Steal Like a Teacher | Teachers Sharing Effective Strategies Through Instructional Rounds at FVHS since 2011. Focus on portfolios: 4 advantages of alternative assessment. I’m happy to say that my school is currently dipping its toes into alternative assessment in the form of writing portfolios. Although I’m a big fan, it is the norm to view portfolios as a ‘non-traditional’ approach to judging performance. Nevertheless, portfolios, and alternative assessment methods in general, are frequently used in education to evaluate students based on objectives tailored to their learning needs. In contrast, traditional assessments such as multiple-choice exams estimate a learner’s improvement in content knowledge against other exam takers.
As the sole criterion of improvement and/or competence, traditional testing can create faulty comparisons and overlook achievements. So, what exactly are the benefits of alternative assessment and portfolios in particular? ‘Path by the river’ by @ALiCe__M from ELTPics 1. The portfolio process reviews a comparatively large body of a learner’s work, rather than a one off performance, to evaluate performance over a course of study. Digitize your exit tickets! This post was written by Erin Dye, a ClassDojo Thought Partner who tweets regularly at GreenLightLT Is your administration pushing the use of exit tickets at your school?
Even if they’re not, it’s something to consider. Running formative assessment during class requires preparation, management, and participation. But as with most things, having an easy daily routine can be a good way to work through some of those issues. Find a web-based assessment resource that will export the data from your students’ answers into an Excel chart or some other useful format. Give exit tickets a try to figure out where your students understand the curriculum and where they may be falling behind.