28

M O D U L E

Developing Performance Assessments

n Presentations

n Projects

n Portfolios
 

A Broader View of Assessment

n Performance Assessment

n Authentic Assessment

Performance Assessment

Outline Learning Goals

 

1. Define performance assessment and provide examples of the formative and summative uses of performance assessment.

2. Define authentic assessment and identify its essential characteristics.

 

3. Describe the three major types of performance assessment and provide a rationale for using each type.

Summary Key Concepts Case Studies: Reflect and Evaluate
 

Evaluating Performance Assessments

n Checklists

n Rating Scales

n Rubrics

4. Describe the three methods of systematically evaluating students’ performances.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Performance Assessment
 

5.  Discuss the general advantages and disadvantages of performance assessments.

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A BROADER VIEW OF ASSESSMENT

Since the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, educators have been required to use standardized tests for accountability purposes, but they also recognize that narrow test formats and inappropriate uses of standardized testing negatively affect the quality of instruction and student learning (Resnick & Resnick, 1992; Shepard, 2006). Dissatisfaction with the limitations of testing has led national policymakers, individuals responsible for state- and district-level assessments, and teachers interested in better uses of assessment in their own classrooms to consider assessment alternatives that give students the opportunity to show what they can “do,” as well as what they know. Current trends in assessment are moving toward (McMillan, 2007; National Research Council, 2001):
 

n using multiple forms of assessment,

n assessing a broader range of abilities and talents,

n assessment as an integral part of instruction, and

n assessment tasks that are relevant to real life or represent tasks common to a particular discipline.
 

In this module, we’ll examine the ways performance assessment in the classroom can expand teachers’ view of what students know and can do and allows them to assess students in a multidimensional way.
 

Performance Assessment

Performance assessment is any form of assessment that requires students to carry out an activity (process) or develop a product in order to demonstrate skill or knowledge (Airasian, 2005; Perlman, 2002). It requires students to actually demonstrate proficiency rather than simply answer questions about proficiency, and it asks students to perform, create, produce, or do something that involves the use of higher-level problem-solving skills (Gronlund, 2006). Performance assessments can be completed individually or as part of a group, and they may have oral and written components.

Formative versus summative uses. Like traditional forms of assessment, performance assessments can have both formative and summative uses. Consider these performance assessments:

1. A band director listens to each flute player’s performance and provides suggestions for improvement.
2. A PE teacher watches a student shoot a free throw and then offers suggestions on physical stance and hand and arm movements.

3. An industrial technology teacher observes students as they use a drill press to determine whether they are operating the machinery safely.

These formative assessments are used to plan for instruction and to monitor progress during instruction throughout the grading period. The purpose of the assessment is to improve student performance by providing feedback in the moment.

Teachers also can use performance assessments as a summative assessment to assess achievement at the end of an instruction period. Consider these performance assessments again:

1. The band director listens to each flute player perform in order to assign chairs in band for the next nine weeks.
2. The PE teacher watches a student playing basketball in order to rate the adequacy of the student’s skill and participation.

3. The industrial technology teacher observes students using the drill press in order to grade them in the use of safety goggles.

Process  versus  product.  In  each  example,  the teacher is evaluating the students’ skill and determining how well they have met performance objectives. The examples refer to the assessment of

During a formative performance assessment, the coach provides feedback in the moment to help a student improve her free throw shooting.

formance

Assessment
 

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Formative and summative assessment: See page 469.

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processes or behaviors, yet performance assessment can also include the assessment of tangible products that students create. Most processes lead to products, so teachers might assess both as part of a single assignment. In fact, multiple processes as part of, say, a lab experiment or a research paper might lead to single or multiple products (e.g., in the lab, a finished chemical solution plus a lab report).

Matching performance assessment to instructional objectives. As a teacher, you will want to select the assessment format that provides the most direct evaluation of the particular skill or learning outcome being measured (Gronlund, 2006). Before choosing to use performance assessment, you should clearly identify the purpose of the instructional activity (Moskal, 2003). If the purpose is to assess the student’s ability to perform a skill, then having a student actually play a selection on the flute, for example, provides much richer, more meaningful information about the student’s ability to perform that skill than simply having the student answer multiple-choice questions about flute playing.
 

Authentic Assessment

Authentic assessments present students with problem-solving tasks that allow them to use their knowledge and skills in a meaningful way (Nitko & Brookhart, 2007). In order to prepare students for challenges and tasks that they will face in their careers and personal lives, teachers need to give them opportunities to practice problem-solving skills related to important, real-life skills and contexts (Hambleton, 1996; Popham, 2005). Solving important problems may require locating and using resources, consulting or collaborating with other people, and integrating basic skills with higher-level thinking and creativity (Popham, 2005; Wolf, Bixby, Glenn, & Gardner, 1991). Authentic tasks (Powers, 2005):
 

n present messy, poorly defined problems similar to the roles and challenges that students will encounter in the real world;
 

n simulate ways students should use combinations of knowledge, skills, and abilities in the real world;
 

n require the development of complete and well-justified responses, performances, or products; and

n may have multiple correct solutions (although the tasks clearly specify standards and criteria for determining the possible range of correct answers).

In today’s technology-rich learning environments, authentic assessments can include adaptive computer scenarios that present a student with a situation and then ask questions of or require a decision from the student. Because these presentations can be dynamic, changing depending on the student’s response, each student may encounter a slightly different scenario (Nitko & Brookhart, 2007). Computer simulations can provide greater economy and consistency than real-life scenarios and also provide the advantage of computerized scoring of student responses (Jones, 1994). Research indicates that, in some cases, computer-based simulations of “hands-on” activities are just as effective as activities in which students manipulate real objects (Triona & Klahr, 2003). Skills reported to be improved on through computer simulations include reading (Willing, 1988), problem solving (Jiang & Potter, 1994; Rivers & Vockell, 1987), science process skills (e.g., measurement, data interpretation, etc.)

(Geban, Askar, & Ozkan, 1992; Huppert,  Lomask,  &  Lazarowitz,  2002), 3-D  visualization  (Barnea  &  Dori, 1999),  mineral  identification (Kelly, 1997/1998), abstract thinking (Berlin &  White,  1986),  creativity  (Michael, 2001), and algebra skills involving the ability to relate equations to real-life situations (Verzoni, 1995).

Performance  assessment  and  authentic assessment are not necessarily synonymous  (McMillan,  2003).  It  is possible to assign a performance task that is not authentic because, although it  requires  that  the  student  perform a skill, that skill is not grounded in a meaningful,  real-world  context.  For
 

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Problem solving:

See page 248.

Simulations Can Be Efficient and Effective. Computer-based simulations allow students to build a wide range of skills.

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Technology and assessment: See page 472.


 

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example, a student might be asked to go to the board and demonstrate how to solve a math problem, but if the math exercise is not tied to the solution of a complex real-world problem, it is not considered an authentic assessment.

In your own words, how would you describe the difference between performance assessment and authentic assessment? How is performance assessment used in your college courses? How might you use it in your own teaching?
 

DEVELOPING PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS

After you have decided what knowledge or skills need to be assessed and have concluded that performance assessment best suits your purpose, it is time to consider which type of performance assessment is most appropriate. We’ll examine the basic facets of three types of performance tasks: presentations, projects, and portfolios. Each of these performance tasks has its own unique characteristics, but first we’ll consider some performance assessment guidelines that apply across multiple formats:

1. The selected performance should reflect a valued activity. The type of assessment you select sends a message to students about what you value and most want them to learn. For example, if you incorporate a large number of cooperative learning activities in the classroom, you are communicating the importance of interdependence and learning to work as a team.
2. The completion of performance assessments should provide a valuable learning experience. Performance assessments require more time to administer than other forms of assessment. The investment of this classroom time should result in a higher payoff that includes an increase both in the teacher’s understanding of what students know and can do and in the students’ knowledge of the intended content.

3. The statement of goals and objectives should be clearly aligned with the measurable outcomes of the performance activity. Figure 28.1 provides examples of performance activities and products that demonstrate the different levels of cognitive objectives in the taxonomy developed by Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues. Bloom’s taxonomy presents six categories of cognitive skills (Bloom, Englehart, Frost, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956). Think of these six categories as a comprehensive way of considering different cognitive goals that need to be met when planning for instruction.
 

Presentations

Several common forms of performance assessment involve a presentation of one kind or another, including demonstrations, experiments, oral presentations, and exhibitions.

Demonstrations require students to show that they can use knowledge or skills to complete a well-defined, complex task (Nitko & Brookhart, 2007). A demonstration is usually a closed-response task, meaning that there is one correct way or a best way to complete the task. Typically, a demonstration is not as long or involved as a project. Demonstrations might include preschoolers tying a shoelace, elementary school students showing the proper way to line up for a fire drill, middle school students using a microscope to view slides, and high school students driving a car.

In an experiment, a student plans, conducts, and interprets the results of research. Experiments allow teachers to assess whether a student can use inquiry skills and methods such as making estimates or predictions, gathering and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, stating assumptions, and presenting findings. Experiments can be used with students at all grade levels. Preschoolers might test whether certain objects sink or float, elementary school students might test different growing conditions for plants, middle school students might predict the series of steps needed to create an electrical circuit, and high school students might estimate the type of reaction that will occur when certain chemicals are mixed.

Oral presentations might include interviews, speeches, skits, debates, or other dramatizations in which students are required to verbalize their knowledge and use their oral communication skills. Written work such as a list of interview questions, the draft of a speech, note cards to be used in a debate, or the script of a skit often is submitted along with an oral presentation. As with other forms of performance assessment, oral presentations can be done individually or as a group.

An exhibition is a public performance that serves as the culmination of a series of performances in a particular area, usually a graduation-level exercise or final class project. Exhibitions demonstrate what has been learned over the course of a unit or program of study and may require a combination

formance

Assessment
 

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Bloom’s taxonomy and learning objectives: See page 360.


 

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