[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-586821-105":59,"doc-detail-586821-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","assessing-the-options-considerations-for-provision-of-choice-in-assessment","Assessing the Options - Considerations for provision of choice in assessment","","Allowing students to make choices in assessment—such as selecting reading materials, response formats, and scoring schemes—can support learning environments that strengthen critical thinking and intrinsic motivation. Choice can also reduce barriers and improve fairness by helping students demonstrate knowledge. The brief examines choice across classroom, school-district, and state assessment levels, weighing benefits for learning and validity threats in large-scale standardized settings, and outlining practical recommendations for education agencies and educators.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/assessing-the-options-considerations-for-provision-of-choice-in-assessment/586821/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/assessing-the-options-considerations-for-provision-of-choice-in-assessment/586821.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Sarah ","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-02","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the core purpose of providing choice in assessment?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Providing choice aims to enhance learning by supporting autonomy and intrinsic motivation, while also improving fairness by removing barriers that may prevent students from showing their knowledge.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How can choice affect classroom assessment versus large-scale assessment?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"At the classroom level, choice can offer teachers more accurate information about students’ learning. In large-scale assessment, choice may threaten validity by compromising comparability and the standardization condition.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why are too many choices not always beneficial?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The brief notes evidence that offering excessive options can reduce engagement. Research summarized suggests that two to four choices may be optimal in many contexts.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},586821,1792231911,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962085320529,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Assessing the Options  \nConsiderations for provision of choice in assessment  \nAssessing the options:  \nConsiderations for provision of choice in assessment  \nSubmitted to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, by  \nPaulina Biernacki, Stanford University  \nMarch 10, 2022  \nAcknowledgements: The author would like to extend special thanks to Magda Chia, Richard Durán, James Pellegrino, Maria Araceli Ruiz-Primo, and Guillermo Solano-Flores for their thought partnership and guidance. The author would also like to thank Audrey Lesondak and Vitaliy Shyyan, who provided very thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts of this report. Any errors, however, are solely attributed to the author of this brief.  \nSuggested citation:  \nBiernacki, P. J. (2022) . Assessing the options: Considerations for provision of choice in assessment.  \nSmarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.  \n[https://portal.smarterbalanced.org/library/en/practice-brief-assessing-the-options.pdf](https://portal.smarterbalanced.org/library/en/practice-brief-assessing-the-options.pdf)  \nExecutive Summary  \nAllowing students to make choices (e.g., on the reading materials to read for an assignment) can contribute to creating learning environments that promote critical thinking, and intrinsic motivation among students. Given this potential that choice has to enhance instruction, it is reasonable to examine its potential as a contributor to enhanced assessment practices.  \nChoice in assessment—allowing students to make decisions on the ways in which they are assessed within a given array of tasks (including stimulus materials), response formats, and grading schemes or scoring systems—has the potential to mitigate the fact that, in addition to the knowledge being assessed, multiple individual factors, including experience, learning styles, anxiety, stigma, and disability shape student performance on assessments.  \nFairness is an important motivation for providing choice in assessment, as it can potentially remove barriers that may prevent students from demonstrating knowledge. To achieve this ideal, it is important for education agencies and educators to have realistic expectations about the challenges, possibilities, and limitations of providing choice in assessment at each of three levels of a balanced assessment system—classroom assessment, school-district assessment, and state assessment for accountability.  \nAssessments at the classroom level (both formative and summative) are closer to the students’ personal experiences. Therefore, using choice in classroom assessment (and especially formative assessment activities), can potentially provide teachers with more  \naccurate information on their students’ learning. In contrast, in large-scale assessment, choice may posea validity threat to the extent that it compromises comparability since the condition of standardization—the condition in which all test takers are tested under the same conditions – would be compromised.  \nProvision of choice in assessment at any level is based on the premise that students are well equipped with a set of critical thinking and metacognitive skills that are relevant to effective choice-making. In large-scale assessment, provision of choice in addition poses multiple logistical and challenges that are difficult to surmount with currently available psychometric theory and methods.  \nThis brief is organized into five sections:  \nIntroduction  \nTypes of choice in assessment  \nChoice in assessment: Goals and challenges  \nConclusions  \nRecommendations for education agencies and educators  \nPRACTICE BRIEF: ASSESSING THE OPTIONS 3  \nIntroduction  \nIn an information era characterized by rapid shifts in technology and learning environments, students need to be supported in learning how to ask questions, seek information, navigate new tools for learning, think critically, and become self-directed learners. 1, 2 As a pedagogical resource that promotes autonomy,3 choice appears to be critical to meeting such ","cbCaiiyYxuqjEcbA","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiyYxuqjEcbA","pdf",1148252,13,"English","# Executive Summary\n## Choice in assessment: Goals and challenges\n## Types of choice in assessment\n## Conclusions\n## Recommendations for education agencies and educators","[{\"question\":\"What is the core purpose of providing choice in assessment?\",\"answer\":\"Providing choice aims to enhance learning by supporting autonomy and intrinsic motivation, while also improving fairness by removing barriers that may prevent students from showing their knowledge.\"},{\"question\":\"How can choice affect classroom assessment versus large-scale assessment?\",\"answer\":\"At the classroom level, choice can offer teachers more accurate information about students’ learning. In large-scale assessment, choice may threaten validity by compromising comparability and the standardization condition.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are too many choices not always beneficial?\",\"answer\":\"The brief notes evidence that offering excessive options can reduce engagement. Research summarized suggests that two to four choices may be optimal in many contexts.\"}]","Assessing the Options - Considerations for provision of choice in assessment | PDF",1792059503,33]