BASIC CONCEPTS, THEORIES, AND PRINCIPLES IN ASSESSING

LEARNING USING NON-TRADITIONAL METHODS

- In the assessment task of teachers, traditional methods or the paper-and

pencil tests are obviously not enough – thus, alternative means are
necessary.
Alternative assessment
- refers to the use of alternative or non-traditional assessment strategies or
tools to collect information on student learning. At the core of alternative
assessment is the need to design and implement assessment tasks or
activities that refrain from using traditional paper-pencil test, which typically
assess cognitive learning outcomes and thus have right or wrong answers
(David et al., 2020).
- is any classroom assessment practice that focuses on continuous individual
student progress. Perhaps the best way to define alternative assessment is to
say that it's the counter to traditional forms of standardized assessment.
- Authentic or alternative assignments typically require students to make a
judgment about what information and skills they will need to solve a given
problem.
Cajigal and Mantuano (2014) - clarified that assessment is authentic when it
measures performance or products which have realistic meaning that can be
attributed to the success in school.

Characteristics of Alternative Assessment

 Usually teacher-generated, as opposed to being passed down from an
administration, government, or third-party organization.
 Takes into account the individual background and needs of every
unique learner.
 Considers the big picture of individual student progress over an
extended period of time.
 Flexible, responsive, and continually developing according to curricular
objectives.
 Takes into consideration different learning styles and preferences.
 Allows language learners to demonstrate content knowledge and skills
mastery without language barrier difficulties.
  Highly effective for use with students who are entitled to
accommodations and/or modifications.
 Normally documented with qualitative data, such as performance
descriptors, comparisons with previous work, and skills demonstration.

What Alternative Assessment IS NOT

 Not standardized.
 Not intended to replace or otherwise diminish the importance of
traditional assessments.
 Not implemented in one specific moment in time,
 Not a measurement
 Not normally reported with quantitative data (e.g., percentage scores or
statistics).
 Not presented in traditional formats,
 Not perfect, comprehensive, or appropriate
Authentic Assessment: Assessing by Doing- Authentic assessment is based
on students’ abilities to perform meaningful tasks they may have to do in the “real
world.”
Some Authentic Assessment Methodologies
 Biology lab practical
 e-Portfolio
 Music jury
 Mock trial
 Acting in a play
Developmental Assessment: Assessing by Progress - Developmental
assessment looks at students’ progress in developing skills, abilities, values,
etc., rather than evaluating students’ final products.
Developmental assessments require some sort of pre- post- design.
Emergent Assessment: Assessing by Discovery- Emergent assessment is
a model based on Michael Scriven’s (1967) goal-free evaluation model. With
emergent assessment, assessment is structured using “effects” rather than
learning outcomes.
Some Emergent Assessment Methodologies
 Writing Samples
  Especially those requiring reflection
 Interviews or focus groups with students
 Brainstorming sessions with students
 Ecological observation of students engaged in work in a classroom

Learning-Oriented Assessment- Learning-oriented assessment is

assessment that has the purpose of bringing about deep and meaningful
learning for student.
Some Learning-Oriented Assessment Methodologies
 e-Portfolios
 Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
Work on ill-defined problems (example: “grand challenges” in your field)

Types of Alternative or Authentic Assessment

Abstract Flowchart Podcast
Annotated Bibliography Group Discussion Review of book
Autobiography/
Essay Review of literature
Biography
Blog Letter to the editor Research Proposal
Statement of
Brochure Methods Plan
Assumptions
Case Analysis Memo Summary
Multimedia
Cognitive Map Taxonomy
presentation
Description of a Process Oral Report Thesis sentence
Diary Personal Letter Vlog
Debate Narrative Portfolio
Diagram Outline Question

Principles in Assessing Learning using Alternative Methods

According to David et al. (2020), there are many principles in the assessment
of learning using alternative assessment methods or non-traditional methods.
Based on literatures, the following may be considered as core principles:
1. Assessment is both process- and product-oriented.
2. Assessment should focus on higher-order cognitive outcomes .
3. Assessment can include a measure of non-cognitive learning
outcomes.
 4. Assessment should reflect real-life or real-world contexts.
5. Assessment must be comprehensive and holistic.
6. Assessment should lead to student learning.

LEARNING TARGETS FOR PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCT-ORIENTED

ASSESSMENT

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives - Educational objectives are

specific statements of student performance at the end of an instructional unit.

It consists of three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. These

domains correspond to the three types of goals that teachers want to assess:
knowledge-based goals (cognitive), skillsbased goals (psychomotor),
and affective goals (affective).

Performance-based Assessment and Rubrics - A rubric for assessment is a

tool used to interpret and grade students' work against criteria and standards.
Sometimes, it is called "criteria sheets", "grading schemes", or "scoring
guides". It can be designed for any content domain (UNSW, 2010).

Types of learning targets

Knowledge - Refers to factual, conceptual and procedural information that

students must learn in a subject or content area.

Reasoning - Knowledge-based thought processes that students must learn. It

involves application of knowledge in problem-solving, decision-making, and
other tasks that require mental skills.

Skills - Use of knowledge and or reasoning to perform or demonstrate

physical skills.

Product - Use of knowledge, reasoning, and skills in creating a concrete or

tangible product
Affective - Refers to affective characteristics that students can develop and
demonstrate because of instruction.

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

Performance assessment or performance-based assessment is an

assessment activity or set of activities that require students to generate
products or performances that provide direct or indirect evidence of their
knowledge, skills, and abilities in an academic content domain.
Performance-based tasks- or activities that best exemplified performance-
based assessments include actual performances of making products, such as
carrying out laboratory experiments, exhibiting creative and artistic talents,
such as dancing, painting, and playing a musical instrument, and
demonstrating writing skills through extemporaneous essay writing, article
review, and reflective papers.
Performance assessment provides a basis for teachers to evaluate, both the
effectiveness of the process or procedure used
Types Examples
A. Product-Based Assessment
Visual Products Charts, illustrations, graphs, collages,
murals, maps, timeline flows, diagrams,
posters, advertisements, video
presentations, art exhibits
Kinesthetic Products Diorama, puzzles, games, sculpture,
exhibits, dance recital
Written Products Journals, diaries, logs, reports, abstracts,
letters, thought or position papers, poems,
story, movie/TV scripts, portfolio, essay,
article report, research paper, thesis
Verbal Products Audiotapes, debates, lectures, voice
recording, scripts
B. Process-Based Assessment
Oral Paper presentation, poster presentation,
Presentations/Demonstrations individual or group report on assigned
topic, skills demonstration such as baking,
teaching, problem solving
Dramatic/ Creative Performances Dance, recital, dramatic enactment, prose
or poetry interpretation, role playing,
playing musical instruments
Public Speaking Debates, mock trial, simulations,
 interviews, panel discussion, story-telling,
poem reading
Athletic Skills Playing basketball, baseball, soccer,
Demonstration/Competition volleyball, and other sports

What are the characteristics of a good performance assessment?

1. It is authentic, that is, it includes performance tasks that are meaningful and
realistic.
2. it provides opportunities for students to show both what they know and how
well they can do what they know.
3. It allows students to be involved in the process of evaluating their own and
their peers’ performance and output
4. It assesses more complex skills
5. It explains the task, required elements, and scoring criteria to the students
before the start of the activity and the assessment

1. Define the purpose of performance or product-based assessment.

The first step in designing performance-based assessments is to define the
purpose of assessment. Defining the purpose of assessment provides
information on what students need to perform in a task given.

2. Choose the activity/output that you will assess. The required

performance or output should be feasible given the time constraints,
availability of resources, and amount of data/materials needed to make an
informed decision about the quality of a student’s performance or output.

3. Define the criteria. Criteria are guidelines or rules for judging student
responses, products, or performances. Before conducting the assessment,
the performance criteria should be predetermined.

A. content criteria – to evaluate the degree of a student’s knowledge and

understanding of facts, concepts and principles related to the
topic/subject;
B. process criteria – to evaluate the proficiency level of performance of a
skill or process
C. quality criteria- to evaluate the quality of a product or performance; and
D. impact criteria-to evaluate the overall results or effects of a product or
performance.
4. Create the performance rubric. A rubric is an assessment tool that
indicates the performance expectations for any kind of student work.
 A. holistic rubric – in holistic rubric, student performance or output is
evaluated by applying all criteria simultaneously, thus providing a single
score based on overall judgment about the quality of student’s work
B. analytic rubric – in analytic rubric, student’s work is evaluated by using
each criterion separately, thus providing specific feedback about the
student’s performance or product along several dimensions
C. general rubric – contains criteria that are general and can be applied
across tasks (e.g., the same rubric that can be used to evaluate oral
presentation and research output)
D. task-specific rubric – contains criteria that are unique to a specific task
(i.e., a rubric that can only be used for oral presentation and another
rubric for applicable only for research output)
5. Assess student’s performance/product. In assessing a student’s
work, it is important to adhere to the criteria set and use the rubric
developed. This is to ensure objective, consistent, and accurate
evaluation of student’s performance.

AFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT

Affective assessment places emphasis on student attitudes,

interests, appreciations, values, and emotions.

Affective assessment deals with the affect dimension of students’ learning.

The affective domain (from the Latin “affectus”, meaning "feelings) includes a
host of constructs such as attitudes, values, beliefs, opinions, interests, and
motivation.

Limits and Boundaries

“Students are much more than the academic work they produce.”
Information generated from affective assessments can help provide a window
into better understanding of your students and potential learning opportunities
in your classroom. But there are limits and boundaries that must be
recognized.
Cautions of Affective Assessment

Affective assessment is not personality testing and assessment.

Validity and reliability must be demonstrated, particularly since the measured
constructs (e.g., attitude toward school) may be unstable or change
considerably over a short period of time.
What are the Affective Variables in Learning?

1. Attitudes

It is important to note that attitude cannot be taken as solely affective. It also

has a cognitive component where the learner has the concrete knowledge
that defines the worth or value of the object or situation.

2. Values and Beliefs

Values are characteristics or traits that a person holds in high importance.

These include principles that one considers being right and consequently
which guides the person's future actions and decisions.

3. Interest
Interest is a psychological state that draws a person's attention to an object,
Idea, or event in a classroom setting it is what students are "into" or the
learner's disposition about a topic such as reading science, mathematics,
history, etc.

4. Motivation

Brown (1987) defines motivation as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire

that moves one to a particular action. It arouses and sustains behavior. It can
lead to increased effort and energy to pursue a goal.

5. Self-confidence

This refers to how a person feels about his or her abilities to accomplish a
task or reach a goal.

Self-report Questionnaires/Inventory is a type of assessment where the

respondents are asked to answer a question about himself or herself, his or
her behavior, emotions, feelings or views.
Likert scale. This measuring tool that was invented by Rensis Likert, is a
series of questions or items that requires the respondent to select on a scale
a rating reflecting the level of agreement disagreement on items a particular
topic, experience, or issue.

Semantic Differential. This is a widely used scale that employs ratings of

concepts with contrasting adjectives placed at opposite ends of the number
scale.
Checklist. A checklist is a form of self-report that asks persons whether they
demonstrate a set of qualities or behaviors. In particular for affective
assessment, it is a tool for identifying the presence or absence of a feeling,
attitude, or behavior.
Interview. This is an oral assessment of student learning that is conducted
through spoken words and casual conversation. This assessment tool allows
the teacher to collect and explore more in-depth information about the trait
being assessed that cannot be captured by written instrument nor even be
observed. The assessment data are not just answerable by "Yes" or "No" or
other predetermined responses.
Students’ Journal. These are effective tools that can be used in assessing
and monitoring student thinking and attitudes. Journal writing gives students
guided opportunities to “think aloud” through writing. It is a special form of
documentation that records personal experiences and thoughts.
Observation. It is an assessment tool that involves looking out for the
presence or absence of behaviors of learners in a natural setting. Observation
allows the teacher to assess student behavior in the actual teaching and
learning process unlike other forms of assessment that require separate time
with the student to answer the measuring instrument.