Performance Based Assessment: Its Challenges in the New Normal

Beulah Doreen Tomarong Cruz

A Study Proposal
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Course SS 304 – Production of Instructional and Assessment Materials
in Social Studies

Graduate School
PRESIDENT RAMON MAGSAYSAY STATE UNIVERSITY
(Formerly Ramon Magsaysay Technological University)
Iba, Zambales, Philippines

August 2020
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

At this point of the pandemic, assessments and grades continue to be controversial

topics among school leaders and other members of the school community. The questions

generally revolve around the relevance and implications of assessing and grading students

while the global crisis continues to put security, safety, and health of everyone, especially, the

students, in danger. Transitioning to remote learning also made it more challenging for

teachers to gauge the students’ understanding of their lessons. What kind of assessments can

be properly and meaningfully used in online learning? For younger students, how much

parent involvement is allowable to ensure that students can independently demonstrate

mastery of learning? What kind of formative feedback can be best given to students who are

learning at home? (Tuscano, 2020)

According to Tuscano (2020) for the new normal in education, assessments and grades

should be reviewed and reimagined so that they continue to be relevant to students. Schools

should deeply think about their purposes and priorities in designing assessments or grading

students. Beyond making students accountable for their own learning, educators should also

bear in mind that in times of emergency remote learning, the higher call probably is to

continue encouraging and supporting student learning. One way of doing this is to

continuously give students feedback on their learning which can help them reflect on their

strengths and find ways to improve themselves further. Eventually, teacher’s feedback serves

as verification until students finally “get the lesson.”

 One of the biggest challenges for teachers is how they will continue to engage students

and keep an eye on their progress afar. During this time, as we are navigating new challenges

on how we can connect with each other and with our students, thousands of educators

gathered online in an effort to find the right strategies to cope with the health crisis brought

about by the pandemic (Santos, 2020).

Performance-based assessments share the key characteristic of accurately measuring

one or more specific course standards. They are also complex, authentic, process/product-

oriented, open-ended, and time-bound (Hilliard, 2015). In general, a performance-based

assessment measures students' ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit or

units of study. Typically, the task challenges students to use their higher-order thinking skills

to create a product or complete a process (Chun, 2010).

Educators who have worked in systems that use performance-based assessment report

that such assessment has a positive impact on instructional practice and provides valuable

information. In a study of the Kentucky Instructional Results System (KIRIS), which assessed

student progress through a combination of open-ended response items, multiple-choice items,

portfolios, and performance events, almost 90 percent of principals and 77 percent of teachers

reported that the performance assessment was useful for judging the effectiveness of schools.

Even more important, performance assessment contributed to improved instructional

practices: “40 percent of teachers reported that the open-response items and portfolios have a

great deal of positive effect on instruction, and virtually none reported that about multiple-

choice items” (Matthews, 1995).

Performance Based Assessment is an effective way to evaluate if students really

learned what the teacher taught them. It increases students’ higher-order thinking skills
through evaluating and synthesizing information to draw a conclusion. During this pandemic,

there is a from the traditional learning or face to face learning to blended learning. It is a big

challenge to teachers on how they will teach and of course assess their students’ learning.

Hence, this study focuses on how is performance-based assessment possible in the new

normal.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to find out the challenges being encountered by teachers with the use

of performance-based assessment in the new normal. Specifically, it seeks to answer the

following questions:

1. What are the types of Performance-Based Assessment do teachers use in the new

normal?

2. What are the challenges do teachers encounter with the use of Performance Based

Assessment in the new normal?

3. How do teachers address the challenges or problems they encounter with the use of

Performance-Based Assessment?

Significance of the Study

This study will be significant to the following:

Department of Education. The officials of the department may become more

acquainted on the challenges that teachers are encountering with the use of Performance

Based Assessment in the new normal. The results may further help them in alleviating those

problems to further improve its implementation.

School Administrators. The results of the study may provide information needed for

better implementation of Performance Based Assessment in high school during the pandemic.
 Teachers. The findings will enable other teachers to address the problems they may

be encountering in using Performance Based Assessment in the new normal.

Students. The results will enable students to accomplish the performance task given to

them much easier.

Scope and Limitation

This study will focus only on determining the challenges being encountered by

teachers with the use of performance-based assessment in the new normal. It will involve a

total of 32 teachers who are currently teaching at St. Nicholas Academy of Castillejos, Inc.
 Chapter 2

FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

This chapter presents the related literature of the different variables of the study which

are new normal education in education and performance-based assessment. Likewise, it

contains the conceptual framework which describes the nature of the current study. The

definition of terms is also included in this chapter.

New Normal in Education