Anthology Chapter 33: Assessment

As I started to read chapter 33 about alternative assessments, I struck very early on by the third paragraph! The chapter goes over about how alternative assessment is different- obviously- but the part I was first struck by is when it says, "Alternative assessment is different from traditional testing in that it actually asks students to show what they can do. Students are evaluated on what they integrate and produce rather than on what they are able to recall and reproduce." It goes on to say that alternative assessment is more culturally aware, reflects the curriculum, shows strengths and weaknesses of students, and gauges progress. So then I got to thinking, isn't this what assessment should be in general? Why is there another term for something that measures what all 'good' assessments should be able to indicate? Can there not be valid, reliable, and objective testing in an alternative form?
I found while reading this section in-particular that alternative testing is incredibly valuable to student, teacher, and schools alike. Not only would alternative testing consider and include linguistically diverse learners, it would also lessen the pressure students feel towards the number score they receive. These types of assessments also seem to provide a more accurate picture of student progression over time. I like to compare this to any other academic assignment we do- especially in higher education. For example, when we write papers, it is not enough to just make a claim, you must have examples, from creditable sources. I think alternative assessment works in this way. When we assess our students, I do not believe providing a number is enough. Where is the evidence? Sure you might say, "student A answer 13 questions incorrectly...etc." but that does not provide any context, I want materials! This is where things like the nontraditional assessment such as portfolios come in. I would suggest that a teacher could provide indication of progress using the students work as evidence, and then further be able to challenge that student by using what exactly there personal progression or even digression needs. Furthermore, teachers can even use portfolios as a means of classroom management, to meet with students individually, to get to know, understand, and have a relationship with the students. Dialogue journals and etc. could also provide this type of knowledge.

The oral component of a primary school, discussed in chapter 35, is something that must be considered. However, I think this chapter lacks discussing the possibility of taking content tests in their first language which is something I would have been interested to read about in a TESOL text. I often wonder how many more schools would be meeting AYP requirements and how many more students would be considered at grade level at least in subjects like science, math, etc.

In conclusion, I think I'm an advocate for alternative and nontraditional testing. I also think that standardized testing, overall, provides some very reliable scores but I disagree with the amount of weight, we as the educational world put on these scores. I also think it would be interesting to study research done on students performance in their first language.