How Assessment Has Changed

In all my years of taking mathematics in school I only encountered one kind or genre of assessment.  Tests, quizzes, and homework were the staple of math assessments.  It seemed that the only options teachers had to assess students were formal assessments which lined up with the standardized tests the students were to take.  The up-side to this assessment process was that I was well prepared to perform on standardized tests.  The down side was that I had very little opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge to apply mathematical concepts to the real world.  Today’s math classrooms look very different and assessments include math based projects, team work, and informal assessments designed by the instructor.  Follow this link to see just one example of a project based math lesson: http://www.mathprojects.com/Downloads/Pre-Algebra/MMCountAndCrunch.pdf .