Many educators believe that there is a more effective assessment alternative. These teachers use testing strategies that do not focus entirely on recalling facts. Instead, they ask students to demonstrate skills and concepts they have learned. This strategy is called authentic assessment .
Authentic assessment aims to evaluate students' abilities in 'real-world' contexts.
In other words, students learn how to apply their skills to authentic tasks and projects. Authentic assessment does not encourage rote learning and passive test-taking. It values the learning process as much as the finished product. Many teachers are dissatisfied with only using traditional testing methods. They believe these methods do not test many skills and abilities students need to be successful.