Alternative Assessment (TG01) Vernon, Farah and Regine

Definition of Alternative Assessments
Alternative assessments are different from the traditional pen and paper method of testing the students understanding of a concept by giving tests and examinations. Instead of just looking for standard answers, we are looking at what processes that the students go through and what they are thinking of when doing the activity or question.

According to Hancock (1994), alternative assessment is “An ongoing process involving the student and teacher in making judgments about the students’ progress using non conventional strategies.”

There are also various forms of alternative assessments such as:
1. Authentic assessment
2. Formative assessment
3. Integrative assessment
4. Assessment for learning

Some common examples of alternative assessments are:
1. Journal writing
2. Portfolios
3. Projects
4. Presentations
5. Games
6. Observations
7. Real life data analysis

Why use Alternative Assessment?
- Students are able learn at their own pace and also display their knowledge of a concept in different ways. Caters to learners of different abilities
- Compared to test or exam where student may just memorized the steps and answers, teachers are able to observe and check for certain skills or application of concepts displayed by the students
- Enable teachers to identify specific strengths and weaknesses of the students and address them on the spot.
- For authentic assessment, students are able to apply math concepts learned into their daily life.
- Students have an end-product for them to reflect on their learning.


An example of authentic assessment
Topic: Addition and Subtraction of decimals (2 decimal places)
Alternative assessment used: Group activity and presentations

Students will be organized into groups of 5 students each.
Each group will be given a budget of $50 and they have to work out a list of items which they want to buy for organizing a class party for 40 students.

They will be given a list to write down the items, the cost of the items and the quantity they want to buy.

The students will be brought to a supermarket near the school and given 30 minutes to go around and look at the prices of the items which they want to buy. They will not be actually buying the items but they have to write down on the list what items they want to get and the price of it.

They will be given some time back in class to finalise their list of items and they are to write on a piece of mahjong paper the items they have decided to buy and give reasons why they decided on them. Each group will then be given 5min to present to the class their list of items.

Skills applied for the above activity are:
- Estimation and mental calculation skills. Student have to add up the cost of the items using estimation and mental calculation.
- Communication skills. Students have to discuss with each other and convince their friends why they are buying a specific item.
- Decision making skills. They have to decide on the items they want to buy and compare the opportunity cost of giving up other items. For example, whether to buy one item which cost a lot or to buy many different items which cost lesser.

As you can see, there is no standard answer for the above activity. Each group will have different lists of the items they want to buy. The focus of the activity is the process whereby they can practice the above mentioned skills. Teachers can make use of a rubric and checklist to monitor the students’ progress during the activity. Each group can also be given a checklist to guide them on what they should do.

Students will be assess on how well the students are able to communicate within themselves, whether they are able to work within the budget given, whether they have calculated the price of the item before deciding to buy it and how they made their decision to buy a item based on its price.

For the activity to be carried out successfully, we need to ensure that the students have the basic skills to such as being able to do mental calculation, additional and subtraction of decimals.

To conclude, our group feels that alternative assessments is a very useful and interactive tool that allows teacher to understand how our students learn and identify how to teach them effective. It also gives the students a break from the daily lessons and homework which they are doing. So we should make full use of the resources from this blog to assist us in our future teaching.