Lesson 3

Performance
Assessment
WMSU
CPERS Assessment in Learning 2
Significant Culminating Performance Task and
Success Indicators
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to
demonstrate your knowledge and skills in developing
performance assessment tools that are most applicable to
a particular student outcome. You are considered
successful in this culminating performance task if you
have satisfied the following indicators of success.
 Performance Tasks Success Indicators
Identify the appropriate
Knowing the various types of
performance assessment tool
performance assessment
for a specific performance or
tools
product.
Create a performance
assessment tool that is aligned
Designing performance with the desired learning
assessment tools outcomes (DLO) and the
teaching and learning activities
(TLAS).
Prerequisite of this Lesson
To be able to perform successfully the above culminating
performance tasks, you should have distinguished between
traditional and performance assessments, understood the
processes in setting learning objectives and student
outcomes and in preparing the table of specifications,
identified the different types of performance assessment
tasks, and learned the guidelines in designing performance
assessment tools.
Performance Assessment

Performance assessment is an assessment activity or set

of activities that require students to generate products or
performances that provide direct or indirect evidence of their
knowledge, skills, and abilities in an academic content
domain.

It provides teachers with information about how well a

student understands and applies knowledge and goes beyond
the ability to recall information. It is used for assessing
learning outcomes that involve designing or creating projects
or products such as research papers, art exhibits, reflective
essays, and portfolios.
 On the other hand, performance-based tasks include
actual performances of making those products, such as
carrying out laboratory experiments, exhibiting creative and
artistic talents, such as dancing, painting, and playing a
musical instrument, and demonstrating writing skills through
extemporaneous essay writing, article review, and reflective
papers.

Both product-based and performance-based assessments

provide information about how a student understands and
applies knowledge and involve hands-on tasks or activities
that students must complete individually or in small groups.
Below are examples of product-based and performance-
based assessments:
 Types Examples
A. Product-Based Assessment  
charts, illustrations, graphs, collages, murals,
maps, timeline flows, diagrams, posters,
Visual Products
advertisements, video presentations, art
exhibits
diorama, puzzles, games, sculpture, exhibits,
Kinesthetic Products
dance recital
journals, diaries, logs, reports, abstracts,
letters, thought or a position papers, poems,
Written Products
story, movie/TV scripts, portfolio, essay,
article report, research paper, thesis
audiotapes, debates, lectures, voce
Verbal Products
recording, scripts
B. Performance-Based Assessment  
paper presentation, poster presentation,
individual or group report on assigned topic,
Oral Presentations/Demonstrations
skill demonstration such as baking, teaching,
problem solving
dance, recital, dramatic enactment, prose or
Dramatic/Creative Performances poetry interpretation role playing, playing
musical instruments
debates, mock trial, simulations, interviews,
Public Speaking
panel discussion, storytelling, poem reading
playing basketball, baseball, soccer,
Athletic Skills Demonstration/ Competition
volleyball, and other sports
 Similar to performance assessment is the concept of
authentic assessment. Authentic assessment requires
students to actually demonstrate their skills in applying skills
and knowledge they have learned from class. It involves tasks
that resemble what people do in the real setting or context,
such as doing an actual research, making a case study, giving
a speech, or performing on a stage.
What are the characteristics of a good performance
assessment?
With so many different types of performance assessment tasks
or tools that can be used to measure students' learning outcomes,
deciding which one to use can be confusing and challenging. In
choosing and designing the best performance assessment, it is
good to evaluate its suitability against the following criteria:
1. It is authentic, that is, it includes performance tasks that are
meaningful and realistic.
2. It provides opportunities for students to show both what they
know and how well they can do what they know.
3. It allows students to be involved in the process of evaluating
their own and their peers’ performance and output.
4. It assesses more complex skills.
5. It explains the task, required elements, and scoring criteria to
the students before the start of the activity and the assessment.
1. It is authentic, that is, it includes performance tasks
that are meaningful and realistic.

Performance assessment should present or require tasks

that are realistic and related to everyday life. As it involves an
authentic task, it should convey its purpose and reflect its
relevance to the students, their discipline, and the outside
world as a whole. For example, in an Entrepreneur class
wherein one of the learning outcomes is the ability to develop
a business plan, instead of o giving final exams to test
students' knowledge of concepts, principles, and processes of
developing a business plan, the students will be required to
submit a proposed business plan for a putting up a new
investment.
 This performance task entails students to identify the
market needs and gap plan out the marketing mix (7Ps) and
the 4Ms of operations, and forecast the costs and revenues of
the business. This task allows students to have hands on
operations, and forecast the on experience in performing a
task that is done in the actual world.
2. It provides opportunities for students to show both
what they know and how well they can do what they
know.

Performance assessment should achieve a balanced

approach wherein it gives students opportunities to show their
knowledge-and-skill competencies. Since the main goal of
teaching and learning is for students acquisition and
application of knowledge and skills, course assessments
should therefore help answer the questions "Do the students
know it?” and “How well can they use what they know?” to
determine whether the students have actually achieved this
goal.
 For example, in a Practical Research 2 class, the teacher
may require research output at the end of the course, since
this performance task will not only inform the teacher whether
students learned the different parts of a research paper but
also whether the students can conceptualize a good research
paper, conduct review of related literature, apply appropriate
data gathering procedure and analysis and make valid
interpretations and implications of the results. The main
challenge is for the teachers to choose performance tasks
that can measure both the competencies of “knowing” and
“applying” and a most “creating”.
3. It allows students to be involved in the process of evaluating
their own and their peers’ performance and output.
Performance assessment should allow students to be involved
in the process of evaluating themselves and their peers. It should
give students the opportunity for self-reflection or self-assessment,
as well as to be involved in evaluating their classmates'
performance. Self-assessment allows students to make judgment
about their learning process and products of learning, track their
progress and identify the areas where to focus of improve on. Peer
assessment, on the other hand, allows students to give constructive
feedback about the performance of their classmates or group
mates, which the latter can use to revise or improve their work.
Both assessments require that scoring or grading is based on the
criteria agreed upon by the teacher and the students. The use of a
rubric can facilitate self-assessment and peer assessment.
4. It assesses more complex skills.

Unlike traditional tests that usually assess a single skill

and require simple tasks such as remembering or recalling of
concepts, performance assessment usually taps higher order
cognitive skills to apply knowledge to solve realistic and
meaningful problems. As such performance assessment
allows students to engage in more challenging activities that
require various skills, such as planning and decision-making
problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, and creative
skills, among others.
 For example, instead of giving final exams to assess
students' learning in a marketing class, the teacher may
require the students to conduct a marketing and market
research, come up with a marketing strategy and/or conduct
an actual marketing for a product of their choice. These
performance tasks not only assess students' knowledge of
principles and processes in marketing but also tap their
creativity, planning skills, collaborative skills, communication
skills, and research skills.
5. It explains the task, required elements, and scoring criteria
to the students before the start of the activity and the
assessment.

At the start of the class, it is important that the requirements of

the subject are presented and explained to the students. These
include the required tasks, activities or projects, the expected
quality and level of performance or output, the criteria to be
included for assessment, and the rubric to be used. Ideally,
students should be involved in the whole assessment process from
the very onset, by providing them assessment options, getting them
involved in discussions and decision-making on performance
standards and criteria, allowing them opportunity to give feedback
on teacher-made rubrics and to revise them, and training them on
how to apply rubric for self- and peer assessment.
What are the general guidelines in designing performance
assessment?
The learning outcomes at the end of the course serve as the
bases in designing the performance assessment tasks. With the
learning outcomes identified, the evidence of student learning
that are most relevant for each learning outcome and the
standard or criteria that will be used to evaluate those evidence
are then identified. To guide you in designing performance
assessments, the following questions may be addressed:
1. What are the outcomes to be assessed?
2. What are the capabilities/skills implicit or explicit in the
expected outcomes (e.g., problem-solving, decision-making,
critical thinking, communication skills)?
3. What are the appropriate performance assessment tasks or
tools to measure the outcomes and skills?
4. Are the specific performance tasks aligned with the outcomes
and skills interesting, engaging, challenging, and measurable?
5. Are the performance tasks authentic and representative of real-
world scenarios?
6. What criteria should be included to rate students' performance
level?
7. What are specific performance indicators for each criterion?

Furthermore, the choice of teaching and learning activities is

also of utmost importance in choosing the performance
assessments to use. There should also be an alignment among the
learning outcomes, the teaching learning activities, and assessment
tasks. For example, in a Physical Education-Dance class, the
following three-course comports should be explicitly clear and
linked, as shown below:
 Intended Learning Teaching-learning Performance
Outcomes Activities Assessment Tasks
At the end of the
course, the students    
should be able to:
 Performance
routines and
Lecture, class discussion,
creatively combine Culminating dance class
movement exercises,
variations with recitals, practical test for
dance demonstration,
rhythm coordination, each type of dance,
actual dancing with
correct footwork reflection papers, peer
teacher and partners,
technique, frame, evaluation rating.
collaborative learning
facial and body
expression
 Participate in dance Required attendance and Actual dance
socials and other participation in school and performance in school or
community fitness community dance community programs,
advocacy projects performances reaction/reflection papers
How do you conduct performance assessment?

Unlike in most traditional tests wherein student responses

can be scored using an answer key, performance assessments
require the teacher’s and peers’ judgment when evaluating the
resulting products and performances. This necessitates using a
set of predetermined criteria that are aligned with desired
targeted standards or desired learning outcomes.
 The following are the basic steps in planning and
implementing performance-based or product-based
assessments:
1. Define the purpose of performance or product-based
assessment. The teacher may ask the following questions.
 What concept, skill, or knowledge of the students should be
assessed?
 At what level should the students be performing?
 What type of knowledge is being assessed (e.g.,
remembering to create)?
2. Choose the activity/output that you will assess. The
required performance or output should be feasible given the
time constraints, availability of resources, and amount of
data/materials needed to make an informed decision about
the quality of a student’s performance or product. The
performance tasks should be interesting, challenging,
achievable, and with sufficient depth and breadth so that valid
evaluation about students’ learning can be made.
3. Define the criteria. Criteria are guidelines or rules for
judging student responses, products, or performances. Before
conducting the assessment, the performance criteria should
be predetermined. The set of criteria should be discussed and
agreed upon by the teacher and the students. Performance
criteria are important since they define for the students the
types of behavior or attributes of a product that are expected,
as well as allow the teacher and the students to evaluate a
performance or product as objectively and as consistent as
possible.
There are four types of criteria that can be used for evaluating
student performances:
a. Content criteria – to evaluate the degree of a student's
knowledge and understanding of facts, concepts, and
principles related to the topic/ subject;
b. Process criteria – to evaluate the proficiency level of
performance of a skill or process;
c. Quality criteria – to evaluate the quality of a product or
performance; and
d. Impact criteria – to evaluate the overall results or effects
of a product or performance.
4. Create the performance rubric. A rubric is an assessment
tool that indicates the performance expectations for any kind
of student work. It generally contains three essential features:
(1) criteria or the aspects of performance that will be
assessed, (2) performance descriptors or the characteristics
associated with each dimension or criterion, and (3)
performance levels that identifies students' level of mastery
within each criterion. There are different types of rubrics:
A. Holistic rubric – In holistic rubric, student performance or
output is evaluated by applying all criteria simultaneously,
thus providing a single score based on overall judgment
about the quality of student's work
B. Analytic rubric – In analytic rubric, student's work is
evaluated by using each criterion separately, thus providing
specific feedback about the student's performance or product
along several dimensions
C. General rubric – contains criteria that are general and can
be applied across tasks (e.g., the same rubric that can be
used to evaluate oral presentation and research output)
D. Task-specific rubric – contains criteria that are unique to a
specific task (i.e., a rubric that can only be used for oral
presentation and another rubric applicable only for research
output)
5. Assess student's performance/product. In assessing a
student's work, it is important to adhere to the criteria set and
use the rubric developed. This is to ensure objective,
consistent, and accurate evaluation of student's performance.
It is also important to provide specific and meaningful
feedback and explanation to students on how they have
performed the tasks, clarifying to them what they understand,
what they don't understand, and where they can improve.
PROCESS-ORIENTED,
PERFORMANCE-
BASED ASSESSMENT
 Too often, we tend to assess students’ learning through
their outputs or products or through some kind of traditional
testing. 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 reveal in performance over time. Learning is a complex
process. It entails not only what students know but 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 as to reveal change,
growth, and increasing degrees of integration. Such an
approach aims for a more complete and accurate picture of
learning.
1. 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.
1.1 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:
 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 to:

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 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.
2. 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.
• 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.

Example: The topic is on understanding biological

diversity.
Possible Task Design; Bring the students to a pond or
creek. Ask them to find all living organisms they can find living
near the pond or creek. Also, bring them to the school
playground to find as many living organisms they can.
Observe how the students will develop a system for finding
such organisms, classifying the organisms and concluding the
differences in biological diversity of the two sites.
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.
Recitation Rubrics
Criteria   1 2 3
Numbers of
appropriate hand X1 1-4 5-9 10-12
gestures
Lots of No apparent
Appropriate facial Few inappropriate
X1 appropriate facial inappropriate
expression facial expression
expression facial expression
Can vary voice
Monotone voice Can easily vary
Voice in inflection X2 inflection with
used voice inflection
difficulty
Recitation fully
Incorporate proper Recitation captures
Recitation has
ambiance through X3 contains very little ambiance through
some feelings
feelings in the voice feelings feelings 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 level of performance.

For each criterion, the evaluator applying the rubric can

determine to what degree the students 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 teachers mind, is weighted three times (3x)
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.
Why Include Levels of Performance?

1. Clearer Expectations
It is very useful for the students and the teacher if the
criteria are identified and communicated prior to completion of
the task. Students what is expected of them and teachers
know what to look for in student performance. Similarly,
students better understand what good (or bad) performance
on a task looks like if levels of performance are identified,
particularly if descriptors for each level are included.
2. More consistent and objective assessment
In addition to better communicating teacher expectations,
levels of performance permit the teacher to more consistently
and objectively distinguish between good and bad
performance, or between superior, mediocre and poor
performance, when evaluating student work.

3. Better feedback
Furthermore, identifying specific levels of student
performance allows the teacher to provide more detailed
feedback to students. The teacher and the students can more
clearly recognize areas that need improvement.
Analytic Versus Holistic Rubrics

For a particular task you assign students, do you want to

be able to assess how well the students perform on each
criterion, or do you want to get a more global picture of the
students’ performance on the entire task? The answer to that
question is likely to determine the type of rubric you choose to
create or use: Analytic or holistic.
Analytic Rubric
Most rubrics, like the Recitation rubric mentioned, are analytic
rubrics. An analytic rubric articulates levels of performance for each
criterion so the teacher can assess student performance on each
criterion. Using the Recitation rubric, a teacher could assess
whether a student has done a poor, good or excellent job of
“creating ambiance” and distinguish that from how well the student
did on “voice inflection.”

Holistic Rubric
In contrast, a holistic rubric does not list separate levels of
performance for each criterion. Instead, a holistic rubric assigns a
level of performance by assessing performance cross multiple
criteria as a whole. For example, the analytic research rubric above
can be turned into a holistic rubric:
3 – Excellent Speaker
 Included 10-12 changes in hand gesture
 No apparent inappropriate facial expressions
 Utilized proper voice inflection
 Can create proper ambiance for the poem
2 – Good Speaker
 Included 5-10 changes in hand gesture
 few inappropriate facial expressions
 Had some inappropriate voice inflection changes
 Almost creating proper ambiance
1 – Poor Speaker
 Included 1-4 changes in hand gesture
 Lots of inappropriate facial expressions
 Used monotone voice
 Did not create proper ambiance
When to choose analytic rubric

Analytic rubrics are more common because teachers

typically want to assess each criterion separately, particularly
for assignments that involve a larger number of criteria, it
becomes more and more difficult to assign a level of
performance in a holistic rubric as the number of criteria
increases. As student performance increasingly varies across
criteria it becomes more difficult to assign an appropriate
holistic category to the performance. Additionally, an analytic
rubric better handles weighting of criteria.
When to choose holistic rubric

So, when may you use a holistic rubric? Holistic rubric tends
to be used when a quick or gross judgment needs to be made. If
the assessment is a minor one, such as brief homework
assignment, it may be sufficient to apply holistic judgment (e-g,
check, check-plus, or no-check) to quickly review student work.
But holistic rubrics can also be employed for more substantial
assignments. On score tasks it is not easy to evaluate
performance on one criterion independently of performance on a
different criterion. For example, many writing rubrics are holistic
because it is not always easy to disentangle clarity from
presentation. Alternatively, if two criteria are nearly inseparable,
the combination of the two can be treated as a single criterion in
an analytic rubrics.
How Many Levels of Performance Should I Include in my
Rubric?

There is no specific number of levels a rubric should or

should not possess. It will vary depending on the task and
your needs. A rubric can have as few as two levels of
performance (e.g., checklist) or as many as you decide is
appropriate. Also, it is not true that there must be an even
number or odd number of levels. Again, that will depend on
the situation.
Generally, it is better to start with a smaller number of
levels of performance for a criterion and then expand if
necessary.
 makes 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 “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 capture 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 eye
Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always
contact
 There is no “right” answer as to how many levels of
performance there should be for a criterion in an analytic
rubric; that will depend on the nature of the task assigned, the
criteria being evaluated, the students involve and your
purposes and preferences. For example, another teacher
might decide to leave off the “always” level in the above
rubrics because “usually” is as much as normally can be
expected or even wanted in some instances. Thus, the “make
eye contact” portion of the rubric for that teacher might be:

makes eye
Never Rarely Sometimes Usually
contact
 We recommend that fewer levels of performance be
included initially because such is:

• Easier and quicker to administer

• Easier to explain to students (and others)
• Easier to expand than larger rubrics to shrink
PRODUCT-ORIENTED,
PERFORMANCE-
BASED ASSESSMENT
 The role of assessment in teaching happens to be a hot
issue in education today. This has led to an increasing interest
performance-based education.” Performance-based
education poses 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 a 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).
1. Product-Oriented Learning Competencies
Student performances can be defined as targeted tasks that
lead to a product or overall learning outcome. Products can
include a wide range of student works that target specific skills.
Some examples include communication skills such as those
demonstrated in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, or
psychomotor skills requiring physical abilities to perform a given
task. Target tasks can also include behavior expectations
targeting complex tasks that students are expected to achieve.
Using rubrics is one way that teachers can evaluate or assess
student performance or proficiency in any given task as it relates
to a final product or learning outcome. Thus, rubrics can provide
valuable information about the degree to which a student has
achieved a defined learning outcome based on specific criteria
based 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 illustrates the

minimum expected parts or functions? (Beginner)
• Level 2: Does the finished product or project contains
additional parts and functions on top of the minimum
requirement which tend to enhance the final product?
(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 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
students 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, and Cardinal Sin. -
(minimum–specifications)
2. Contain remarks and captions for the illustration’s made by
the student himself for the roles played by the characters
of EDSA I People Power – (skilled level)
3. Be presentable, complete, informative and pleasing to the
reader of the scrapbook – (expert level)
 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 student
must:
1. Possess no more than five (5) errors in spelling (minimum
specifications)
2. Possess no more than five (5) errors in spelling observing
proper format based on the document to be typewritten –
(skilled level)
3. Possess no more than five (5) errors in spelling, has the proper
format, and is readable and presentable – (expert level)
 Notice that in all of the above examples, product-oriented
performance based learning competencies are evidence-
based. The teacher needs concrete evidence that the
students has achieved a certain level of competence based
on submitted products and projects.
2. 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 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 project 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 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)
Exercises:

Design a project or task for each of the following learning

objectives:
1. Analyze the events leading to Rizal’s martyrdom
2. Differentiate between monocotyledon and dicotyledon
3. Find an approximate value of the gravitational constant, g
4. Illustrate the concept of “diffusion
5. Illustrate the concept of “osmosis”
6. Illustrate the cultural diversity in the Philippines
7. Identify similarities and differences of at least two major
dialects in the Philippines.
3. Scoring Rubrics

Scoring rubrics 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). 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.
3.1 Criteria Setting

The criteria for scoring rubrics are statements which

identify “what really counts” in the final output. The following
are the most often used major criteria for product assessment.
 Quality
 Creativity
 Comprehensiveness
 Accuracy
 Aesthetics
 From the major criteria, the next task is to identify sub-
statements that would make the major criteria more focused
and objectives. For instance, if we were scoring an essay on:
“Three Hundred Years of Spanish Rules in the Philippines”,
the major criterion “Quality” may possess the following sub-
statements:
• Interrelates the chronological events in an interesting
manner
• Identifies the key players in each period of the Spanish rule
and the roles that they played
• Succeeds in relating the history of Philippine Spanish rule
(related as Professional, Not quite professional, and
Novice)
 The example below displays a scoring rubric that was
developed to aid in the evaluation of essays written by college
students in the classroom (based loosely on Leydens &
Thompson, 1997).

Example of a scoring rubric designed to evaluate college writing samples.

Major Criteria: Meets Expectations for a First Draft of a Professional Report
Sub statements:
* The document can be easily followed. A combination of the following are
apparent in the document:
1. effective transitions are used throughout
2. a professional format is used
3. the graphics are descriptive and clearly support the document's purpose
* The document is clear and concise and appropriate grammar is used
throughout.
Adequate
* The document can be easily followed. A combination of the following are
apparent in
the document:
1. basic transitions are used
2. a structured format is used
3. some supporting graphics are provided, but are not clearly explained
* The document contains minimal distractions that appear in a combination
of the
following forms:
1. flow in thought
2. graphical presentations
3. grammar/mechanics
Needs Improvement
* Organization of document is difficult to follow due to a combination of the
following:
1. inadequate transitions
2. rambling format
3. insufficient or irrelevant information
4. ambiguous graphics
* The document contains numerous distractions that appear in a combination
of the
following forms:
1. flow in thought
2. graphical presentations
3. grammar/mechanics
Inadequate
* There appears to be no organization of the document's contents.
* Sentences are difficult to read and understand.
 The scoring rubrics in this particular example exemplifies
what is called “holistic scoring rubric”. It will be noted that
each score category describes the characteristics of a
response that would receive the respective score. Describing
the characteristics of responses within each score category
increases the likelihood that two independent evaluators
would assign the same score to a given response. In effect,
this increases the objectivity of the assessment procedure
using rubrics. In the language of test and measurement, we
are actually increasing the "inter-rater reliability“.
When are scoring rubrics an appropriate evaluation
technique?
Grading essays is just one example of performances that
may be evaluated using scoring rubrics. There are many other
instances in which scoring rubrics may be used successfully:
evaluate group activities, extended projects and oral
presentations (e.g., Chicago Public Schools, 1999; Danielson,
1997a; 1997b; Schrock, 2000; Moskal, 2000).
Also, rubrics scoring cuts across disciplines and subject
matter for they are equally appropriate to the English,
Mathematics and Science classrooms (e.g.. Chicago Public
Schools 1999, State of Colorado, 1999, Danielson, 1997a;
1997b; Danielson & Marquez, 1998, Schrock, 2000). Where and
when a scoring rubric is used does not depend on the grade
level or subject, but rather on the purpose of the assessment.
Other Methods
Authentic assessment schemes apart from scoring rubrics
e in the arsenal of a teacher. For example, checklists may be
used rather than scoring rubrics in the evaluation of essays.
Checklists enumerate a set of desirable characteristics for a
certain product the teacher marks those characteristics which
are actually observed. As such, checklists are an appropriate
choice for evaluation when information that is sought is limited
to the determination of whether or not specific criteria have
been met. On the other hand, scoring rubrics are based on
descriptive scales and support the evaluation the extent to
which criteria have been met.
 Scoring rubrics are one of many alternatives available for
evaluating student work. Scoring rubric responds to this concern
by providing descriptions at each level as to what is expected.
These descriptors assist the students in understanding why they
received the score that they need to do to improve their future
performances. Whether a scoring rubric is an appropriate
evaluation technique is dependent upon the purpose of the
assessment. Scoring rubrics provide at least two benefits in the
evaluation process. First, they support the examination of the
extent to which the specified criteria has been reached. Second,
they provide feedback to students concerning how to improve
their performances. If these benefits are consistent with the
purpose of the assessment, than a scoring rubrics is likely to be
an appropriate evaluation technique.
General versus Task-Specific

In the development of scoring rubrics, it is well bear in

mind that it can be used to assess or evaluate specific tasks
or general or broad category of tasks. For instance, suppose
that we are interested in assessing the student’s oral
communication skills. A general scoring rubric may be
developed and used to evaluate each of the oral
presentations given by that student. Scoring rubric have this
advantage of instantaneously providing mechanism for
immediate feedback.
 In contrast, suppose the main purpose of the oral
presentation is to determine the students’ knowledge of the
facts surrounding the EDSA I revolution, perhaps a specific
scoring rubric would be necessary. A general scoring rubric for
evaluating a sequence of presentation may not be adequate
since, events such as EDSA I and EDSA II differ on the
surrounding factors (that caused the revolutions) and the
ultimate outcomes of these events. Thus, to evaluate the
students’ knowledge of these events. It will be necessary to
develop specific rubrics scoring guide for each presentations.
Process of Developing Scoring Rubrics
The development of scoring rubrics goes through a
process. The first step in the process entails the identification
of the qualities and attributes that the teacher wishes to
observe in the students’ outputs that would demonstrate their
level of proficiency. These qualities and attributes form the top
level of the scoring criteria for the rubrics. Once done, a
decision has to be made whether a holistic or an analytical
rubric would be more appropriate.
If an analytical scoring rubric is created, then each
criterion is considered separately as descriptions of the
different score levels are developed. This process results in
separate descriptive scoring schemes for each evaluation
factor.
 For holistic scoring rubrics, the collection of criteria is
considered throughout the construction of each level of the
scoring rubric and the result is a single descriptive scoring
scheme.
After defining the criteria for the top level of performance,
the evaluators’ attention may be turned to defining the criteria
for lowest level of performance. What type of performance
would suggest a very limited understanding of the concepts
that are being assessed?
The contrast between the criteria for top level performance
and bottom level performance is likely to suggest appropriate
criteria for middle level of performance. This approach would
result in three score levels.
 If greater distinctions are desired, then comparisons can
be made between the criteria for each existing score level.
The contrast between levels is likely to suggest criteria that
may be used to create score levels that fall between the
existing score levels.
This comparison process can be used until the desired
number of score levels is reached or until no further
distinctions can be made. If meaningful distinctions between
the score categories cannot be made. Then additional score
categories should not be created (Brookhart, 1999). It is better
to have a few meaningful score categories than to have many
score categories that are difficult or impossible to distinguish.
 Each score category should be defined using descriptions
of the work rather than judgments about the work (Brookhart,
1999). For example, “students mathematical calculations
contain no errors,” is preferable over, “students calculations
are good.” The phrase “are good” requires the evaluation to
make a judgment whereas the phrase “no errors” is
quantifiable.
In order to determine whether a rubric provides adequate
descriptions, another teacher may be asked to use the
scoring rubric to evaluate a sub-set of student responses.
Differences between the scores assigned by the original
rubric developer and the second scorer will suggest how the
rubric may be further clarified.
 If the scores assigned by teachers differ greatly, then such
would suggest a way to refine the scoring rubrics we have
developed. It may be necessary to clarify the scoring rubrics
so that they would mean the same thing to different scores.
Resources
Currently, there is a broad range of resources available to
teachers who wish to use scoring rubrics in their classrooms. These
resources differ both in the subject that they cover and the level that
they are designed to assess. The examples provided below are
only a small sample of the information that is available.
For K-12 teachers, the State of Colorado (1998) has developed
an on-line set of general, holistic scoring rubrics that are designed
for the evaluation of various writing assessments. The Chicago
public Schools (1999) maintain an extensive electronic list of
analytic and holistic scoring rubrics that span the broad array of
subjects represented throughout K-12 education. For the
mathematics teachers, Danielson has developed a collection of
reference books that contain scoring rubrics that are appropriate to
the elementary, middle school and high school mathematics
classrooms (1997a, 1997b; Danielson & Marquez, 1998).
 Resources are also available to assist college instructors
who are interested in developing and using scoring rubrics in
their classrooms. Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators (2000)
contains electronic materials for both the pre-college and the
college classroom. In the Art and Science of Classroom
Assessment: The Missing Part of Pedagogy, Brookhart (1999)
provides a brief, but comprehensive review of the literature on
assessment in the college classroom. This includes a
description of scoring rubrics and why their use is increasing
in the college classroom. Moskal (1999) has developed a web
site that contains links to a variety of college assessment
resources, including scoring rubrics.
 The resources described represent only a fraction of those
that are available. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment
and Evaluation [ERIC/AE] provides several additional useful
web sites. One of these, Scoring Rubrics Definitions &
Constructions (2000b), specifically addresses questions that
are frequently asked with regard to scoring rubrics. This site
also provides electronic links to web resources and
bibliographic references to books and articles that discuss
scoring rubrics. For more recent developments within
assessment and evaluation, a search can be completed on
the abstracts of papers that will soon be available through
ERIC/AE (2000a). This site also contains a direct link to
ERIC/AE abstracts that are specific to scoring rubrics.
 Search engines that are available on the web may be used
to locate additional electronic resources. When using this
approach, the search criteria should be as specific as
possible. Generic searches that use the terms “rubrics” or
“scoring rubrics” will yield a large volume of references. When
seeking information on scoring rubrics from the web, it is
advisable to use an advanced search and specify the grade
level, subject area and topic of interest. If more resources are
desired than result from this conservative approach, the
search criteria can be expanded.
 Chapter 3
Performance Assessment
Reporters:
Clarete, Maria Theresa A.
Climaco, Francis F.
Diaz, Nichole Dianne D.
Elisan, Kim Nicole S.
Fegi, Jolino R.
Manuel, Aprilyn A.
Manuel, Jeanrose T.
Pioquinto, Joshua V.
Santos, Mary Cristelle Joy A.
BPED 3A