January 2003 — Features
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Facts and Assumptions of Assessment:Technology, The Missing Link
\par \par\par Conclusion
\par\par Assessing student achievement has always been an area of debate on the benefits and drawbacks of authentic assessment versus traditional forms of assessment. Any assessment of student achievement is unlikely to show significant changes in results unless tangible forms of rewards, sanctions or public comparisons of students or schools are in place. This is why President Bush\rquote s proposal of standardized testing and individual state testing should show specific results.
\par\par The uncertainty of standardized testing is that it d'esn\rquote t provide a clear picture of a student\rquote s knowledge and skill of subject matter, or the interrelatedness to other content areas. Mehrens (1998) writes that traditional standardized tests don\rquote t immediately generalize to larger domains of knowledge. With traditional testing methods, teachers may end up shaping lessons to the test format without teaching underlying concepts. A statistical measurement of traditional assessment would provide a comparison of results between districts, as well as provide a starting point for measurement. Although this seems to be the best method for showing improvement, it is not the best tool to measure the subjective nature of various learning standards.
\par\par Alternative assessment integrated with information technology provides learners with the opportunity to prove their learning competency using different methods. The way one student learns is not the same way another student would learn. In today\rquote s workforce, people tend to work as a team and develop end products that take into account more than what would be tested on a standardized evaluation tool. A combination of traditional and alternative assessment techniques with the infusion of technology needs to be incorporated into the curriculum, and both should be used in measuring the competency of the students.
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