The Issues Assessment reforms involves more than merely changing the nature of test taking tasks. A lot of thought has been put into what kind of changes should be made in the way performance tasks are scored. How does one document achievement and consider both process and product. Rubrics are one method used to evaluate student work. Essentially, there is no easy answer.
Rubrics can be serve as a holistic evaluation or be divided into parts that address specific skills.
However, some of these begin to look standardized after they are broken down into many categories that address various skills and subskills. Reliability and validity are other key issues related to assessment. Reliability refers to the consistency or replicability of scores or performances. Both standardized and alternative assessments attempt to achieve a degree of reliability and validity. Standardized tests, however, have a greater concern with reliability.