I’ve been trying to identify the best articles/posts that describe alternative ways to assess student learning other than high-stakes testing, and would love suggestions from readers for others.

Here’s what I have so far:

Jay Mathews wrote a column in the Washington Post titled Intriguing alternative to rating schools by tests. He speaks very positively about the student assessment process used by the New York Performance Standards Consortium.

The term “performance-based assessment” is a term used to describe one way to evaluate student achievement (the Consortium’s process would fit into this category). This basically means that students are evaluated on work they have “constructed” as opposed to choosing from a list of pre-determined answers. This could mean a writing assessment, similar to what is done in Vermont or Kentucky, or filling-in the blanks in a cloze (there are usually multiple appropriate responses), or describing how a student would develop a science experiment. The Stanford Center For Opportunity Policy In Education has developed a brief that lays-out the case for performance-based assessment and how it might be implemented. You can also learn more about this topic here.

The Other Kind of Testing is a good column by Walt Gardner in Education Week. It’s about “performance-based assessment” for students

Monty Neill from Fair Test has had a commentary published in Ed Week titled A Better Way to Assess Students and Evaluate Schools.

Teachers: How do We Propose to Measure Student Outcomes? by Anthony Cody

Bonnie Bc on Twitter suggested these:

A Child Is Not A Test Score by Monty Neill

Authentic Assessment and Accountability from Fair Test

The Case Against High Stakes Testing from Fair Test

The Morningside Center recommends The Authentic Assessment Toolbox.

Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers?

Hot Off The Press! The Best Piece Yet Published On Teacher Evaluation

Please leave other suggestions in the comments section of this post. Thanks!