Towards an Ontology for Alternative Assessment in Education

A set of guiding principles is stated for the development of standards for representing student educational assessment information. Unlike traditional academic transcripts, the items in portfolios, subjective written evaluations, self-assessments, and computer-based records of activity are complex representations of student achievement, involvement, or inclinations. Even more so than traditional grades, they depend upon a great deal of contextual information in order to be intepreted in useful and reliable ways. This paper also identi es the essential informational components of alternative assessment records and suggests a standard form for their representation. The consideration of evidence, judgment, context, and justi cation, as described in this paper, is relevant to the improvement of conventional (e.g., multiple-choice test) assessment methodologies, as well. First presented at the June 1998 meeting of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee held in Pittsburgh, PA. Please send comments and corrections to Steve Tanimoto, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, Box 352350, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; email: [email protected]