grade must be approved by the teacher and other members of the group if applicable. The grade reflects areas of problem solving and learning the subject matter.

Criteria for assessment of portfolios is another assessment tool. These can be determined from the portfolio:

level of entries based on the learning outcome and the achievement
how serious is the revision
reflection - how deep does the learner look at him/herself in regard to his/her learning.
visual layout - a positive attitude towards a portfolio reflects in the level of care taken in its presentation

Self-Assessment Questionnaires

Alternative assessment tools such as projects and portfolios are not for every teacher; nor are they suitable for every working group of students. One way to find out how receptive your students might be to alternative assessment in general is to take ten or fifteen minutes out of the lesson to conduct a self-assessment questionnaire or a page of written reflections.

Here is an example of a few self-assessment type questions around the topic of practicing vocabulary:

In the past few lessons we have studied/practised/worked on:___________________
In your estimation, how well can you deal with the topics you listed? (not at all, to some extent, fairly well, very well, thoroughly)
On reflection, to what extent do you find the topics listed important to your own needs? (not at all, not very, fairly, very, extremely important)
In your estimation, how well do you know the vocabulary areas you mentioned? (not at all, to some extent, fairly well, very well, thoroughly)
Other comments:

If and when the teacher decides to pursue the route of alternative assessments, students should always be given an additional way to improve their grades such as revising a piece for the second or third time. This is an incredible learning experience which does not adversely affects a learner's sense of self-esteem representative of traditional tests.

Work Cited

Gripps, C.V. Beyond Testing: Towards a Theory of Educational Assessment. London: Falmer Press, 1994.