Assessment

"Wrong" Answers Do Not Depict Deficiencies
Alina Newman
from School Talk (Spring, 2002), National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE)
Standarized testing often does not portray the improvement of English language learners. Newman suggests alternative methods of assessing students.

What is authentic assessment?
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/litass/auth.html
This is a short discussion of the difference between "authentic" and "performance" assessment.

Authentic Classroom Assessment in Action: Ms. Rodriguez's Classroom
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/litass/class.html
This is an example of how one person used authentic assessment in the classroom.

Performance and portfolio assessment for language minority students
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/pigs/pig9.htm
This article examines how to design and use portfolios and other alternative assessment techniques. While the focus is on helping ELLs, this could surely work with non-ELLs, too!

Practical Ideas On Alternative Assessment For ESL Students
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/tannen01.html
This article offers practical examples of assessment strategies for ELLs.

Assessing Integrated Language and Content Instruction
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/tesol/tesolquarterly/assessin.htm
Provides a framework for developing assessment goals for ESL students and also provides examples of assessment tools for the content area.

Alternative Assessment and Second Language Study: What and Why?
http://searcheric.org/digests/ed376695.html
Discusses alternative ways to assess language minority students.