Defining Authentic Classroom Assessment

Authors

Bruce B. Frey
Vicki L. Schmitt
Justin P. Allen

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/sxbs-0829

Abstract

A commonly advocated best practice for classroom assessment is to make the assessments authentic. Authentic is often used as meaning the mirroring of real-world tasks or expectations. There is no consensus, however, in the actual definition of the term or the characteristics of an authentic classroom assessment. Sometimes, the realistic component is not even an element of a researcher's or practitioner's meaning. This study presents a conceptual analysis of authentic as it is used in educational research and training to describe an approach to classroom assessment. Nine distinct components or dimensions of authenticity are identified and only one of those is the realistic nature of the assessment. Accessed 54,632 times on https://pareonline.net from January 12, 2012 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Frey, Bruce B.; Schmitt, Vicki L.; and Allen, Justin P. (2019) "Defining Authentic Classroom Assessment," Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation: Vol. 17, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/sxbs-0829
Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/pare/vol17/iss1/2