Authentic Assessment in Action (2)

1 Authentic Assessment in Action Module 3 Application Savanna Dempsey American College of Education SCI5383 - Principles of Integration Dr. Audra Pickett October 22, 2023

2 Authentic Assessment in Action Authentic assessments measure student learning in a variety of ways to provide feedback on student learning. In order to inform instruction, it is imperative that teachers create opportunities to check in on student growth and understanding, through formative, summative, and culminating assessments (ACE, 2021). Assessments can take many forms, and can be verbal, written, or even illustrated. They can be formal or informal, but all assessments share one quality: assessments demonstrate student understanding of content (Ferdig, 2006). Authentic Assessments There are many different types of assessment that will be used in the integrated curricular unit for this course, each designed with the intention of gaining insight on the learning progress of students toward the learning goals of the unit. Formative assessment is a quick gauge of student progress, either formally or informally conducted by a teacher to make sure that their students are on the right track. They inform teaching early on, and allow the teacher an opportunity to adjust their delivery of content in a timely fashion. Summative assessments are more formal in nature, and are the kind of assessments that tend to end up in the gradebook, like tests and quizzes. A culminating assignment is a subcategory of summative assessments. These assessments illustrate evidence of mastery for all of the learning goals throughout a unit of study through some form of project that integrates the standards from multiple content areas. Performance tasks are assessments that require students to perform in some way that illustrates the student’s knowledge or skills relevant to the learning progress (ACE, 2021). Student self-assessment is the last of the assessment types used in this unit plan. This type of assessment

3 calls for students to reflect on their perception of their progress toward achieving the learning goals. This sort of guided metacognition leads to improved academic performance and lifelong learning (Lew & Schmidt, 2011). Table 1 Assessment Plan Type of Assessment Lesson Number When Implemented? Description of Implementation Notes Formative #1 1 Before and during guest speaker lecture KWL worksheet Students complete K&W before lecture, L is for notes during lecture Formative #2 2 Prior to designing nest boxes Class discussion about bird habitat loss contributing to population decline and how it can be solved Drive conversation to include considerations for predators Formative #3 3 Prior to the beginning of presentations Students will create a decision matrix to score nest box designs based on aspects of nest boxes that are important for population preservation Write a list of aspects that students share on the board for reference. Decision matrices should have 4-6 aspects Summative #1 1 End of day 1 Exit slip question handed out near the end of class Collect exit slips from students in self-assessment 4/3/2/1 baskets Summative #2 2 After discussing the relationship between bird habitat loss and population decline Students will use TinkerCAD to design scaled digital renderings of nest boxes that they could potentially build and install throughout the local community Help students set up “inches” in snap grid and show them how to highlight dimensions in TinkerCAD