Authentic Assessment... The C.I.A. days...

Authentic assessment is something that is very familiar to me. I think authentic assessment will not happen in school simply because it is too time consuming and will cost to much money in a K-12 school. However when I attended and completed my degree at the Culinary Institute of America authentic assessment was the major way to earn a grade in a class. We had to produce our end products to the best of our abilities. For example, if we were making a baguette (french bread) it had to be: crunchy, scored correctly, baked evenly and not dried out, and when the bread was cut open on should have be able to see the proper hole aeration inside of it. It was the same concept for each class: chocolate, wedding cakes, culinary skills, cookies, and other core classes. We also had written test but for the most part the school was HUGE on authentic assessment! Traditionally trade schools are for students who do not like traditional school, tests, papers, and other "traditional" ideas.
The C.I.A. was a complete hands on form of learning where the visual and kinesthetic learner did the best. Everyone had to put out their "own" product. It was a schools where a student truly had to think for his/herself and give their own results. In a school of learning and achievement there were no ways to copy someone. One could true to reproduce a product, however to copy it just like the last one would be really difficult. Another way in school we were assessed was by our own dress code. We were judged on performance and how well we were able to keep ourselves, our end products, and our stations cleaned as well. Learning in this kind of environment was solely on the student itself. The end product was the way learning was demonstrated. We had some defining vocabulary tests and some papers too, but the majority was hands on.
Students like myself attend those kinds of schools because we truly care about what we are learning and will try harder about something we truly care about in the learning process. I have had lots of experience with the authentic learning process in my time there. We also had to pass practicals on our own products so that we were allowed to out and move forth on our externships as a requirement for school. However, we need to have a certain grades so we could complete our own school process for completion.