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Performance Assessment of Process and Product: Learning Outcomes
Performance Assessment of Process and Product: Learning Outcomes
Performance Assessment of Process and Product: Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes:
At the end you are expected to:
a) Differentiate process-oriented and product-oriented performance-based
assessment;
b) Create learning competencies and scoring rubric for process and
product-oriented performance-based assessment and
c) Discuss the importance of scoring rubric.
Simply put, performance assessment measures and evaluates what students can actually
do in terms of process, product, or both. A process usually involves a series of steps to be
followed. A product involves an output usually a tangible one.
• Examples of process are steps in cooking chop suey, operating an overland projector, or
operating a TV set.
• Examples of product are a formal theme, a diagram, a circle graph, a weather map, or a
dress.
• Examples of both process and product are cooking chop suey (wherein both the steps
observed and the dish prepared can be assessed)
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
When the product is measured and evaluated, these guidelines are worth considering:
• A variety of procedures may be employed to come up with an equally good and
acceptable product.
• The process is unavailable at the moment.
• The procedure has already been mastered very well.
• The resulting product possesses qualities or characteristics that can be identified
and judged.
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Too often, we tend to assess students’ learning through their outputs or products or
through some kind of traditional testing. However, it is important to assess not only these
competencies but also the processes which the students underwent in order to arrive at these
products or outputs. It is possible to explain why the student’s outputs are as they are through
an assessment of the processes which they did in order to arrive at the final product. This
Chapter is concerned with process-oriented, performance-based assessment. Assessment is
not an end in itself but a vehicle for educational improvement. Its effective practice, then, begins
with and enacts a vision of the kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help
them achieve.
Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as
multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. Learning is a complex
process. It entails not only what students know but what they can do with what they know; it
involves not only knowledge and abilities but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect
both academic success and performance beyond the classroom. Assessment should reflect
these understandings by employing a diverse array of methods, including those that call for
actual performance, using them over time so ass to reveal change, growth, and increasing
degrees of integration. Such an approach aims for a more complete and accurate picture of
learning.
Learning Competencies
The learning objectives in process-oriented performance-based assessment are stated
in directly observable behaviors of the students. Competencies are defined as groups or clusters
of skills abilities 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 given below:
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Notice that the objective starts 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 observable behaviors when reciting a poem. The specific objectives 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
consists 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 expressions and
hand gestures;
• Construct an equilateral triangle given three non-collinear points;
• Draw and color a leaf with green crayon.
Task Designing
Learning tasks need to be carefully planned. In particular, the teacher must ensure that
the particular learning process to be observed contributes to the overall understanding of the
subject or course. Some generally accepted standards for designing a task include:
• Identifying an activity that would highlight the competencies to be evaluated, e.g.
reciting a poem, writing an essay, manipulating the microscope etc.
• 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.
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• 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.
The role of assessment in teaching happens to be a hot issue in education today. This
has led to an increasing interest in “performance-based education”. Performance-based
education poses a challenge for teachers to design instruction that is task-oriented. The trend is
based on the premise that learning needs to be connected to the lives of the students through
relevant tasks that focus on students’ ability to use their knowledge and skills in meaningful ways.
In this case, performance-based tasks require performance-based assessments in which the
actual student performance is assessed through a product, such as a completed project or work
that demonstrates levels of task achievement. At times, performance-based assessment has
been used interchangeably with “authentic assessment” and “alternative assessment”. In all
cases, performance-based assessment has led to the use of variety of alternative ways of
evaluating student progress (journals, checklists, portfolios, projects, rubrics, etc.) as compared
to more traditional methods of measurement (paper-and-pencil testing).
Thus, rubrics can provide valuable information about the degree to which a student has achieved
a defined learning outcome based on specific criteria that defined the framework for evaluation.
The learning competencies associated with products or outputs are linked with an
assessment of the level of “expertise” manifested by the product. Thus, product-oriented learning
competencies target at least three (3) levels: novice or beginner’s level, skilled level, and expert
level. Such levels correspond to Bloom’s taxonomy in the cognitive domain in that they represent
progressively higher levels of complexity in the thinking processes.
There are other ways to state product-oriented learning competencies. For instance, we
can define learning competencies for products or outputs in the following way:
• Level 1: Does the finished product or project illustrate the minimum expected parts
or functions? (Beginner)
• Level 2: Does the finished product or project contain additional parts and functions
on top of the minimum requirements which tend to enhance the final output?
(Skilled level)
• Level 3: Does the finished product contain the basic minimum parts and functions,
have additional features on top of the minimum, and is aesthetically pleasing?
(Expert level)
Example: The desired product is a representation of a cubic prism made out of cardboard
in an elementary geometry class.
Learning Competencies: The final product submitted by the student must:
1. Possess the correct dimensions (5” x 5” x 5”) – (minimum specifications)
2. Be sturdy, made of durable cardboard and properly fastened together –
(skilled specifications)
3. Be pleasing to the observer, preferably properly colored for aesthetic
purposes – (expert level)
Example: The product desired is a scrapbook illustrating the historical event called
EDSA I People Power
Learning Competencies: The scrapbook presented by the students must:
1. Contain pictures, newspaper clippings and other illustrations for the main
characters of EDSA I People Power namely: Corazon Aquino, Fidel V.
Ramos, Juan Ponce Enrile, Ferdinand E. Marcos, Cardinal Sin. – (minimum
specifications)
2. Contain remarks and captions for the illustrations made by the student himself
for the roles played by the characters of EDSA I People Power – (skilled
level)
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Performance-based assessment for products and projects can also be used for assessing
outputs of short-term tasks such as the one illustrated below for outputs in a typing class.
Example: The desired output consists of the output in a typing class.
Learning Competencies: The final typing outputs of the students must:
1. Possess no more than five (5) errors in spelling – (minimum specifications)
2. Possess no more than 5 errors in spelling while observing proper format based
on the document to be typewritten – (skilled level)
3. Possess no more than 5 errors in spelling, has the proper format, and is
readable and presentable – (expert level)
Task Designing
How should a teacher design a task for product-oriented performance-based assessment?
The design of the task in this context depends on what the teacher desires to observe as outputs
of the students. The concepts that may be associated with task designing include:
a) Complexity. The level of complexity of the project needs to be within the range of ability
of the students. Projects that are too simple tend to be uninteresting for the students while
projects that are too complicated will most likely frustrate them.
b) Appeal. The project or activity must be appealing to the students. It should be interesting
enough so that students are encouraged to pursue the task to completion. It should lead
to self-discovery of information by the students.
c) Creativity. The project needs to encourage students to exercise creativity and divergent
thinking. Given the same set of materials and projects inputs, how does one best present
the project? It should lead the students into exploring the various possible ways of
presenting the final output.
d) Goal-Based. Finally, the teacher must bear in mind that the project is produced in order
to attain a learning objective. Thus, projects are assigned to students not just for the sake
of producing something but for the purpose of reinforcing learning.
Example: Paper folding is a traditional Japanese art. However, it can be used as an activity
to teach the concept of plane and solid figures in Geometry. Provide the students with a given
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number of colored papers and ask them to construct as many plane and solid figures from
these papers without cutting them (by paper folding only)
SCORING RUBRIC
What is a Scoring Rubric?
➢ A scoring rubric is an assessment tool that guides the evaluation of the products or
processes of students’ efforts. It is a set of criteria and standards that match
instructional objectives.
➢ Rubric is a scoring scale used to assess student performance along a task-specific
set of criteria.
➢ Scoring rubric are descriptive scoring schemes that are developed by teachers or
other evaluators to guide the analysis of the products or processes of students’
efforts (Brookhart, 1999).
When to use a Scoring rubric?
➢ It is utilized to assess students’ performance on papers, projects and other
assignments.
➢ In measuring student performance against a pre-determined set of criteria.
➢ Scoring rubrics are typically employed when a judgment of quality is required and may
be used to evaluate a broad range of subjects and activities.
Teachers who rely on scoring rubric to evaluate a process or a product can share
the tool with their students at the time the assignment is given. Students have a clear grasp of
the relevance of the assignment to course content and objectives. Both teacher and student
participate in the assessment process. Assessment becomes transparent. The students knows
what criteria must be met to achieve a desired grade.
Voice Inflection X2 Monotone voice used Can vary voice Can easily vary
inflection with voice inflection
difficulty
Incorporate X3 Recitation contains very little Recitation has Recitation fully
proper feelings some feelings captures
ambiance ambiance
through feelings through feelings
in the voice in the voice
As in the given example, a rubric is comprised of two components: criteria and levels of
performance. Each rubric has at least two criteria and at least two levels of performance. The
criteria, characteristics of good performance on a task, are listed in the left-hand column in the
illustrated rubric (number of hand gestures, appropriate facial features, voice inflection and
ambiance.) Actually, as is common in rubrics, a short hand is used for each criterion to make it
fit easily into the table. The full criteria are statements of performance such as “include a
sufficient number of hand gestures” and “recitation captures the ambiance through appropriate
feelings and tone in the voice”.
For each criterion, the evaluator applying the rubric can determine to what degree the
student has met the criterion, i.e., the level of performance. In the given rubric, there are three
levels of performance for each criterion. For example, the recitation can contain lots of
inappropriate, few inappropriate or no inappropriate hand gestures.
Finally, the illustrated rubric contains a mechanism for assigning a score to each project.
(Assessments and their accompanying rubrics can be used for purposes other than evaluation
and, thus, do not have to have points or grades attached to them.) In the second-to-left column
a weight is assigned each criterion. Students can receive 1, 2 or 3 points for “number of sources”.
But appropriate ambiance, more important in this teacher’s mind, is weighted three times (x3)
as heavily. So, students can receive 3, 6 or 9 points (i.e., 1,2 or 3 times 3) for the level of
appropriateness in this task.
Descriptors
The rubric includes another common, but not a necessary, component of rubrics –
descriptors. Descriptors spell out what is expected of students at each level of performance for
each criterion. In the given example, “lots of inappropriate facial expressions,” “monotone voice
used” are descriptors. A descriptor tells students more precisely what performance looks like at
each level and how their work may be distinguished from the work of others for each criterion.
Similarly, the descriptors help the teacher more precisely and consistently distinguish between
student work.
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The general scoring rubric may be used to any topic (process) while the specific scoring
rubric indicates a particular topic. The latter is focused on a specific and definite topic or task to
be evaluated.
3 – Excellent Speaker
• Included 10 – 12 changes in hand gestures
• No apparent inappropriate facial expressions
• Utilized proper voice inflection
• Can create proper ambiance for the poem
2 – Good Speaker
• Included 5-9 changes in hand gestures
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Thus, start small. For example, in an oral presentation rubric, amount of eye contact
might be an important criterion. Performance on that criterion could be judged along three
levels of performance.
Makes an eye contact with audience Never Sometimes Always
Although these three levels may not capture all the variations in student performance
on the criterion, it may be sufficient discrimination for your purposes. Or, at the least, it is a place
to start. Upon applying the three levels of performance, you might discover that you can
effectively group your students’ performance in these three categories. Furthermore, you might
discover that the labels of “never”, “sometimes” and “always” sufficiently communicate to your
students the degree to which they can improve on making eye contact.
On the other hand, after applying the rubric you might discover that you cannot
effectively discriminate among student performances with just three levels of performance.
Perhaps, in your view, many students fall in between never and sometimes, or between
sometimes and always, and neither label accurately captures their performance. So, at this point,
you may decide to expand the number of levels of performance to include never, rarely,
sometimes, usually and always.
Makes an eye contact with audience Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always
There is no “right” answer as to how many levels of performance there should be for
criterion in an analytic rubric; that will depend on the nature of the task assigned, the criteria
being evaluated, the students involved and your purposes and preferences. For example,
another teacher might decide to leave off the “always” level in the above rubric because “usually”
is as much as normally can be expected or even wanted in some instances. Thus, the “makes
eye contact” portion of the rubric for that teacher might be.