Assessment on a budget: Using traditional methods imaginatively

Because many of the authentic assessment methods described in this book tend to be very demanding of teacher-time, there is still an important place for finding ways to employ inexpensive, traditoinal methods more creatively in an attempt to come closer to achieveing the same goals that those who advocate authentic assessment methods are targeting. The basic idea is to identify the elements of statistical thinking that we want to foster and then find ways of testing these elements with objective assessment methods (in particular, multiple choice). The chapter explores the extent to which objective testing can approximate the results of authentic assessment techniques and the extent to which it falls short. We provide guidelines for the writing of objective test items, together with examples.