Classroom teachers are writing lesson plans focusing on critical thinking skills and grading with scoring rubrics. Teachers are expecting students to write an explanation of a mathematical process rather than simply supply a sum or a product. The use of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels as opposed to knowledge and comprehension exercises, is the rule rather than the exception. More real world application is the teacher's responsibility. Schools are engaging authentic practices to help students learn and apply more thoroughly than ever before.
Teachers spend their days dealing with various forms of assessments.
They observe student behavior, compare a project to a rubric, mini-conference, listen to an answer given orally and examine it for the elements of a correct response, and much more. There are many different ways to construct assessments. Projects, speeches, term papers, homework assignments, and exams are just a few possibilities. In the past few years a push towards more authentic assessment has become more evident. Authentic assessment deals directly with real world application.