Resources for Comprehensive Assessment

In this section, you will find materials and resources for teaching about how to incorporate authentic assessment into the classroom, whether you are conducting a two-hour session or class or can spend a day or two on the topic.

We believe you will find much here from which you can build a set of experiences tailored to class participants for the purpose of exploring comprehensive assessment.

SUGGESTED READINGS AND VIEWINGS

More Edutopia.org Resources on Comprehensive Assessment:

• Edutopia's Comprehensive Assessment Core Strategy page
• Article: "Assessment for Understanding: Taking a Deeper Look"
• Video: "An Introduction to Comprehensive Assessment"
• Article: "Studies in Success: A Survey of Assessment Research"
• Video: "Assessment Overview: Beyond Standardized Testing"
• Article: "Comprehensive Assessment: What Experts Say"
• Schools That Work Package: "Comprehensive Assessment: A New York Success Story"
• Article: "Toward Genuine Accountability: The Case for a New State Assessment System"
• Article: "Measuring What Counts: Memorization Versus Understanding"
• Article: "Assessment: No Single Measure Tells the Story of Student Achievement"
• Package: "Reinventing the Big Test: The Challenge of Authentic Assessment"
• Article: "10 Takeaway Tips for Authentic Assessment"
• Article: "How you can replicate authentic assessment in 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 months, 5 years..."
• Article: "Healthier Testing Made Easy: The Idea of Authentic Assessment"
• Article: "Standardized Testing Fails the Exam"
• Resource Roundup: Free Resources and Downloads for Authentic Assessment
• Discussion Group: Assessment
• Blog: "Tame the Beast: Tips for Designing and Using Rubrics" by Andrew Miller
• Resource Roundup: Resources for Understanding the Common Core State Standards

Top Edutopia.org Case Study Videos on Comprehensive Assessment:

Lower Elementary

• Ongoing Assessment at Faubion Elementary School in Portland, OR

Upper Elementary

• Formative Assessment at Forest Lake Elementary in Columbia, SC
• Reteach and Enrich strategy at Mesquite Elementary in Tucson, AZ
• Project Assessment at Newsome Park Elementary School in Newport News, VA

Middle School

• Authentic Assessment for Algebra at School of the Future in New York, NY
• Authentic Assessment for Humanities at School of the Future in New York, NY
• Kinetic Conundrum Project at King Middle School in Portland, ME
• Ongoing Assessment at Mott Hall School in New York, NY

High School

• Performance Assessment at Aviation High School in Seattle, WA
• Using a Fishbowl at KIPP King Collegiate High School in San Lorenzo, CA
• Presentations of Learning at High Tech High School in San Diego, CA
• UrbanPlan Project at Alameda High School in Alameda, CA
• Comprehensive Assessment at Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, WA
• Performance Assessment at Urban Academy in New York, NY

Additional Resources Elsewhere on the Web:

Organizations

• American Educational Research Association
• Authentic Education Consulting
• National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
• Student Assessment and Standards (Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education / SCOPE)
• Assessment Reform Network (The National Center for Fair and Open Testing)
• Alternatives to High-Stakes Testing (The New York Performance Standards Consortium)

Reports and Readings

• The National Educational Technology Plan 2010 (U.S. Department of Education)
• "Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment" ( PDF -- Phi Delta Kappan)

Tools and Rubrics

• Authentic Assessment Toolbox (Dr. Jon Mueller, North Central College)
• RubiStar Free Rubric-Building Tool (4Teachers.org)
• Assessment & Rubric Information (Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators on DiscoveryEducation.com)
• Rubrics and Rubric Makers (Teachnology.com)

Recommended Texts:

• Edutopia: Success Stories for Learning in the Digital Age
• Creating & Recognizing Quality Rubrics by Judith A. Arter and Jan Chappuis
• Tales of Thinking by Paul Carreiro
• Assessment in Educational Reform: Both Means and Ends by Robert W. Lisitz and William D. Schaffer
• Meaningful Assessment: A Manageable and Cooperative Process by David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson
• Why We Assess Students -- and How: The Competing Measures of Student Performance by James E. McLean and Robert E. Lockwood
• A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment by Joan L. Herman, Lynn Winters, and Pamela R. Aschbacher
• Educative Assessment by Grant Wiggins