A student performing skills for assessments.
The key to developing authentic and fair assessments in physical education is to utilize a variety of tools. Assessments should be representative of each student's ability to meet the objectives of the class, not a comparison of which student is the "best" among the class. Assessment tools can be cumulative as well as embedded into the lesson. The following assessment tools should be combined throughout the term to meet the different learning styles of the students and to address student diversity.
Rubrics
Although rubrics are not standalone assessment tools, they should be a standard component to all physical education assessments. Students need to know what is expected of them and how they will be judged for their performance. Terms such as "fair," "satisfactory," "good" and "excellent" need to have clear definitions. Rubrics may include a checklist to determine presence of skills or rating scales to define the degree of a learned skill. Rubrics should be descriptive, not comparative.
Student Projects
Students work individually or in small groups to create new movement strategies from skills they have learned in class. The teacher poses a "problem" such as a description of players in a football game and asks students to create a play strategy. Another example is to have students create a gymnastics routine based on a series of required skills. Even if the student is not agile or cannot perform the movement(s) well, this assessment tool determines the student's knowledge of what was taught.
Portfolios
A portfolio is a collection of students' work during a set period. This assessment tool allows students to be involved in the process as they determine for themselves what to include in the portfolio. The focus or theme of the portfolio, as well as criteria, must be clearly defined before the students begin to assemble their materials.
Student Journals
Students express their personal understanding of skills learned in class. This assessment tool also helps students to see the meaning of what they learn in PE to their lives outside of the classroom. Teachers interact with the student journals throughout the term. Journals can include structure assignments to help define the grading criteria. For example, the teacher may require students to include specific entries such as an improvement plan, study notes, analysis of problems and challenges.
Teacher Observation
This tool is a good example of informal assessment that is embedded in the teaching. It is absolutely necessary, however, for the teacher to have specific criteria for all judgments and to record the observations on a set form. The teacher should also provide feedback to the students on a regular basis and continue the observations over a prolonged period to determine progress.
Student Self-Assessments
This assessment tool can be combined with student journals or portfolios, or used as an independent tool. Involve the students in setting personal goals and creating personalized action plans. Then have the students keep track of their daily, weekly and monthly progress on a set form. The teacher combines this with their own observations and follows through with assessment conferences in which the student adapts the plan of action to foster self-improvement.
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