Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (2024)

If you’re looking for a course evaluation method that puts the student’s knowledge to work, then you should try the alternative assessment method. This method of assessment is about getting students to show how much they have learned by executing tasks.

Unlike traditional evaluation methods that only assess the student’s knowledge, alternative assessment spurs the student to wear his or her thinking hat, and creatively apply the knowledge to solve a problem. Concept maps, portfolios, and open-tests are some familiar examples of alternative assessments.

What is Alternative Assessment?

This is a method of evaluation that measures a student’s level of proficiency in a subject as opposed to the student’s level of knowledge. The overall goal of alternative assessment is to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and execute tasks.

Alternative assessment is also called a performance test or authentic assessment because it is deeply rooted in one’s ability to do something by leveraging newly-gained knowledge. As part of the assessment, the student will need to perform meaningful tasks that reflect a clear understanding of the teaching and learning objectives.

You can ask your students to create a portfolio, work with others on specific projects or engage in any other type of activity that shows they have a full grasp of what has been discussed in the class or training.



Characteristics of Alternative Assessment

To better understand what alternative assessment is, let’s first look at some of the things alternative assessment is not.

  1. Alternative assessment is not a high-stake or standardized method of evaluating students’ knowledge.
  2. It is not a replacement for other methods of classroom assessment like formative and summative assessment methods.
  3. Alternative assessment does not measure the learner’s performance.
  4. Results from alternative assessments are not presented as quantitative or numerical data.

Now you know what should not be expected from alternative assessment, it’s time to get familiar with the characteristics of alternative assessment.

  1. Alternative assessment is tailored to the specific needs and abilities of individual students. You should not think of it as a one-size-fits-all process.
  2. It is an instructor-led assessment process. This means the teacher develops a unique method to measure the student’s ability.
  3. Alternative assessment methods are flexible and continuously adaptable.
  4. Alternative assessment or authentic assessment explores different learning styles and preferences in a bid to measure learners’ abilities.
  5. Alternative assessment methods are seamlessly aligned with the learning goals and objectives of the course, class, or training.

Examples of Alternative Assessment

What methods of alternative assessment should you try out in class? There are a number of choices you can explore however, your final decision should be in line with the unique learning needs of every student and your teaching goals. Here, we will discuss a few examples of alternative assessments.

  • Portfolio

You can ask students to build out a portfolio that demonstrates their knowledge of what has been taught in a class or training. A portfolio is a collection of the different tasks a student has executed in the course of the class or training.

If you’re handling learners in beginner classes, you can ask them to create a paper portfolio using a notebook; for advanced learners, an online portfolio is the best bet. You can create a simple submission form on Formplus to collect links to your students’ portfolios easily.

  • Performance Test

Since alternative assessment is all about putting knowledge to work, design effective performance tests to help you rate a student’s level of skill or knowledge. A performance test requires the learners to execute complex tasks while the instructor observes how they go about them.

As an instructor, you should have well-defined scoring criteria to effectively measure each student’s ability and arrive at a valid conclusion. Depending on the type of performance test you choose to adopt, you can create a quiz on Formplus for this purpose.

  • Open Tests

An open test is a method of assessment that allows learners to refer to course materials as they take on tasks or write tests and examinations. The questions in an open test require the student to provide responses that show how well they understand the course.

Instead of memorizing the content of the training guide or course materials, the student has to apply the knowledge in the material(s) to provide the best response to the stated questions.

  • Crib Sheet

This is another form of open-book evaluation. Instead of bringing the entire course materials to a test or examination, the student selects important information from these materials to create some sort of abridged version called the crib sheet.

While it’s up to the student to decide what makes it into the crib sheet, you should provide some level of guidance as their instructor. You can subtly suggest the type of information that will be helpful during the assessment but you should not impose your ideas on the students; if you really want to know how much they know.

  • Take-Home Assessment

Another way to assess your students’ abilities is to give them take-home exercises. Take-home exercises typically check 2 boxes. Firstly, they require multiple references, and secondly, there isn’t enough time for learners to do them in class.

With take-home exercises, you really cannot tell if the student received some help from their guardian(s) but you can ask the students to work with materials that are strictly relevant to the course or training. You can create an online form on Formplus for this and send it to students via email invitations.

  • Collaborative Testing

This happens when you put the students in groups and get them to work together on different tasks. Ideally, you should pair them or place the students in small groups of 3 or 4, to get the best results from this exercise.

As the name suggests, collaborative testing empowers the students to brainstorm together, solve challenges, and execute ideas. At the end of each brainstorming session, you can ask your students to make individual submissions or submit collective responses as a group.

  • Summaries

Instead of making students go through tests and assignments, you can ask them to summarise class readings, lectures, and discussions. A good summary tells you 1 thing—the student has an impressive understanding of key concepts and ideas from the classroom.

Asides from helping you track a student’s knowledge in real-time, summary writing also does the magic for knowledge retention. Summary writing is a powerful way to improve learning and memory in the classroom.

  • Reports

Reports work just like summaries; they require the student to show how well they understand key concepts from class discussions. However, reports take things a step further as the student needs to communicate his or her knowledge in a way that presents a clear picture to whoever reads the report; even if such a person wasn’t part of the class.

  • Interviews

Pair students and ask them to perform interviews about different subject matters discussed in your class. For instance, if you had a class discussion on a historical event, one student can roleplay as a key event player while the other person becomes the interviewer; asking questions about that event.

  • Concept Maps

A concept map is a visual representation of the relationship between ideas and concepts. To test your students’ level of understanding, ask them to build concept maps from scratch to show their knowledge or fill out existing concept maps.

How to Use Formplus to Conduct Alternative Assessment

You can use Formplus to create quizzes, polls, and surveys for alternative assessments. Here is how to create and administer a simple online form for alternative assessment with Formplus.

  • Log into your Formplus account and click on the “create new form” button on your dashboard. If you do not have a Formplus account, you can sign up for one here.

Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (3)

  • In the form builder, drag and drop different fields from the form fields section into your form. The form fields section has more than 30 different fields that you can add to your form including text fields, rating fields, and image choice fields.

Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (4)

  • Edit each field to include your questions and/or options. Here, you can make fields “read-only” or “required”.

Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (5)

  • Save all the changes you’ve made to your form by clicking on the save icon at the top-right corner of the form builder. This takes you to the builder’s customization section.

Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (6)

  • Use the different form customization to change the look and feel of your form. Start by changing the form theme then go ahead to add your school’s logo and make any adjustments you want to the form font.

Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (7)

  • Next, go to the form sharing section of the builder and choose the best option to share your form with your students. You can send out email invitations to them or simply copy and share the form link.

Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (8)

Formplus has a variety of features that come together to make data collection seamless for you. Let’s look at some of them.

  • Mobile-Friendly Forms

Students can participate in alternative assessments right on their mobile phones, thanks to our mobile-responsive forms. Formplus forms can be viewed and filled out on any internet-enabled device easily—students do not need to pinch in or zoom out of their screens when filling your form.

The form builder is also mobile-responsive and allows you to create surveys, polls, and quizzes from the comfort of your smartphone on-the-go.

  • Multiple Form Fields

There are more than 30 form fields you can add to your online form to help you collect information in the right format from your students. If you want students to submit reports and summaries, you can add long text fields to your form. If you want to ask close-ended questions, you can use rating fields, radio options, or matrixes.

  • Unlimited File Uploads and Storage

Formplus allows you to collect file uploads of any size and type through your form. This means students can submit PDF copies of concept maps and portfolios right in your alternative assessment form for evaluation and review.

  • Drag-and-Drop Form Builder

Add different fields to your form using the drag-and-drop feature in the Formplus builder. It allows you to drag different foods from the builder’s form fields section and then drop them right in your form. The drag-and-drop feature works on all internet-enabled devices including your smartphone.

  • Multiple Form Sharing Options

With Formplus, you have different ways to share your form including sending out email invitations or adding the form to your website. We also allow you to copy and share the form link with students or even share it to your social media pages via our direct sharing buttons.

  • Form Customization

Formplus offers a range of form customization features that allow you to tweak and personalize your alternative assessment form so that it reflects your brand’s image. You can make your form’s outlook more professional by adding your preferred background image and your school logo to your form.

Advantages of Alternative Assessment

  1. It gives the student an opportunity to apply his or her knowledge to real-life situations and to solve practical problems.
  2. Alternative assessment is an effective method of evaluating a student’s problem-solving skills.
  3. It is a cost-effective method of assessing a learner’s knowledge within the training context. Sometimes, all you need is a Formplus online form to allow you to measure a student’s proficiency level.
  4. Alternative assessment methods are simple and straightforward.
  5. It makes the teaching and learning processes more effective because teachers can identify and support students who need more guidance easily.
  6. Alternative assessment encourages learners to step out of their comfort zones and think outside the box. Students learn to think, analyze, apply their knowledge to create solutions to different problems.
  7. It is a fair and transparent process of determining student proficiency levels.
  8. Alternative assessment is an effective method of building learners’ logical reasoning and communication skills.
  9. It eliminates the unreliable evaluation process that is typically associated with traditional methods of assessment like tests and examination.

Disadvantages of Alternative Assessment

  1. The results of alternative assessments can be largely affected by the teacher’s bias or preferences.
  2. It is a time-consuming assessment method because the teacher has to pay specific attention to every student in order to provide an almost-precise evaluation of the student’s ability.
  3. Alternative assessment methods can be difficult to develop and grade.
  4. It is difficult to collate and interpret results from alternative assessments. This is because the results are mostly qualitative.
  5. In situations where the teacher isn’t familiar with alternative assessment, it becomes expensive for the school to train teachers on alternative assessment methods and set up test preparations.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed different examples of alternative assessments plus how you can recreate them in your classroom during a course. Interestingly, some of these examples can boost parents’ involvement in their wards’ learning process. For instance, parents can help out with take-home assignments.

Alternative assessment can be a type of formative assessment because it evaluates the learner’s progress as the course goes underway. Formplus has multiple features and options that can help you to create and administer effective alternative assessment surveys for your course.

Alternative Assessment: Definition, Types, Examples & Strategies (2024)

FAQs

What are the three types of alternative assessment? ›

According to Simonson and others, there are three approaches in alternative assessment: Authentic assessment, performance-based assessment, and constructivist assessment.

What are the 4 types of assessment? ›

A Guide to Types of Assessment: Diagnostic, Formative, Interim, and Summative.

What are the five assessment strategies? ›

5 strategies for formative assessment
  • Remind. What quicker way to assess our students outside of the classroom than through Remind? ...
  • Questioning. Questioning is perhaps an obvious one, but specific questioning can be a highly effective method of formative assessment. ...
  • Sequencing. ...
  • Incentivizing. ...
  • Creating.
15 Dec 2014

What are the 3 types of assessment and examples? ›

Classroom assessment is generally divided into three types: assessment for learning, assessment of learning and assessment as learning.
  • Assessment for Learning (Formative Assessment) ...
  • Assessment of Learning (Summative Assessment) ...
  • Comparing Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning. ...
  • Assessment as Learning.

What is the meaning of alternative assessment? ›

Alternative assessment is any classroom assessment practice that focuses on continuous individual student progress. Perhaps the best way to define alternative assessment is to say that it's the counter to traditional forms of standardized assessment.

What are the two main types of assessment? ›

There are two main types of assessment, summative assessment, and formative assessment.

What are the types of assessments? ›

Six types of assessments are:
  • Diagnostic assessments.
  • Formative assessments.
  • Summative assessments.
  • Ipsative assessments.
  • Norm-referenced assessments.
  • Criterion-referenced assessments.
24 Sept 2021

How many types are there in assessment? ›

✔️ What are the types of assessment? Pre-assessment or diagnostic assessment, Formative assessment, Summative assessment, Confirmative assessment, Norm-referenced assessment, Criterion-referenced assessment and Ipsative assessment.

What are assessment strategies? ›

Assessment strategies are methods teachers use to evaluate their students' progress and plan the content in their courses. Teachers perform assessments regularly to determine the next steps in their lessons. If certain students are progressing slower than others, they can give them individualized attention.

What are the 7 assessment methods? ›

Assessment Methods – What Exactly Are They?
  • Observation.
  • Professional Discussion.
  • Questioning.
  • Projects and Assignments.
  • RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning)
  • Witness Testimony.
  • Work Products.

What are the four assessment strategies? ›

4 Assessment Strategies for Distance and Hybrid Learning
  • One-on-One Conferences. I'm a huge fan of conferencing as an assessment tool both in class and online. ...
  • Higher Order Thinking Assignments. ...
  • Digital Quizzes. ...
  • Digital Writing Discussions.
19 Nov 2020

What is assessment strategies in education? ›

Assessment Strategy Definition

It refers to different tools and techniques employed by the instructor to evaluate their students. This evaluation is important to gather awareness for the following: Identify the strengths of the learner. Identify the weakness of the learner.

What are examples of assessments? ›

Examinations, finals, quizzes, and graded papers are examples of summative assessments that test student knowledge of a given topic or subject. These graded assessments and assignments are often high stakes and are geared towards testing students.

What is assessment give example? ›

Some examples of assessments in a course could include: discussion observations, exams, papers, reflection questions, in-class student responses, etc.

What is an example of an assessment method? ›

For example, if a department or program has identified effective oral communication as a learning goal or outcome, a direct assessment method involves observing and assessing students in the act of oral communication (e.g., via a presentation scored with a rubric).

What is alternative assessment in Education PDF? ›

... Alternative assessment is a method of assessment that largely emerged in response to the perceived inadequacies of the traditional and conventional forms of assessment due to the shortcomings effective pedagogies available for learners with special needs (Al-Mahrooqi & Denmran, 2018) .

What does alternative method mean? ›

A method which can be used in research to replace traditional animal testing with non-invasive methods or substitution.

What is the value of alternative assessment? ›

Alternative assessments are used to determine what students can and cannot do, in contrast to what they do or do not know. In other words, an alternative assessment measures applied proficiency more than it measures knowledge (Brigham Young University, n.d). Authentic assessments replicate true settings.

What is the best type of assessment? ›

Diagnostic assessment is the most preferred type of assessment of learning to check a learner's current knowledge base. Most of the time, it involves a series of questions given at the start of a class or training session to identify a learner's strengths and weaknesses prior to learning.

What are the 3 assessment tools? ›

Assessment Tools
  • Concept Maps - A diagramming technique for assessing how well students see the "big picture".
  • ConcepTests - Conceptual multiple-choice questions that are useful in large classes.
  • Knowledge Survey - Students answer whether they could answer a survey of course content questions.
10 Dec 2020

What are two definitions of assessment? ›

Assessment has two meanings (“an amount that a person is officially required to pay” and “the act of making a judgment about something”) so distinct that one might rightfully wonder if they come from different sources.

What is the most important types of assessment? ›

Formative Assessment is the most powerful type of assessment for improving student understanding and performance.

What is importance of assessment? ›

Assessment is an integral part of instruction, as it determines whether or not the goals of education are being met. Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional needs, curriculum, and, in some cases, funding.

What are the two types of assessments in education? ›

Formative assessment and summative assessment are two overlapping, complementary ways of assessing pupil progress in schools. While the common goal is to establish the development, strengths and weaknesses of each student, each assessment type provides different insights and actions for educators.

What are two assessment strategies? ›

Assessment tasks should include a range of formative and summative assessment strategies, and teachers will be able to clearly explain the connections between learning goals, learning activities and assessment tasks so that students can use learning goals to monitor and progress their learning.

What are the 10 functions of assessment? ›

Functions of Assessment
  • Detecting Function. It detects all the activities during the elevation. ...
  • Making Decisions. They have to decide what has to be done for improvement. ...
  • Screening. ...
  • Student's Placement in the Remedial Course. ...
  • Instructional Planning. ...
  • Feedback/Response. ...
  • Inspiration.
30 Jun 2019

What are the 8 principles of assessment? ›

Principles of Assessment
  • Assessment will be valid. ...
  • Assessment will be reliable. ...
  • Assessment will be equitable. ...
  • Assessment will be explicit and transparent. ...
  • Assessment will support the student learning process. ...
  • Assessment will be efficient.
19 Oct 2022

What are the 4 pillars of assessment? ›

The four pillars of assessment include norm-referenced tests, interviews, observations, and informal assessment procedures (or, more generally, tests). An assessment that incorporates each of the four pillars is considered to be a good representation of an individual's unique profile (Sattler, 2001).

What are the main strategies of assessment for learning? ›

They include: 1) multiple choice questions; 2) short answer questions; 3) essay-type questions; 4) peer review exercises; 5) self-assessments. Daily assessment strategies include Multiple Choice Questions. An MCQ is an open ended question where there are several possible answers.

What are summative strategies? ›

Summative assessment strategies are used to determine whether the learning goals and outcomes have been met and provide evidence about what a student has learned during a unit of study, during a term, or during a school year.

What is a summative assessment strategy? ›

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value.

What are informal assessment strategies? ›

Common types of informal assessment include quizzes, writing samples, and project-based assignments. In informal assessment, quizzes are used to improve class engagement and participation. So, you'd find the instructor splitting the class into groups while every student has a go at the questions.

What are the three strategies of education? ›

The main goal of learning strategies is to get students to become more effective learners. Research on the topic has shown us plenty of different ways to do that. But the three most famous learning strategies are mnemonic, structural, and generative.

What are alternative assessments in education? ›

Alternative assessment—which also is referred to as classroom-based, qualitative, informal, or performance assessment—is a way to gauge student learning other than formal testing.

What are alternative assessments in special education? ›

An alternate assessment is an assessment designed for students with disabilities for whom the general state assessment is inappropriate even when they are provided with appropriate accommodations. It is designed to be a more accurate measure of what students with disabilities know and can do.

What is alternative assessment in physical education? ›

Alternative Assessment Defined

An alternative assessment is one which is different from those assessments which we normally give students (i.e., true/false, matching, essay questions, standardized tests, etc.). They are "untraditional", (i.e., drawing a picture, making a video of a particular skill, etc).

What is the example of assessment? ›

For example, research papers, exams, oral presentations, and individual creative or performance projects can be and have been assessed at the course level, in some cases even for the purpose of department/program-level assessment.

What are alternative education methods? ›

A different educational philosophy, such as Montessori, Waldorf, and Fundamental schools. A different instructional strategy, such as independent study, dual language immersion, multi-age classrooms, or online learning.

Why do we need alternative assessment? ›

Essentially, alternative assessment enables you to assess a student's skill or proficiency when completing a task. Traditional assessments are more focused on testing knowledge and memory skills, whereas alternative teaching assessments evaluate performance, proficiency, and skill-sets.

How do you use alternative assessment? ›

Unlike traditional assessments, alternative assessments typically require learners to reflect on their overall learning to determine what information and skills they need to use to solve a given problem. These assessments involve real-world tasks that are complex and multifaceted.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of alternative assessment? ›

Alternative assessments, while intended to provide equitable access to the general curriculum, sometimes measure curricular entry points and access skills. Disadvantages of alternative assessments include use of student time, use of educator time, and inaccurate reflection of student progress and knowledge.

What is rubric in alternative assessment? ›

“A rubric is a tool used to assess or guide a student's performance on a given task in a given context given certain standards” (Varvel, 2011,para. 1). Using rubrics is an evaluation approach used to judge the quality of performance (Morrison, Ross, Kemp, 2004).

What are examples of informal assessments? ›

Examples of informal assessments include observation, portfolios, anecdotal notes and checklists. Screening assessments give teachers valuable information about where children are developmentally. They sort information based on defined criteria and help determine individual learning goals.

What is alternative response assessment? ›

Assesses child safety, risk of future abuse or neglect, and parent's ability to protect their children.

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