Action Research Presentation

This link will lead you to my presentation: What What Impact Would Microcomputer-Based Labs (MBLs) Have on Student Success in Graph Interpretation?


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Personal Philosophy

Authentic assessment is used in classrooms in order to assess the knowledge of students (Wiggins, 1990). Through these assessments, students are able to use the content they have learned in their classroom and apply them to real-world challenges (Wiggins, 1990). Students use creativity to produce solutions to these problems (Wiggins, 1990). Authentic assessments use tools such as rubrics in order to give students knowledge of how they will be assessed (Wiggins, 1990). Students’ success is benefited from usage of authentic assessments.

            Use of authentic assessments have shown to benefit students, in respect to knowledge retention (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). It has been observed that students struggle with retaining knowledge as they advance in their education (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). A study was done to examine whether authentic assessments could benefit knowledge retention (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). The results of this study showed that there was an increase of student’s retention when authentic assessments were in use (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003).

            Previous experience coincides with this study. I have found that I have struggled with retaining knowledge as I advanced in my education. College was the first time that I experienced authentic assessments. Not every professor administered this type of assessment during my courses. However, I found that in the courses where I had to complete these assessments, my retention for the content was much better. Having to apply my knowledge to real-world scenarios made me feel more engaged and gave me practice for application of this content.

One specific example is the comparison of a required course, Animal Physiology, and an elective course, Genetics of Cancer. During my time taking Animal Physiology I was studying this content rigorously. I think that this might have been one of the top five courses that I studied for most in my college career. Whereas while taking Genetics of Cancer, I did not spend nearly as much time studying. However, I can remember a lot more information from my Genetics of Cancer course than my Animal Physiology course. I believe that the reasoning behind this is the usage of authentic assessment. Whereas Animal Physiology was filled with typical selected-response exams, my assessments in Genetics of Cancer were authentic.

                   Along with the positive effects on student’s retention, authentic assessments have seen to be more beneficial for student success in relation to connecting the dots between different content areas. In one case study, mentioned previously, students were seen using this content knowledge, such as vocabulary, outside of the classroom (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). Discussion outside of the classroom allows for students to retain this information better because students are applying this knowledge to other content areas other than those seen in the classroom. For example, one student was learning about the body system and used the word cranium to describe the headache he had from learning a lot of material (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). In the same study, it was seen that students had a better grasp of using knowledge taught in one content to learn and discuss knowledge in a different content area (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003).

            Learning through authentic assessment has not only helped students to connect the dots between different content areas, but it is also believed that this has helped students perform better on standardized tests (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). The study mentioned above found that students began increasing scores on standardized tests once authentic assessments were put into use (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). The researchers believe that skills learned from authentic assessments were useful for completing standardized testing (Engel, Pulley, & Rybinski, 2003). I believe one major reason for an increase success rate on standardized testing has to do with the effect authentic assessment has on knowledge retention. An increased retention in courses that are highly tested in standardized tests should allow for students to be able to successfully answer questions about this learned information.

            In my observation site, students take county required benchmark assessments, a standardized test. The average for the first two assessments both have been in the 60% range. These students have yet to experience authentic assessment during this course. However, there will be an authentic assessment coming up soon. This assessment includes constructing a poster that shows a comparison between a cell and some other sort of system, like a computer. Included in this poster must be what parts of the selected system coincides with the different organelles of a cell. The students are to present this to the class. I am interested to see if by having an assessment such as this, the students might perform better on the next benchmark assessment.

                   Using authentic assessment, students can see not only their success of learning the tested content, but students can also see their success in a higher level of thinking (VanTassel-Baska, 2014). As mentioned above, authentic assessments use real-world challenges to assess students’ knowledge in the classroom. By using these challenges, students are required to apply knowledge, not memorize and spit out information as seen on standardized tests. Students must develop evidence-based ideas using this knowledge in order to solve these challenges (VanTassel-Baska, 2014).  These assessments also allow for students to analyze these real-world problems and identify and evaluate comparisons of these challenges and the content taught in the classroom (VanTassel-Baska, 2014).

Not only does authentic assessment help individual success in general, but also it has been found that students within lower socioeconomic backgrounds and minority backgrounds have been more successful (VanTassel-Baska, 2014). This evidence shows that in terms of an overall educational standard, all students can benefit from the usage of authentic assessment. It was found that students in these categories performed better when assessed on their fluid intelligence and spatial reasoning (VanTassel-Baska, 2014). It was suggested that using these assessments would allow for a decrease in the achievement gap (VanTassel-Baska, 2014).

            As mentioned above, rubrics are one tool that is used during authentic assessment. This tool is a list of the criteria that is required in order to achieve a specific grade (Andrade, 2005). Rubrics are helpful for students to understand the goals that the teachers are expecting them to meet (Andrade, 2005). Through rubrics, students know what quality of work does and does not meet the expected goals (Andrade, 2005). Students can then focus their effort on the materials that are needed to succeed. Studies show that providing feedback, specifically on a student’s strengths and weaknesses, can improve learning (Andrade, 2005). Rubrics do just that: provide feedback for students. By using the rubric students understand their grade and what it is that they need to work on in order to improve.

            During my time in this class, I’ve experienced the use of rubrics. Rubrics weren’t always used in this class, but when it was, I benefited greatly. Having a rubric allowed me to understand what the teacher expected from me. This was especially helpful when I did not understand the instructions given by the professor. During the times that there were no rubrics, it was much harder to successfully complete assignments that I didn’t understand. For one assignment, especially, I called the professor twice because I didn’t know how to complete it. Even with calling her, I didn’t do as well as I would have liked. I believe if I was given a rubric, I would have been able to do better on this assignment. By knowing what specifically would give me a better grade, I would’ve fashioned my assignment to these standards. From my experience with rubrics, I believe this tool to be a helpful one for student success.

                   Authentic assessments have found to be useful for student success in education. These assessments improve students’ knowledge retentions, skills of connecting the dots between subjects, and higher skills. Not only do authentic assessments help students in general, but it has been found that they benefit those students of minority and lower socioeconomic backgrounds. One tool that is especially helpful to all students is the use of rubrics. Rubrics help students understand what is expected of them and how they can reach those goals. Authentic assessments should be used in the classroom in order to improve student success.

Works Cited

Andrade, H. G. (2005). Teaching with rubrics: The good, the bad, and the ugly.College teaching, 53(1), 27-31. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3200/CTCH.53.1.27-31

Engel, M., Pulley, R., & Rybinski, A. (2003). Authentic Assessment: It Really Works. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED479959.pdf

VanTassel-Baska, J. (2014). Performance-Based Assessment: The Road to Authentic Learning for the Gifted. Gifted Child Today, 37(1), 41-47.

Wiggins, G. (1990). The Case for Authentic Assessment. ERIC Digest. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED328611.pdf