Implementing Alternative Assessment: Opportunities and Obstacles

I read an important article on alternative assessment entitled "Implementing Alternative Assessment: Opportunities and Obstacles" that enforces the idea that alternative assessment views learners role as dynamic in knowledge acquisition and it is an ongoing process encompassing many tools. Alternative assessment gauge student learning. It is situated in the classroom with teachers making choices in the measures used. Alternative assessment methods include teacher observation records, reflective journals, students' reading logs, tape recordings of student oral reading, and portfolios. The alignment of using assessment with instruction is highly beneficial as it exhibits what students know and can do and helps students really improve.

Teachers should use their knowledge based on assessment to create curricular and instructional practices. As such, alternative assessment will help improve teaching and learning. Students engage in self-evaluation and set goals for their learning. In addition teachers must understand that the heart of alternative assessment is valuing students from their point of view and encouraging them to be aware of what they have learned and still need to work on. Students should set goals for themselves, select work that show what they learned.

The opportunities of using alternative assessment includes making students aware of their role in education, this awareness make them exert more effort in their education. Students work on more on their weakness and they really improve. Other opportunities include students knowledge of the grading criteria and being conscious of more aspects of the language usage like rhetoric, organization of ideas, audience, and register.

The obstacles concerning implementing alternative measures include lack of support from others especially school principals and the challenge to work with other teachers and parents who are not familiar with new way of assessing students. Another obstacle is internal constraints which stem from within the classroom and relate to issues such as concerns about student motivation; traditional classroom organization; insufficient time, money, and resources. In addition, students' traditional views of learning does not include engaging in personal reflection and portfolio construction is lacking. In fact, the hardest part in implementing alternative assessment is teaching the students to participate and take responsibility for their own learning. Most students are used to taking a passive role in learning, and it is difficult to make them participate and do things differently. As such the authors assert that implementing alternative assessment require teachers need to ‘step up’ and challenge the current assessment paradigm, fight the traditional school structures and assessment practices.

The article reminds me of my experiences with the administration, my students, and my workmates in the past two years of the opportunities and obstacles I faced when I tried to open up e-classes and gave students online asynchronous exams. I did so in order to help my students enhance their proficiency level and work on the different levels of students. Many students disagreed and liked the old passive way of learning as it is a kind of peace of mind. They always complained whenever I gave them any assignment to be submitted online or depending on online resources. They also complained whenever I asked them to write reflections on what they did to improve their proficiency, or to write reflections on what the readings. These complaints continued to the end of the course as students disliked doing extra work and were not being familiar as active learners. The administrators commented that the new method of supplementing the course curriculum will not efficient and would be a waste of time and effort so it is better to stop implementing the new plan and or work according to the old efficient, tried methods. Even my colleagues used to say that what I was doing was a waste of time and effort so I have to evade the pain. What make me continue t try to use new methods of assessment is the idea denoted in the article that students really improve and become empowered. This is evident in the Mid Term and Final exams results of the students who participated in the classes and did the assignments. Students also denoted in their written reflections at the end of the term that they really understood that they play a definite role in their education and that reflection, using internet resources and commenting on the reading enhanced their critical and digital skills.