CDLA · Module 3 — Outcomes and authentic assessment

Authentic tasks, not trivia

Messick’s fidelity: assessments should resemble the criterion situation — context, complexity, and judgment.

About 17 min

Practice in the lesson player

Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.

What this lesson covers

  1. 01

    Fidelity to the job

    Authentic assessment asks learners to use knowledge in a context that mirrors real performance. Messick argued validation is about meaning in context — a multiple-choice list of definitions fails fidelity when the job requires diagnosing a fault under time pressure.