ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the purposes of a variety of curriculum-based assessments, technical qualities, different types and formats of assessments, and related research. Assessments with established technical adequacy of content validity and interrater reliability are provided along with examples of specific assessments used in examining students’ progress in specific content areas along the three dimensions of the Integrated Curriculum Model: advanced content, higher-level process and product work, and intra- and interdisciplinary concept development and understanding. Special attention is provided for designing performance-based rubrics, which include major components or dimensions, criteria aligned to these dimensions, criteria elaborated into observable behaviors, a scale with distinct differences between each of the elaborated criteria, and a scoring guide. The chapter concludes by summarizing the advantages and challenges of using alternative assessments within a standardized environment.
