Alternative Assessment
Special Education
What is Alternative Assessment?
Alternative Assessment is a different type of assessment than the traditional techniques and modes of assessment. Students are given the opportunity to express what they know in a way that they are able to accomplish the assessment.
Types of Alternative Assessment
There can be many types of Alternative Assessments, but many fall under three categories:
1. Portfolios
2. Performance Assessment
3. Checklist
Who can participate in Alternative Assessment?
Most students that participate in Alternative Assessment are students that are not able to be successful with regular assessments. Most of these students are students with disabilities and many need extra help or extra time to be able to complete assessments.
What is on an Alternative Assessment?
The student should be tested on what they are learning. It depends what the student's functioning level is and what grade level they are learning. A student should be assessed on the grade-level content that they are learning.
Traditional vs. Alternative
As we can see, traditional assessment may work for some students, but for others alternative assessment creates a lot more opportunities for the students to be successful. There are many ways for the students to express what they know and understand. it is also beneficial for the teacher to understand how they can benefit the students even more. Hopefully at some point there will be an opportunity for all students to use alternative assessments, and not only with the disabled.
More Information
If you would like more information, here are the sites that I found information from:
https://www.osepideasthatwork.org/parentkit/AltAssessFAQ.asp
http://www.slideshare.net/harry665/alternative-assessment-35428810