Jacob Reed's Awesome
Mind Map on Authentic
Assessment
Real-World Task
Authentic asessments
should be designed to
imitate or replicate an
actual task that
students may
encounter in the real
world.
WHen working with emergent bilingual
students, assessments being modeling
after real world tasks allows them to see
the meaningfulness of the assessment
and provides them with a meaningful
context for language development.
Thinking Made Visible
Authentic Assessments, as
opposed to traditional
assessments, allow students
to demonstrate their
thought process and make it
visible to observers
Traditional assessments, such as multiple-choice tests or
quizzes, do not allow educators to see how students are
thinking. This is especially problematic with emergent
bilinguals as it can be more difficult for them to accurately
explain their thought process. Authentic assessment, in
turn, allows for their thinking to be readily apparent so
that educators can know if they have mastered the
material or not.
Clear Criteria
The criteria and
expectations put upon
students for
completing the
assessment should be
clear to students.
For emergent bilingual students, clear criteria is
necessary if they are still developing their vocabulary
for talking about a specific task. Something as simple
as a checklist can help them know if they have fully
completed the assessment or not.
Standard
Based
Each assessment should be
designed to assess students
on a specific skill. This is vital
when working with
emergent bilingual students
because it can simplify the
assessment and make it
more accessible and
meaningful for them.
Assessments are designed to
test students on specific
learning goals that are
specific in the skills that
students are expected to
demonstrate.
Student
Structured
Authentic Assessment
is inherently
structured in such a
way that it is
student-focused,
rather than test or
educator focused.
All meaningful assessments should be created
with the students in mind. This is especially true
for emergent bilinguals. An easy way to
accomplish this would be simply to consider their
cultural background knowledge when designing
and implementing an authentic assessment. If
there are assumptions made about their cultural
knowledge, they may be set up for failure before
they even begin the assessment.