My Favorite Alternate Assessment

As soon as I read Jeremy's description of this blog assignment, one alternate assessment jumped out at me from high school.
My 12th grade economics class was probably my favorite class my senior year in high school. (Also the only one I even remember besides the 4 study halls I sat through). I remember walking into the class in September thinking "This is going to be a breeze" because my softball coach was the teacher. Looking back now, it was most likely the most influential class that I took in high school - more or less all because of one alt. assessment.

The last few months of the year we learned about budgeting and basically living our lives on our own. We were made 'husbands and wives' in class, and choose our careers and salaries out of a hat. I don't even remember what career I chose, but I remember some of the professions included teachers, software designers, mailmen, waitresses, and so on and so forth. Based on our salaries we found apartments, "purchased" a home if we were able, cars, and pretty much everything else you would need to 'get started' in life after college. We even went as far as to decorate our homes and shop for clothes with any spare money. We found some of our peers were able to buy homes and drive a Mercedes, when others were still living in a cheap aparmtent in the city of Buffalo.

This was a VERY eye opening project as a senior in high school. In class we displayed our lifestyles (homes/apts/cars) so everyone could see. It was made very clear to us that we had to work very hard to get where we wanted to go. I think it was an incredible life lesson, especially to those who were unsure about going to college or what to do after high school.

Beside the actual life lessons that this long-term project taught us, I think that the assessment itself was GREAT. We spent the majority of the project working with our partner, but there were also individual assignments given throughout. We had to not only communicate to get the assignments completed - but we had to actually compromise - A LOT.

I am actually in the process of incorporating some kind of project like this into my math class. At the end of this year, my students will be taking part of a Geometry "Housing Project." Students will be designing and building a home. I'm hoping that this class will be some what of an aide to me as I create the assessment.

Mapping Geometry Targets to State Standards

Quick Note - My Geometry Unit IS for the 6th grade; however, you'll notice that many of these standards are below the 6th grade level. I pulled these targets from the first 5 or 6 lessons of the unit, which was primarily a review for my students. One gigantic downfall to teaching math, is that many of the skills are built on what students 'should' already know. Unfortunately, many students are unable to perform these skills without them being formally addressed in class. So...that's why you'll see standards from 4th and 5th grade math. :)


1. Student is able to label angles with proper name (interior, exterior, alternate interior, etc.) within a traversal.
5.G.5 Know that the sum of the interior angles of a quadrilateral is 360 degrees.
5.G.7 Know that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180 degrees

2. Student is able to identify polygons when shown an illustration.
4.G.1 Identify and name polygons, recognizing that their names are
related to the number of sides and angles (triangle, quadrilateral,
pentagon, hexagon, and octagon)

3. Student is able to classify triangles by their sides and angles.
5.G.6 Classify triangles by properties of their angles and sides

4. Student is able to name parts of a circle by acknowledging relationships among parts (radius and diameter).
6.G.6 Understand relationship between the diameter and radius of a circle

5. Student can find the perimeter of a regular polygon when given dimensions.
5.G.1 Calculate the perimeter of regular and irregular polygons

6. Student can find the area of a regular polygon when given dimensions.
6.G.2 Determine the area of triangles and quadrilaterals (squares, rectangles, rhombi, and trapezoids) and develop formulas

7. Student can write explanation of mathematical process used to find area and perimeter of a polygon.
6.G.2 Determine the area of triangles and quadrilaterals(squares, rectangles, rhombi, and trapezoids) and develop formulas.
5.G.1 Calculate the perimeter of regular and irregular polygons.



Grade 4, 5, & 6 Math Standards

Learning Targets

Unit: Geometry - Exploring Polygons

In this unit we will study polygons and the relationships that form and distinguish them. We will discuss classification often to justify angles and sides of a polygon. An empasis will be placed on basic formulas and applying those formulas for intended outcomes(ie. area, perimeter, and circumference).

1. Student is able to label angles with proper name (interior, exterior, alternate interior, etc.) within a traversal.

• Developmental Learning Target
• Verbs: choose, identify, locate, name, use (Krathwohl)

2. Student is able to identify polygons when shown an illustration.

• Mastery Learning Target
• Verbs: name, label, distinguish, describe, classify (Bloom)

3. Student is able to classify triangles by their sides and angles.

• Mastery Learning Target
• Verbs: label, compare, contrast, match, categorize (Bloom)

4. Student is able to name parts of a circle by acknowledging relationships among parts (radius and diameter).

• Mastery Learning Target
• Verbs: point out, label, justify, create, estimate (Bloom)

5. Student can find the perimeter of a regular polygon when given dimensions.

• Mastery Learning Target
• Verbs: illustrate, label, predict, compute, solve (Bloom)

6. Student can find the area of a regular polygon when given dimensions.

• Mastery Learning Target
• Verbs: answer, select, justify, compute, perform (Krathwohl)

7. Student can write explanation of mathematical process used to find area and perimeter of a polygon.

• Developmental Learning Target
• Verbs: discuss, respond, share, propose, explain (Krathwohl)

Note * My biggest struggle with this assignment was to differentiate between the developmental and mastery learning targets. I don't feel like the text explained it well, so if you have any feedback or tips that would help, please share. I feel like each one of my targets above could have gone either way. In my opinion math is more 'black or white'; I know there are a hundred different ways that I could assess a certain skill - such as through word problems or matching or multiple choice, to obtain a valid assessment...in saying that, is that what Nitko means in the text when he explains developmental learning targets in that they "usually require using multiple types of assessment for valid assessment?"