Understanding and Designing Performance Assessments

UNIT 2 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT At the end of the unit, the pre-service teacher must be able to: Design appropriate performance assessment tools for intended student learning outcomes. 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 ts 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 -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. Purpose of Performance Assessment: It can be used to determine the proficiency level of students, to motivate students to study and provide feedbacks to the students. It also allows teachers to observe achievements, habits of mind, ways of working and behavior of value in the real world. In many cases, these are conventional tests may miss. Types A. Product-Based Assessment Visual Products Kinesthetic Products Written Products Verbal Products B. PerformanceBased Assessment Examples Charts, illustrations, graphs, collages, murals, maps, timeline flows, diagrams, posters, advertisements, video presentations, art exhibits Diorama, puzzles, games, sculpture, exhibits, dance recital Journals, diaries, logs, reports, abstracts, letters, thought or position papers, poems, story, movie/TV scripts, portfolio, essay, article report, research paper, thesis Audiotapes, debates, lectures, voice recording, scripts Oral Presentations/ Demonstrations Dramatic/Creative Performances Public Speaking Athletic Skills Demonstration/ Competition Paper presentation, poster presentation, individual or group report on assigned topic, skills demonstration such as baking, teaching, problem solving Dance, recital, dramatic enactment, prose or poetry interpretation, role playing, playing musical instruments Debates, mock trial, simulations, interviews, panel discussion, story-telling, poem reading Playing basketball, baseball, soccer, 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. 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 authentic, that is, it includes performance tasks that are 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 e and reflect its relevance to the students, their discipline, and the It provides opportunities for students to show both what they know pproach wherein it gives skill competencies. Since the main goal of teaching and learning is for students’ acquisition and , 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 It allows students to be involved in the process of evaluating their Performance assessment should allow students to be involved in the process of It should give students the opportunity assessment, as well as to be involved in evaluating assessment allows students to make judgment about their learning process and products of learning, track their progress, and identify the areas where to focus or improve on. Peer tudents to give constructive feedback about the performance of their classmates or groupmates, 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. assessment and peer-assessment. a single skill and require simple tasks such as remembering or recalling of concepts, performance assessment order cognitive skills to apply knowledge to solve realistic As such, performance assessment allows students to engage in more challenging activities that require various skills, such as solving, critical thinking, communication, and creative skills, among others. It explains the task, required elements, and scoring criteria to the students before the start of the activity and the assessment. 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 performance or output, the the rubric to be used. Ideally, in the whole assessment process from the very onset, by providing them assessment options, getting them involved in 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- B. Developing Performance Tasks Guidelines in Designing Performance 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 is 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 i outcomes (e.g., problem-solving, decision communication skills)? 3. What are the appropriate performance assessment tasks or tools to measure the outcomes and skills? 4. Are the specific performance interesting, engaging, challenging, and measurable? 5. Are the performance tasks authentic and representative of real scenarios? 6. What criteria should be included to rate students’ performance level? 7. What are specific performance indicators for each criterion? 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. Using GRASPS Tasks to Create Authentic Assessment G – Goal (What task do I want the students to achieve?) R – Role (What’s the student’s role in the task?) A – Audience (Who is the student’s target audience?) S – Situation (What’s the context? The challenge?) P – Product (What will students create/develop?) S – Standards (On what criteria will they be judged?) You are a member of a team of scientists investigating deforestation of the Papua New Guinean rainforests. You are responsible for gathering scientific data (including visual evidence such as photos) and producing a scientific current conditions, possible future trends and the implications for both Papua New Guinea and its broader influence on our planet. Your report, which you will present to a United Nations subcommittee, should include detailed and fully supported recommendations for an action GRASPS unpacked G = The goal (within the scenario) is to determine current deforestation conditions and possible future trends R = Student is a member of a team of investigative scientists A = The target audience is the United Nations subcommittee S = The scenario: inform the United Nations subcommittee of the effects of deforestation on the Papua New Guinean rain forest and co them to follow the recommended action plan. P = The product is a clear and complete action plan S = The standards by which the product will be judged are detailed and fully supported recommendations in an action plan that is both clear and complete.