Hi Andrea, David, Rose, and everyone,
 
I'd also like to pick up on this great discussion of terminology (sorry
to be late - last week was school vacation week!).
 
David, you raised some really good points in your post, and added
greatly to our list of terms that can possibly be more useful to us in
this work.  I have to side with Rose in her point regarding whether or
not a student knows they are being assessed.  I also feel it's extremely
important for them to know how, when, why, etc they will be assessed,
but if the test is unobtrusive as David suggests, then this variable
should actually be a positive one.  It would provide them with
information on what the expectations are for their performance.  
 
What do others think about this?
 
David you also brought up standardization of unobtrusive tests, and
Andrea noted some good examples of things teachers could observe of
their students.  Although I agree that it would be a tough thing to
formally standardize such behaviors/acts/skills/interactions/etc, a
teacher could take some measures to be as uniform in the process as
possible.  For example, they could use a standard form for checking on
the things that Andrea notes, and provide themself with parameters for
using the form (like use same time every day, always ask same questions
in same order, never ask more than 2 students the same question, etc.).
There is also what's known as triangulation - which is used in the
classroom:  it is a procedure that includes 3 ways of corroborating
information (http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Triangulation).
This is also a possible way of making the collection of some of this
info more valid.
 
This is making me think of Exhibitions, which is a Coalition of
Essential Schools initiative.  It's different because it's high school,
but there are many places where this discussion and that type of
assessment overlap.  Exhibitions, at the very least, would certainly
fall under David's "Direct" measure category.
(http://www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/resources/cp/assess/assess
.html)
 
So!  Here's a tally of some of the terms that have been put out there
during this discussion.  Let's see if we can add to this list.  Advocate
for your preferred term as well, and let us know why you feel that way.
Add to, or revise the definitions below as well.
 
Constructed response - An exercise for which examinees must create their
own responses or products (performance assessment
<http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Performance_assessment> ) rather
than choose a response from an enumerated set (multiple choice).
 
Selected response - An exercise for which examinees must choose a
response from an enumerated set (multiple choice) rather than create
their own responses or products (performance assessment
<http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Performance_assessment> ).
 
A "direct" measure is one which measures an actual performance of a
specified task.  
 
An "indirect" or "mediated" measure (multiple choice paper and pencil
tests are the best-known example) is one which "stands for" the
performance.
 
"Obtrusive" assessment - that is, the student knows s/he is being
tested.  
 
"Unobtrusive" assessment - the learner is assessed but doesn't know it,
and just sees it as part of the learning, indistinguishable from the
rest.
 
"Positively obtrusive" - the assessment itself causes some additional
positive learning.
 
"Negatively obtrusive" - the assessment interferes with or prevents
learning.
 
Questions for you all:
 
Performance assessment - What do you think of this term?  Too vague as
well?  Has it taken on too much to be meaningful to us now?
 
Authentic assessment - What do you think of this term?  Too vague?
Encompasses too much so tells us little?
 
Participatory assessment - What do you think of this term?  Is this in
the same category as the ones above?  Why or why not?  Is this term
useful for us?
 
Thanks for this rich discussion,
marie cora
Assessment Discussion List Moderator
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of AWilder106 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 12:33 PM
To: assessment at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [Assessment] "Alternative" assessment
 
Sorry for the lateness of this message.

"Unobtrusive measures" can be just that--a teacher stows them away as
signs that the learner feels better about being in class, progress,
etc..

Unobtrusive measures could be ---a student shows up early to class,
looks better dressed, does not sit in the back of the room, jokes with
other students...

Andrea
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20060227/ae733974/attachment.html