Unit 2-Performance Assessment

A. What and Why of Performance Assessment

1. Meaning and Nature
Performance -based assessment
 is a direct and systematic observation of the actual performance of students
based on a predetermined performance criteria (Zimmaro,2003 as cited by
Gabuyo,2021).
 It is an alternative form of assessing the performance of students that
represents a set of strategies for the application of knowledge, skills, and work
habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to
them (Hibbard,1996).
 According to Brualdi (1998), in her article Implementing Performance
Assessment in the Classroom, performance-based assessment also provides
the teacher the information on how the students understand and apply
knowledge and it allows the teacher to integrate performance assessment in
the instructional process to provide additional learning activities for the
students in the classroom.
Features of Performance-based Assessment according to Gronlund (1998)
1. Greater realism of the tasks.
2. Greater complexity of the tasks
3. Greater time needed for assessment
4. Greater use of judgement in scoring

Purpose of Performance-based Assessment

 It helps the teacher gauge the levels of student understanding
 It helps the teacher to correct any student misunderstandings
 Provide instruction needed to move thinking and learning along
Advantages of Performance-based Assessment
1. It assess complex learning outcomes not measured by paper-and-pencil test.
2. It assesses the process as well as the product.
3. It communicates instructional goals that relate to real world context.
4. It assesses the progress as well as the performance.
5. It involves the students in the process of assessing their own growth.
6. It recognizes that students can express what they know and can do in different ways.
7. Specific, direct, and understandable information about the students are available to
parents.
8. It evaluates the “whole student”.
9. It enhances the professional skills of teachers through collaboration with other teachers.
10. It can establish a framework for observing students that is consistent with the principles
of child development.

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11. It can contribute to a meaningful curriculum planning and the design of developmentally
appropriate educational inventions.

Limitations of Performance of Performance-based Assessment

1. Constructing performance assessment is time consuming.
2. Scoring is often questionable because it is not reliable, most especially if the scoring guide
or rubrics are not properly prepared.
3. It measures only a limited scope of learning objectives.
4. Performance task completion may be discouraging to less able students.
Strength of Performance-based Assessment
1. Clearly identifies and clarifies learning targets.
2. Allows student to exhibit their own skills, talents, and expertise.
3. Advocates constructivist principle of learning.
4. Allow teacher to explore the main goal and processing of teaching and learning process.
5. Uses variety of approaches to student evaluation.

Types of Performance task

Process-based
- Is concerned with the actual task performance rather than the output or product of
an activity.
- Evaluates the actual task performance. It does not emphasize on the output or
product of the activity.

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.

According to Gronlund (1998), use the process when:

1. There is no product
2. The process is orderly and directly observable
3. Correct procedures/steps are crucial to later success.
4. Analysis of procedural steps can help in improving the product; and
5. Learning is at the early stage.

Task Designing (Process-based Assessment)

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.

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 2. Identifying an activity that would entail 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

Product-Oriented assessment
- is a kind of assessment where in the assessor views and scores the final product
made and not on the actual performance of making that product.
- It is concern on the product alone and not on the process. It is more concern to the
outcome or the performance of the learner.

There are also ways to state product-oriented learning competencies. For instance, we can
define these learning competencies for products or outputs in the following way:

LEVEL 1: Does the finished product or project illustrates the minimum expected parts or
functions? (NOVICE)
LEVEL 2: Does the finished product or project contains additional parts and functions on top
of the minimum requirements which tend to enhance the final output? (SKILLED)
LEVEL 3: Does the finished product contains the basic minimum parts and functions, have
the additional features on top of the minimum, and is aesthetically pleasing? (EXPERT)

According to Gronlund (1998), use the product when:

1. Different procedures result in an equally good product:
2. Procedures not available for observation
3. The procedures have been mastered already; and
4. Products have qualities that can be identified and judged

Task Designing (Product-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.
b. APPEAL: The project or activity must be appealing to the students. It should lead
to self-discovery of information by the students.
c. CREATIVITY: The projects need to encourage students to exercise creativity and
divergent thinking. It should lead the students into exploring the various possible ways of
presenting the final output.
d. GOAL-BASED: The teacher must bear in mind that the project is produced 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.

B. Developing Performance Task

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 Teachers are reluctant to use performance-based assessment in the classroom
because they do not have the necessary training to implement such method. According to

Siggs (1994), another reason is because the teachers from previous experiences fail to get
conclusive results. Moreover, many teachers are not willing to employ this kind of
assessment because of its complexity in evaluating the student’s performance. Hence, it is
very important to know how to develop performance-based assessment.

Steps in Developing Performance-based Assessment

1. Define the purpose of the assessment.
The first step a teacher must consider in developing performance-based assessment
is to clearly define the purpose for which the result of the assessment will be used. The
purpose of the assessment is considered in making decision in the subsequent steps of the
process.
2. Determine the skills, learning outcomes, and taxonomy level.
Since there is a limited time in the classroom for the assessment procedures, it is
very important to determine the skills, the learning outcomes of any given instruction. You
must decide which learning outcome requires performance assessment and which one is
appropriate for traditional assessment. Hence, learning outcome or instructional objective
plays a very important role in planning performance assessment.
3. Design and develop activity or performance task.
The next step to consider is to create an activity or task that will allow the students
to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they have learned. Before
identifying the activity and task, you should consider the time allotted for the activity, the
availability of classroom resources, and the data needed to judge the quality of the
students’ performance. The activity and task should be in line with the issues, concepts, or
the problems that are important in the development of the subject matter or learning
instruction.
Kubiszyn and Borich (2007) suggested some questions to get started with the activity
and task.
a. What does the “doing of Mathematics, History, Science, Art, Writing and so forth”
look and feel like to professionals who make their living working in those fields in the real
world?
b. What are the projects and tasks performed by those professionals that be adapted
to
c. What are the roles or habits of mind that those professionals acquire that the
learners re-create in the classroom.

Suggestions for Constructing Performance Task (Gronlund, Linn & Miller,2009)

a. Focus on learning outcomes that require complex cognitive skills and student
performances.
b. Select or develop tasks that represent both content and skills that are central to
important learning outcomes.
c. Minimize the dependence of task performance on skills that are relevant to the
intended purpose of the assessment task.

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 d. Provide the necessary scaffolding for the students to be able to understand the
task and what is expected from their performance.
e. construct task directions so that the student’s task is clearly indicated.

f. Clearly communicate performance expectations in terms of the scoring rubrics by which

the performance will be judged.

Guidelines for Good Performance Task

a. Performance task must be congruent to the purpose of the assessment.

b. Performance task elicits behavior(s) at the level(s) stated in the instructional
outcomes.
c. Performance task is interesting, challenging, and fair to all students.
d. Performance task is authentic; hence, promotes the conveyance of the learning to
the real world.
e. Performance task includes not only important outcomes (performance and
product) that are appropriately assessed.
f. Performance task adequately reflects intended learning outcomes.
g. Performance task is appropriate for the development level of students.
h. The directions of performance task should include what is to be done, how it is
done, and what condition it is done.
i. The directions of performance task should give enough information and context for
successful task completion by all students.

4. Define the Performance Criteria

After determining the activities and the tasks that are to be included in the
performance tasks, the next step in developing the performance-based assessment is to
identify the criteria to be used in the assessment process. Performance criteria are the
specific behaviors that student should perform to properly carry out a performance or
produce a product (Airasian.2000). It can focus on the process, product, or both.
Airasian(2000) suggested the different guidelines for stating performance criteria.
a. Identify the overall performance or task to be assessed and perform it yourself or
imagine yourself performing it.
b. List the important aspects of the performance or product.
c. Try to limit the number of performance criteria, so they can all be observed during
a pupil’s performance.
d. If possible, have groups of teachers think through the important behaviors
included in a task.
e. Express the performance criteria in terms of observable pupil behaviors or product
characteristics.
f. Do not use ambiguous words that may cloud the meaning of the performance
criteria.
g. Arrange the performance criteria in the order in which they are likely to be
observed.
h. Check for existing performance criteria before constructing.

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 Types of Performance Criteria

a. Impact of the performance. It refers to the success of the performance, given

purpose, goals, and the desired results.
b. Work quality and craftmanship. It refers to the overall quality, organization, and
difficulty of the work.
c. Adequacy of method and behavior. It refers to the quality of procedures and
manner of presentation prior to and during the performance.
d. Validity of content. It refers to the correctness of ideas, skills, and materials used.
e. Sophistication of knowledge employed. It refers to the complexity or maturity of
knowledge employed.

Guidelines for Good Judging Criteria (Gallagher 1998)

a. Communicate essential achievement standard of the assessed outcome(s)
b. Operationalize the outcome they intend to reflect
c. Apply across context that calls for similar behavior
d. Focus on current instruction, not prior learning
e. observable
f. Essential for judging performance on the task adequately
g. Communicate to others what constitutes excellence
h. Appropriate for the students.
5. Create the Scoring Rubrics
Scoring rubrics are used when judging the quality of the work of the learners on
performance assessment. They are forms of scoring guide that are used in evaluating the
level of performance of students or products resulting from the performance task.
Scoring rubrics are descriptive scoring schemes that are developed by teachers or
other evaluators to guide in the analysis of the products or process of students’ efforts.
(Moskal,2000)

Types of Rubrics

Holistic rubric is a type of rubric that requires the teacher to score an overall process or
product (Nitko and Mertler, 2001). This means the evaluator provides the overall quality of
the performance of students by yielding a single score to represent a specific category of
accomplishment.
-Holistic rubrics are best to use when there is no single correct answer or response and the
focus is on overall quality, proficiency, or understanding of a specific content or skills.

Table 1: Template for Holistic Rubrics

Score Description
5 Demonstrates complete understanding of the problem. All requirements of task are included in response
4 Demonstrates considerable understanding of the problem. All requirements of task are included.
3 Demonstrates partial understanding of the problem. Most requirements of task are included.

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 2 Demonstrates little understanding of the problem. Many requirements of task are missing.
1 Demonstrates no understanding of the problem.
0 No response/task not attempted.

Analytic Rubrics is a type of rubric that provides information regarding performance in each
component parts of a task, making it useful for diagnosing specific strengths and
weaknesses of the learners (Gareis and Grant,2008).
-Analytic rubrics are particularly useful for problem-solving or application assessments
because a rubric can list a different category for each component of the assessment that
needs to be included, thereby accounting for the complexity of the task. For example, a
rubric for a research paper could include categories for organization, writing, argument,
sources cited, depth of content knowledge, and more. A rubric for a presentation could
include categories related to style, organization, language, content, etc. Students benefit
from receiving rubrics because they learn about their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Table 2: Template for analytic rubrics

Beginning Developing Accomplished Exemplary Score
1 2 3 4
Criteria #1 Description reflecting Description Description reflecting Description reflecting
beginning level of reflecting achievement of highest level of
performance movement toward mastery level of performance
mastery level of performance
performance
Criteria #2 Description reflecting Description Description reflecting Description reflecting
beginning level of reflecting achievement of highest level of
performance movement toward mastery level of performance
mastery level of performance
performance
Criteria #3 Description reflecting Description Description reflecting Description reflecting
beginning level of reflecting achievement of highest level of
performance movement toward mastery level of performance
mastery level of performance
performance
Criteria #4 Description reflecting Description Description reflecting Description reflecting
beginning level of reflecting achievement of highest level of
performance movement toward mastery level of performance
mastery level of performance
performance

Uses of Rubrics (Heide Goodrich Andrade)

a. Rubrics are powerful tools for both teaching and assessment. Rubrics can improve
student performance, as well as monitor it, by making teachers expectations clear and by
showing students how to meet these expectations.
b. Rubrics are useful in that they help students become more thoughtful judges of the
quality of their own and other’s work.

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c. Rubrics reduce the amount of time teachers spend evaluating students’ work,
d. Teachers appreciate rubrics because their accordion nature allows them to accommodate
heterogenous classes.
e. Rubrics are easy to use and to explain.

Development of Scoring Rubrics (Mcmillan,2001)

a. Be sure the criteria focus on improvement aspects of the performance.
b. Match the type rating with the purpose of the assessment.
c. The descriptions of the criteria should be directly observable.
d. The criteria should be written so that students, parents, and others understand them.
e. The characteristics and traits used in the scale should be clearly and specifically defined.
f. Take appropriate steps to minimize scoring error.
g. The scoring system needs to be feasible.

What is GRASPS?

GRASPS is a model for demonstrating performance of understanding using authentic

assessments. It is one of many performances of understanding models but is ideally suited
to the kind of project-based inquiries we do in design. GRASPS represent a framework for
organizing, delivering, and assessing a project-based assessment. The assessment associated
with the inquiry is structured around the following expectations and goals.

Goal: A definition of the problem or goal

Role: Define the role of the student

Audience: Identify the target audience

Situation: This is the context or scenario of the goal

Product: What is created and why it will be created

Standards: Rubrics or success criteria

Benefits of GRASPS
Over the years of organizing and implementing our units this way, we have noticed some
benefits for students and teachers. Many of these observations are from the perspective of
an MYP or DP classroom, but the underlying ideas would benefit any project-based learning
experience.

From the teacher’s perspective, we have noticed:

Develop authentic learning experiences: The overall GRASPS structure allows us to identify
more authentic learning experiences that drive our units of inquiry.

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Clearer presentation of the purpose and content of a project-based inquiry: Because of the
way a GRASPS inquiry is framed, communication of the goals, content, and purpose of the
inquiry is clearer. During planning it is easier for teachers to plan and develop more
authentic

units. This has become particularly important for collaboration between teachers, as most
our units are planned to be taught by several people.

Clarify the roles, perspectives, and responsibilities of students: The GRASPS model clarifies
these aspects of the inquiry. Teachers can choose resources, learning experiences, and
content to support the students’ development in these areas. In particular, the Role has
become an important part of how we frame units to students (see below)

Communicate the expectations of the inquiry: The structure allows for clear
communication of the rubric, assessment expectations, as well as the approaches to
learning that students need to utilize to be successful. This has been particularly important
in recent times when some of our teaching and learning has shifted to remote

Guide the selection of learning experiences, content, and skills necessary for success:
Through planning a unit around the GRASPS framework, teachers can think critically and
creatively about the type of learning experiences that are needed to support the inquiry.
We have started to look more broadly at the skills that re needed, with a particular focus on
the Approaches to Learning (ATLs).

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
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competencies to be evaluated.
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

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for the students

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