ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter was to familiarize prospective teachers with alternative assessment strategies and the issues associated with such tools. The definition and rationale for alternative assessment were presented. Many types of alternative assessments were defined, including event tasks, student projects, student logs, student journals, and portfolios. The concepts of validity, reliability, and objectivity were reviewed and discussed from the perspective of alternative assessments. The ability to develop meaningful rubrics was stressed, along with guidelines for developing checklists and rating scales as scoring rubrics for assessment purposes. Finally, practical teaching considerations in assigning and assessing alternative assessments were provided to help beginning teachers learn to include them in their teaching.
