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| Alternative Assessments | 4. Alternative Assessments
Alternative evaluations can comprise, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
- Portfolios
- Group or individual projects
- Oral presentations
- Research papers or projects
- Games or other similar activities
- Skits, plays, or other similar activities
- Posters, cartoons, or other visual or artistic work or a song about the topic
A lot of alternative assessments are comparable to written assessments in that they do not test students so much as they ask the students to show knowledge. For this reason, a lot of students will frequently do better on a well-designed alternative assessment, over which they may have some control, than they will on a typical multiple-choice and essay test. Alternative assessment permits you to enable students with varied learning styles to show their knowledge.
The two major components of a good alternative assessment are a well-designed and clear assignment and a good scoring guide that sets out obvious standards. Alternative assessments frequently address the needs of students in more creative ways, and they can address the needs of students who learn in dissimilar ways or who have learning disabilities. In any case, you should hold students responsible by asking them to demonstrate that they have learned what they need to learn. Of course, the primary thing here is content, but alternative evaluations can also help students to master skills such as organizing a project or public speaking.
Students will receive top scores in case of doing the following on the test:
- Demonstrate full, complete, and in-depth knowledge of their assigned aspect of a topic without use of notes or other references.
- Have a poster that is clear, neat, relevant, creative, and colorful.
- Make effective use of at least two primary source documents.
- Demonstrate superb speaking and presentation skills.
- Answer questions correctly and clearly.
- Provide a well-done and clear study and note-taking guide for other students.
- Provide a thorough, complete, and properly done bibliography of sources.
- Complete every aspect of the assignment fully and to the best of their ability.
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