Authentic Assessment

"When am I ever going to use this?".  This is a common question asked by many of my students.  As a math teacher, I get asked this probably more than other teachers.  Students do not see how solving algebraic equations is going to help them in their futures.  Part of our jobs as educators is to make learning useful.  Students need to feel like there is a purpose to what they are learning.  The learning needs to be meaningful and not just busy work.  However, the problem in education today is the concentration on standardized testing.  Most days my purpose is to get students to pass various tests that they must pass for graduation and that they must pass for me to get a good evaluation as the teacher.  I cannot take time to show them how logarithms are used in the real world to measure earthquakes.  Instead I must show them how to answer a multiple choice question on logarithms.  

Authentic assessment is possible in all subjects and all grades.  Teachers can always find a way to make learning significant and meaningful to the students and find a way to connect the learning to the world outside of school.  The sad part is that true authentic assessment cannot take place in schools as long as standardized testing remains at the forefront of how students, teachers, and schools are graded.  Right now teachers have to try to "squeeze in" authentic assessments when they can.  

In all my classes, I try to find time to do at least one authentic assessment throughout the year.  I don't always accomplish this goal.  I try to find ways to give the students a voice in the learning and show them a purpose along with making sure they are prepared for the standardized tests.  This is very hard to accomplish, but I keep trying to find a solution.