Authentic Assessment
The assessment plan should address the issue of the type and amount of credit students can earn for participating in the assessment. Specifically, faculty should discuss how much credit and whether credit earned is “extra” or “authentic,” meaning it is applied to the course grade. Authentic assessment is, of course, preferred. When students participate in assessment with results attached to their course grade, they are more likely to give their best effort, and faculty are more likely to find the results useful to improve learning.
In some programs, faculty will not have options regarding how to award credit, but in those cases where it is optional, ideally, faculty will try to agree on a percentage of the grade a student can earn on the assessment. For example, faculty may agree that the assessment will be worth between two and three percent of the total grade.