Process-Oriented Learning Competencies

     Information about outcomes is of high importance; where students “end up” matters greatly.
But to improve outcomes. We need to know about student experience along the way – about the
curricula, teaching, and kind of student effort that lead to particular outcomes. Assessment can
help us understand which students learn best under what conditions; with such knowledge comes
the capacity to improve the whole of their learning. Process-oriented performance-based
assessment is concerned with the actual task performance rather than the output or product of the
activity.
 Learning Competencies
     The learning objectives in process-oriented performance-based assessment are stated
indirectly observable behaviors of the students. Competencies are defined as groups or clusters
of skills and abilities for needed for a particular task. The objectives generally focus on those
behaviors which exemplify a “best practice “for the particular task. Such behaviors range from a
“beginner” or novice level up to the level of an expert. An example of learning competencies for
a process-oriented performance-based assessment is:
Task: Recite a Poem by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” 
Objectives:
 The activity aims to enable the students to recite a poem entitled “The Raven” by Edgar Allan
Poe. Specifically:
1. Recite the poem from memory without referring to notes;
2. Use appropriate hand and body gestures in delivering the piece;
3. Maintain eye contact with the audience while reciting the poem;
4. Create the ambiance of the poem through appropriate rising and falling intonation;
5. Pronounce the words clearly and with proper diction.

    Notice that the objective started with a general statement of what is expected of the student
from the task (recite a poem by Edgar Allan Poe) and then breaks down the general objective
into easily identified constitute the learning competencies for this particular task. As in the
statement of objectives using Bloom’s taxonomy,  the specific objectives also range from simple
observable processes to more complex observable processes e.g. creating an ambiance of the
poem through appropriate rising and falling intonation. A competency is said to be more
complex when it consist of two or more skills.
The following competencies are simple competencies
-          Speak with a well-modulated voice 
-          Draw a straight line from one point to another point 
-          Color a leaf with a green crayon 
The following competencies are more complex competencies
-          Recite a poem with feeling using appropriate voice quality, facial expression and
hand gestures 
-          Construct an equilateral triangle given three non-collinear points 
-          Draw and color a leaf with green crayon.
        2.2 Task Designing
    Learning tasks need to be carefully planned. Some generally accepted standards for designing
at ask include:
1. Identifying an activity that would highlight the competencies to be evaluated. Eg. Reciting a
poem, writing an essay, manipulate microscope.
2. Identifying an activity that would entail more or less the same sets of competencies. If an
activity would result in too many possible competencies then the teacher would have difficulty
assessing the student’s competency on the task.
3. Finding a task that would be interesting and enjoyable for the students. Tasks such as writing
an essay are often boring and cumbersome for the students.
        2.3 Scoring Rubrics
     Rubric is a scoring scale used to assess student performance along a task-specific set
of criteria. Authentic assessments typically are criterion-referenced measures, that is, student’s
aptitude on a task is determined by matching the student’s performance against a set of criteria to
determine the degree to which the student’s performance meets the criteria for the task. To
measure student performance against a pre-determined set of criteria, a rubric, or scoring scale
which contains the essential criteria is typically created.

Analytic Rubrics

An analytic rubric resembles a grid or matrix in which the criteria representing the essential
learning being assessed is organized in the leftmost column and the levels of achievement are
represented in the top row.

Analytic rubrics can be created in Excel (and information can easily be aggregated and
numerically summarized), with Word's table function, or even just sketched out on a pad of
paper.

The following steps illustrate how an analytical rubric is created.

1. Determine the various skills and abilities that students should demonstrate to show
achievement of the learning outcome(s). These skills and abilities are the various criteria.
Each criterion should focus on a different skill identified by a phrase or brief statement,
and each criterion should be measureable through the examination of student work. The
criteria become the leftmost column of the grid. Example:

Clarity

(Thesis supported by relevant

information and ideas.)

Organization
 (Sequencing of elements/ideas)

Mechanics

(Correctness of grammar and

spelling)

2. The next step is to determine the levels of achievement possible given the expectations of
what students are to be able to demonstrate. The levels can be numerical categories but
more frequently are descriptions, sometimes with an associated number. It is at this stage
that the number of columns is determined and the levels of achievement are listed across
the top row. Common examples of achievement levels include:
 Numbers from 1 to 4 through 6.
 Short Descriptions:
 Unacceptable...Marginal...Proficient...Distinguished
 Beginning...Developing...Competent...Exemplary
 Novice...Intermediate...Proficient...Distinguished...Master
 Needs Improvement...Satisfactory...Good...Accomplished
 Poor...Minimal...Sufficient...Above Average...Excellent
 Unacceptable...Emerging...Minimally
Acceptable...Acceptable...Accomplished...Exemplary

Example:

Above Average    
Needs Improvement (1)     Developing (2) Sufficient   (3)
(4)

While one can easily imagine how letter grades could be assigned to each of the columns
this is rarely done when assessing learning outcomes as grades are often seen as
summative measures and assessment in this context is formative and intended to identify
students strengths and weakness-however one can clearly see that the two are not
mutually exclusive.

When numerical scores are associated with the levels of accomplishment they can be
aggregated and averages and percentages can be calculated to describe the degree to
which students in a program are able to demonstrate learning outcomes.

3. The next step in the creation of an analytic rubric is to create descriptions for the criteria
along each level of achievement. While sometimes this step is skipped, this is not
 recommended as the descriptions are valuable for helping to increase reliability among
multiple raters and even for a single rater as she assesses the work of different students.

One way to begin writing the descriptions is to write a short paragraph or even just a
sentence or two for the highest level of ability of one criteria. Next circle the words that
can indicate various levels of performance. These are the words that will be changed as
you write descriptions for the remaining levels of performance.

Following are concepts that convey various levels of performance:

 Presence to absence
 Complete to incomplete
 Many to some to none
 Major to minor
 Consistent to inconsistent
 Frequency: always to usually to sometimes to rarely

Example:

  Needs Developing (2) Sufficient (3) Above Average (4)

Improvement (1) 
Clarity (Thesis The purpose of the The central purpose The central purpose The central purpose
supported by student work is not of the student work of the student work of the student work
relevant well-defined. is identified. Ideas is clear and ideas is clear and
information Central ideas are are generally are almost always supporting ideas
and ideas.) not focused to focused in a way focused in a way always are always
support the thesis. that supports the that supports the well-focused.
Thoughts appear thesis. thesis. Relevant Details are
disconnected. details illustrate the relevant, enrich the
author’s ideas. work.
Organization Information and Information and Information and Information and
(Sequencing of ideas are poorly ideas are presented ideas are presented ideas are presented
elements/ideas) sequenced (the in an order that the in a logical in a logical
author jumps audience can sequence which is sequence which
around). The follow with followed by the flows naturally and
audience has minimum reader with little or is engaging to the
difficulty following difficulty. no difficulty. audience.
the thread of
thought.
Mechanics There are five or There are no more There are no more There are no more
(Correctness more misspellings than four than three than two
of grammar and/or systematic misspellings and/or misspellings and/or misspelled words
and spelling) grammatical errors systematic grammatical errors or grammatical
per page or 8 or grammatical errors per page and no errors in the
more in the entire per page or six or more than five in document.
 document. The more in the entire the entire
readability of the document. Errors document. The
work is seriously distract from the readability of the
hampered by work. work is minimally
errors. interrupted by
errors.

Holistic Rubrics

When using a holistic rubric the assessor judges the level of performance across all criteria
together, instead of separately as is done with an analytic rubric. The steps for creating a holistic
rubric are similar to that of the analytical, but do not describe each criteria and level of
achievement separately as the scorer will be selecting one holistic score for the entire assignment
rather than separate scores for each criterion. In general holistic rubrics are considered faster to
create and implement, however, they do not facilitate analysis and feedback in the same way as
analytical rubrics.

1. Determine all the skills and abilities students need to demonstrate in order to achieve the
learning outcome.

 Clarity, organization, and grammar.

2. Determine the appropriate levels of accomplishment.

 Needs improvement, developing, sufficient, and above average.

3. Write an overall description of how a student would demonstrate the learning outcome
for each level of accomplishment. When creating a holistic rubric this step cannot be
skipped.

Example

 Above average: The audience is able to easily identify the focus of the work and
is engaged by its clear focus and relevant details. Information is presented
logically and naturally. There are no more than two mechanical errors or
misspelled words to distract the reader.
 Sufficient: The audience is easily able to identify the focus of the student work
which is supported by relevant ideas and supporting details. Information is
 presented in a logical easy to follow manner. There is minimal interruption to the
work due to misspellings and/or mechanical errors.
 Developing: The audience can identify the central purpose of the student work
without difficulty and supporting ideas are present and clear. The information is
presented in an orderly fashion that can be followed with little difficulty. There
are some misspellings and/or mechanical errors, but they do not seriously distract
from the work.
 Needs Improvement: The audience cannot clearly or easily identify the central
ideas or purpose of the student work. Information is presented in a disorganized
fashion causing the audience to have difficulty following the author’s ideas. There
are many misspellings and/or mechanical errors that negatively affect the
audience's ability to read the work.