Authentic Pedagogy Home

Authentic Assessment Tasks

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CAREI > Current Projects > Authentic Pedagogy

Authentic Pedagogy

Linking Authentic Instruction to Students' Achievement Using Peer Coaching, Evaluation Report (Summer 2001)

In an effort to improve teaching and learning and to assist teachers in implementing the graduation standards, the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning sponsored a project called Linking Authentic Instruction, which provided a group of predominantly secondary social studies teachers in the Minneapolis School District the opportunity to participate in a series of professional development seminars. 

The goals of the seminars were for teachers to be able to: 1) Translate the theoretical framework that links the Minnesota High Standards and authentic pedagogy (instruction and assessment) into practice; 2) Create peer-coaching teams to embed the authentic instruction criteria into daily practice at each participating site; 3) Implement model lessons and score their own students' work. This report is a result of an evaluation done to answer these questions.

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Toward Authentic Assessment AND Instruction: A Framework for Educators, Introduction (August 1999)

Toward Authentic Assessment AND Instruction: A Framework for Educators is a handbook for teachers interested in developing more meaningful teaching and learning experiences in their classrooms. It was developed as part of a project entitled Authentic Pedagogy in the Social Studies (APSS), a collaborative effort between three Minnesota school districts (La-Crescent-Hokah, Minneapolis, and West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan Public School Districts) and the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. The APSS Project, funded and authorized by the Minnesota Department of Education (previously-Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning), brought middle and high school social studies teachers from each of three districts together for monthly seminars during the 1998-99 academic year.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the participating teachers and administrators from the LaCrescent-Hokah, Minneapolis, and West Saint Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan school districts.

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Professional Development for Authentic Pedagogy in the Social Studies: An Evaluation (October 1999)

In an effort to improve teaching and learning and to assist teachers in implementing the graduation standards, the Department of Children, Families and Learning sponsored several projects during the 1998-99 school year. One such project, Authentic Pedagogy in the Social Studies (APSS), provided social studies teachers with sustained professional development by way of daylong seminars held each month throughout the school year. Teachers from one middle and one high school in each of three school districts attended the seminars along with their colleagues in the social studies department. Dr. Patricia Avery, Associate Professor of Social Studies at the University of Minnesota, designed and coordinated the sessions.

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Authentic Assessment Tasks

The tasks on this site were specifically designed to give students an opportunity to demonstrate more complex thinking and reasoning about significant issues and concepts. Traditionally, we have assessed student knowledge through multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank type items. In social studies, this has often meant students memorize long lists of information--names, dates, wars, states and capitals. Although such tests still have their role in schooling, we have consciously chosen to put a greater emphasis on assessment tasks that require higher levels of student engagement and thinking.