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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

authentic assessment

Learn more about authentic assessment

Ongoing assessment for reading
Ongoing, informal assessment is crucial to teaching reading. Using audio and visual examples, this edition explains the use of running records and miscue analysis, tools that help a teacher to identify patterns in student reading behaviors and the strategies a reader uses to make sense of text.
Format: series (multiple pages)
Math for multiple intelligences
How a middle-school math teacher realized she was boring and jump-started her career — and her students — by using thematic planning, emphasizing problem solving, and teaching to multiple intelligences.
Format: series (multiple pages)
Alternative assessment
Alternative assessments measure performance in forms other than traditional paper-and-pencil, short answer tests. This article provides an extended explanation of alternative assessments, including a variety of examples.
Format: article
By Jennifer Job.
Opening an Hispanic restaurant
This lesson focuses on vocabulary and currency associated with food, restaurants, and menus. Students conduct research to create an authentic menu with a companion recipe books. The lesson culminates in short presentations and food samples.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Second Languages)
By Susan Canipe.
Ongoing assessment strategies for writing
Making final assessment easier by helping students improve the quality of their writing along the way.
By Sherri Phillips Merrit.

Find all 43 resources in our collection.

Assessment that seeks to evaluate students’ abilities in "real-world" contexts, including the application and demonstration of skills and knowledge to authentic tasks or projects likely to be encountered in adult life.

See also assessment.

Additional information

Advocates of authentic assessment argue that it reflects mastery and integration of knowledge relevant to real-world experiences, moving students beyond passive test-taking.