The use of alternative assessments is one of the fastest growing assessment methodologies in the American education system (Ruder & Schafer, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to provide a general overview of alternative assessment. To this end, the paper delineates and discusses the nature of alternative assessment, the history of alternative assessment (focusing on issues that were key to its expanded use), the purposes for the use of alternative assessment, and various applications of alternative assessment methods in classrooms.
According to McMillan (2000), alternative assessment can be characterized as any type of assessment in which students "create" a response to a given question or task as opposed to traditional assessment in which students choose a response from a provided list (e.g., multiple-choice, true/false, or matching). In a more informal sense, this merely means that alternative assessment refers to procedures and techniques which can be used within the context of instruction and can be easily incorporated into the daily activities of the school or classroom.
The most well recognized forms of alternative assessment are student essays, oral presentations and other in-class demonstrations. Less well recognize but frequently used alternative assessments, McMillan (2000) states, are:
1. Performance assessments consisting of direct, systematic observation of an actual student performing some real-life task and rating said performance according to previously established criteria.
2. Exhibitions which can be defined as public performances during which a student showcases learning and competence in particular area; usually in these instances, the exhibition is judged by a panel of adults and/or peers (e.g., teachers, parents, community members, employers, students).
3. Portfolios which consist of collections of students' work over time, documenting the student's best work and often including other types ...