Learning Assessments the Various Methods

Learning Assessments

The various methods for learning assessment have different applications and implications, often drastically so. Three common assessment models -- performance assessment, authentic assessment, and self-assessment -- are examined here. According to Feinstein (2002), performance assessment incorporates higher-level problem solving and real-world application of knowledge into the assessment of a subject's learning. Usually occurring over a longer period of time, performance assessments include individualized measurement of aptitude and growth for each student, collaborative projects, often culminating in a presentation to their peers, and an incorporation of different learning and teaching methods (Wookfolk, 2001, ctd. In Feinstein, 2002). Applications for performance assessment of learning are far-reaching and diverse; such assessments have been used effectively in corporate instructional settings and, in the case of Feinstein's study, juvenile detention centers where two-thirds of the students were determined to be special needs (Feinstein, 2002).

The major cause for the broad-range effectiveness of performance assessments is the necessary individualization of the assessment and the type of learning usually associated with it. Moving beyond the rote memorization needed in standardized assessments, or a measure of isolated skills as in mathematics exams or reading comprehension assignments, students subjected to a performance assessment have the opportunity to demonstrate real-world skills and the correlations and meaning of the knowledge they have acquired. This tends to lead to more positive results as well as higher levels of student satisfaction and enthusiasm (Feinstein, 2002).

Authentic assessment includes, arguably to an even greater degree, the individualization of performance assessment, in some cases allowing students to develop their own projects based on relatively loose though still focused criteria and guidelines provided by the instructor (DeCastro-Ambrosetti & Cho, 2005). Students are thus able to express the progress/extent of their learning over a given period in whatever way they deem they are best equipped to do so, leading (in theory) to a more realistic or "authentic" assessment of that learning. The creation and grading of what will necessarily be a diverse and widely differing assignments can create a burden for the instructor and, in some cases, the other students in the learning group, therefore authentic assessments are best utilized only in situations where other assessments may prove inadequate, i.e. In instances where the students have already demonstrated a diversity of learning styles (DeCastro-Ambrosetti & Cho, 2005). The use of authentic assessments includes greater student directive-ness and increased empowerment and self-guidance and -reliance in the learning process.