A recent study compared hands-on scientific inquiry assessment to assessments involving lab notebooks, computer simulations, short-answer paper-and-pencil problems, and multiple-choice questions. Creating high quality performance assessments is a costly, time-consuming process requiring considerable scientific and technological know-how. Improved…

The microcomputer has increased interest in performance testing, which samples what a person can do rather than what he or she knows. Conventional psychometric theory is based on knowledge tests, but in performance testing the unit of analysis is a trial, and it is unreasonable to assume that mean performance and interim correlations are…

Describes recent efforts of the Center for Research in Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) to evaluate authentic assessment methods, such as portfolios and performance tests. When comparing the merits of authentic versus multiple-choice testing, it is wise to consider validity, reliability, consequences, fairness, generalization,…