Alternatives in Assessment of Achievements, Learning Processes and Prior Knowledge

Abstract

A number of books have appeared in the past decade or so that have presented examples of alternatives to the traditional assessment practices which emphasize standardization, multiple-choice formats, and machine scorability. These books include Embretson (1985); Ronning, Glover, Conoley, and Witt (1987); Frederiksen, Glaser, Lesgold, and Shafto (1990); Wittrock and Baker (1991); Gifford and O'Connor (1992); Frederiksen, Mislevy, and Bejar (1993); and my own contribution (Nichols, Chipman, & Brennan, 1995). The recently published book Alternatives in Assessment of Achievements, Learning Processes, and Prior Knowledge, edited by Birenbaum and Dochy, follows this style. It presents the alternative assessment research of many members of the Special Interest Group on Learning and Assessment of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. Several characteristics distinguish this book from its many predecessors. First, many chapters emphasize differences in philosophy of education between alternative practices and traditional practices. In contrast to earlier volumes' emphasis on psychological models, many chapters in this book describe clearly the role of a constructivist philosophy of learning and instruction in motivating alternative assessments. Proponents of alternative assessment generally adopt a constructivist model that views learners as active thinkers striving to construct more advanced understandings of the world. Learners construct new understandings by integrating prior understanding and new information rather than simply copying and pasting what they are told into memory. In the first chapter, Birenbaum clearly contrasts differences in philosophy of learning between traditional and alternative approaches. Later chapters by Burton, Clarke and Stephens, Shohamy, and others instantiate and extend this contrast. Second, this edited volume presents work being pursued by researchers from many parts of the world, whereas previous books have presented work limited primarily to American researchers. The variety of intellectual and social contexts within which these different researchers work results in assessment problems and solutions that may be unfamiliar to many researchers in the United States. Finally, the research in these chapters explores the assessment of language competence, academic literacy, study skills, and learning strategies, as well as the more ordinary research on assessing achievement in mathematics and science.