Good Measures: Developing a Process for Authentic Assessment Creation in Food Education.

Abstract

This paper presents the process taken by a nonprofit educational organization to create authentic evaluation tools for Food Education in K-12 schools. Development was a collaborative effort between organization staff and teachers during an Evaluation Summit. The program background, development of the Summit, and plans for post-Summit work continuation are described. The Summit included 14 teacher participants (3-4 per grade band in preK-1, 2-5, 6-8, 9-12). The process of tool development was captured via direct observations and analysis of artifacts (eg, participants' brainstorming chart paper, online development documents) to identify themes in successful approaches and challenges. Additional post-Summit activities were also captured via surveys and artifacts. Outcomes of this work are outlined, including the challenges in carrying out the creation of authentic assessments that accurately reflect the classroom teaching experience, and the value of in-person community building in the Food Education space. Key findings relate to the importance of in-person collaboration amongst teachers, centering students in evaluation, and equity and accessibility in tool development. Although outlining challenges and outcomes was not an a priori goal of this work, it provides important information for others working in the education nonprofit space-especially as it pertains to new approaches to classroom evaluation.