Authentic Assessment
Experience and research confirms that an authentic, effective and useful way to assess student learning and progress is with good teacher observation, documentation of student work and performance-based assessment. At Aurora, professionally trained and experienced teachers and staff work closely with each child so individual student skills and needs are accurately understood.
Aurora uses curriculum guidelines based on national learning standards and teacher experience to design and implement assessment integrated directly with instruction. The most important reason for assessment is the student's understanding of his or her needs and progress. Students work with their classmates and teachers to develop portfolios that show their best work. Far more informative than a letter grade, portfolios enable parents and students to better understanding as they can actually see individual progress.
Through teacher-family conferences, parents also receive a student's progress report, which details growth in the many facets of each content area. This further informs parents about the specific strengths and growth areas for their child.
We do not use norm referenced standardized testing in measuring or evaluating our students nor in designing our curriculum. Research is clear that these tests are often inaccurate, do not give a true picture of a student's abilities, and can be racially, culturally and gender biased. We do recognize that many educational institutions continue to use these measures to place learners. Therefore, students in the upper grades do practice test-taking skills in preparation for standardized admission exams and future classroom tests and quizzes.