Designing Meaningful

Performance-Based
Assessment
Ignacio, Sinangote, Valera
Defining the
Purpose of
Assessment
 Defining the Purpose of Assessment
• First step is to define the purpose of
assessment

• Defining purpose and target provides

information on what students need to be
performed in a task given
 Defining the Purpose of Assessment
• By identifying purpose, teachers are able to easily
identify the weaknesses and strengths of students’
performance

• Purpose must be specified at the beginning of the

process so that the proper kinds of performance
criteria and scoring procedures can be established
 5 Questions to Consider in Determining
Competencies
1. What important cognitive skills or attributes
do I want my student to develop?

Example: Communicate effectively in writing,

employ algebra to solve real-life problems
 5 Questions to Consider in Determining
Competencies
2. What social and affective skills or attributes
do I want my student to develop?

Example: Work independently, appreciate

individual differences
 5 Questions to Consider in Determining
Competencies
3. What metacognitive skills do I want my
student to develop?

Example: Reflect on writing process, self-

monitor progress while working on an
independent project.
 5 Questions to Consider in Determining
Competencies
4. What types of problems do I want my
students to be able to solve?

Example: Perform research, predict

consequences
 5 Questions to Consider in Determining
Competencies
5. What concepts and principles do I want my
student to be able to apply?

Example: Understand cause-and-effect

relationships, use principle of ecology and
conservation
 Four Types of
Learning Targets
Used in
Performance
Assessment
 Four Types of Learning Targets Used
• Learning targets must be carefully identified and
taken in consideration

• Performance assessments primarily use four types

of learning targets which are: deep understanding,
reasoning, skill, and products (McMillan, 2007)
 1. Deep Understanding
• To involve students meaningfully in hands-on
activities for extended periods of time so that
their understanding is rich and more extensive
than conventional and traditional assessments

• Focuses on use of knowledge and skills

2. Reasoning
• Students demonstrate skills and construct
products

• Students are given a problem to solved or

asked to make a decision or other outcome,
such as letter to the editor or school
newsletter, based on the information
provided
3. Skills
• Students are required to demonstrate
communication, presentation, and
psychomotor skills

• These targets are ideally suited to

performance assessment
3a. Psychomotor Skills
• Describe clearly the physical action required
for a given task

a. Fine Motor Skills

b. Gross Motor Skills
c. More Complex Athletics Skills
d. Visual Skills
4. Product
• Complete works such as term
papers, projects, and other
assignments in which students
use their knowledge and skills
 Process and
Product-Oriented
Performance-Based
Assessment
Process and Product-Oriented Performance-
Based Assessment
●In defining the purpose of
assessment, the teacher should
identify whether the students will
have to demonstrate a process or a
product.
a. Process Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment

• This assessment is the focus

when the learning outcomes
deal on specified procedures
a. Process Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
●In assessing the process, it is essential that
assessment should be done while the students
are performing the procedures or steps

●Learning targets which require students to

demonstrate process includes:
a. Process Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
a. Proper handling / manipulating of
microscope
b. Steps in an earthquake drill
c. Mathematical operations
d. Reciting a poem
e. Constructing a Table of Specification
a. Process Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
b. Product-Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
• Usually, the learning objectives start with a
general competency which is the main target
of the task, and it follows with specific
competencies which are observable on the
target behavior and competencies
b. Product-Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
• Sometimes, even though a specific
process is taught, the learning
outcomes implies that the major
focus is the product that the student
produces
b. Product-Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
(Nitko, 2011)
• Focusing assessment on the product or all
evidence about students’ achievement of the
learning targets is found in the product itself

• Little or none of the evidence needed to evaluate

students is found in procedures used or ways
performed
b. Product-Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
• Based on the given example earlier, product-
oriented performance-based assessment can be
stated as:

• Use the correct prosodic pattern (stress,

intonation, phrasing, pacing, tone) in rendering
various speech acts or in oral reading activities
b. Product-Oriented Performance Based-
Assessment
• Product-oriented competencies require
students to demonstrate multiple levels of
metacognitive skills which require use of
complex procedural skills for creating
authentic product
 Identifying
Performance Task
Identifying Performance Task
• Having clear understanding of the purpose of
assessment, next is to identify performance tasks
which measure the learning target you are about to
assess.

• Some targets imply tasks should be structure;

other required unstructured tasks
Identifying Performance Task
• Performance needs to be identified so that
students know what task and criteria to be
performed.
Questions that should be answered in designing
tasks:
1. What ranges of tasks do the learning targets
imply?

2. Which parts of the tasks should be structured,

and to what degree?
Questions that should be answered in designing
tasks:
3. Does each task require students to perform all
the important elements implied by the learning
targets?

4. Do the tasks allow me to assess the

achievement dimensions I need to assess?
Questions that should be answered in designing
tasks:
5. What must I tell students about the task and its
scoring to communicate to them what they
need to perform?

6. Will students with different ethnic and social

backgrounds interpret my task appropriately?
Task Description
• A task description must be prepared to provide
listing of specification of tasks and elicit desire
performance of students
• Should include the following:

1. Content and skill targets to be assessed

2. Description of student activities
3. Group or individual
4. Help allowed
Task Description
• Should include the following:

5. Resource needed
6. Teacher role
7. Administrative process
8. Scoring procedures
Task Description
• Tasks should be meaningful and must let student
be personally involved in doing and creating tasks

• Select a task that has personal meaning for most

students
Task Description
• Choose a tasks in which students have the ability
to demonstrate knowledge and skills from
classroom activities, or other similar ways

• These tasks should be of high value, worth

teaching to, and worth learning as well
Creating Performance Tasks
• Specify learning targets, criteria by which you
will evaluate performance, and instructions for
completing the task

• Include time needed to complete

• Be sure students understand how long a response

is expected
Creating Performance Tasks
• Some learning targets can be assessed in a
relatively short period of 20 to 30 minutes, but it
depends on learning targets which necessitate a
longer time
Example

• Conducting opinion survey and gathering data for

research
Creating Performance Tasks
• Group participation must be considered as some
tasks require cooperative or collaborative learning
or in group tasks

• Number of tasks must be given attention, as a

rule, fewer the number of tasks, fewer targets can
be assessed
 Suggestions for
Constructing
Performance Tasks
Suggestions for Constructing Performance Tasks
• Development of high-quality performance
assessment that effectively measure complex
learning outcomes requires attention to task
development and ways in which performance are
rated

• Linn (1995) suggested ways to improve

development of tasks:
1. Focus on learning outcomes that require complex
cognitive skills and student performances
• Tasks need to be developed or selected in light of
important learning outcomes

• PBA generally requires substantial investment of

stunt time, they should be used primarily to assess
learning outcomes not adequately measured by
less-time consuming approaches
2. Select or develop task that represent both content and
skills that are central to important learning outcomes
• Important to specify range of content and
resources students can use in performing task

• Specification of assumed content understandings

is critical in ensuring task functions as intended
3. Minimize difference of task performance on skills that
are irrelvant to intended purpose of assessment task
• Key is to focus on attention of assessment

• Example: ability to read complicated texts and

ability to communicate clearly are both learning
outcomes, but not necessarily intent of particular
assessment
4. Provide necessary scaffolding for students to be able to
understand tasks and what is expected
• Challenging task often involve ambiguities and
require students to experiment, gather
information, formulate hypothesis, and evaluate
own progress in solving a problem

• Students need to have prior knowledge and skill

required to address problem
4. Provide necessary scaffolding for students to be able to
understand tasks and what is expected

• Prerequisites can be natural outcomes of

prior instruction or built into task
5. Construct task directions so that student’s task is clearly
indicated
• Vague directions can lead to diverse array of
performances that it becomes impossible to rate in
a fair or reliable fashion

• Performance-based tasks give students substantial

degree of freedom to explore, approach problems
in different ways, and come up with novel
solution
6. Clearly communicate performance expectations in
terms of criteria by which performance will be judged
• Specifying criteria used in rating performance
helps clarify task expectation for a student
• Explaining criteria that will be used in rating
performances not only provides students with
guidance on how to focus efforts, but helps
convey priorities for learning outcomes
Crafting Tasks
• Crafting tasks for both process and product-
oriented performance-based assessments needs
careful planning

• Engagement, elaboration, and experience are

some factors to consider in making authentic tasks
which makes it different to traditional assessment
Crafting Tasks
• Tasks should center on concepts, principles, and
issues that are important to context of subject
matter

• Teachers must know what they want to observe

before performance criteria can be identified
Checklist for Writing Performance Tasks
• Are essential content and skills targets integrated?
• Are multiple targets included?
• Is the task authentic?
• Is the task teachable?
• Is the task feasible?
• Are multiple solutions and paths possible?
Checklist for Writing Performance Tasks
• Is the nature of the task clear?

• Is the task challenging and stimulating?

• Are criteria for scoring included?

• Are constraints for completing the task included?

• Regardless of whether these are process of
product-oriented performance tasks, clearly
stated performance criteria are critical to
success of both instruction assessment
• Criteria in the real essence of performance-
based assessment define target process and
product, guide and help students on what
should be taught and done, and provide target
in assessing performance of students
Developing Scoring
Schemes
Developing Scoring Schemes
• Variety of tools can be used for assessment
depending on nature of performance it calls for

• As a teacher, you need to critically examine task

to be performed match with assessment tools
utilized
Developing Scoring Schemes
Some ways of assessing students’ performance
could be:

• Utilization of anecdotal records

• Interviews
• Direct observations using checklist or likert scale
• Use of rubrics especially for PBA
 Rubrics as an
Assessment Tool
Rubrics as an Assessment Tool
• Have been widely used as assessment tool in
various disciplines, most especially in the field of
education

• Different authorities defined rubrics:

• Musical, 2009 – set of rules specifying criteria
used to find out what students know and are able
to do
Rubrics as an Assessment Tool
• Levy, 2005 – scoring tool that lays out specific
expectations for assignment

• McMillan, 2007 – scoring guide that uses criteria

to differentiate between levels of student
proficiency
Rubrics as an Assessment Tool
• Brookhart, 1999 – descriptive scoring schemes
that are developed by teachers or evaluators to
guide analysis of products or processes of
students’ effort

• Popham, 2011 – scoring procedures for judging

students’ responses to performance tasks
Rubric used to score students’ responses to a performance
assessment has three important features:
1. Evaluative Criteria – factors used in
determining quality of students’ response

2. Descriptions of qualitative differences for

evaluating criteria – for each evaluative
criterion, description must be supplied so
qualitative distinctions in students’ responses
can be made using criterion
Rubric used to score students’ responses to a performance
assessment has three important features:

3. An indication of whether a holistic or

analytic scoring approach is to used – rubric
must indicate whether the evaluative criteria
are to be applied collectively in a form of
holistic scoring or on a criterion-by criterion
basis in form of analytic scoring
• Rubrics are used to communicate how
teachers evaluate essence of what is being
assessed. Not only does it improve scoring
consistency, but also improve validity by
clarifying standards of achievement that will
be used in evaluating
Nitko (2011) suggested questions which the teacher should
address:
• What important criteria and learning targets do I
need to assess?

• What are the levels of development (achievement)

for each of these criteria and learning targets?

• Should I use a holistic of an analytic scoring

rubric?
Nitko (2011) suggested questions which the teacher should
address:
• Do I need to use a rating scale or a checklist as my
scoring scheme?

• Should my students be involved in rating their

own performance?

• How can I make my scoring efficient and less

time-consuming?
Nitko (2011) suggested questions which the teacher should
address:
• What do I need to record as the result of my
assessments?

• What are some useful methods of recording

students’ responses to performance tasks?
Types of Rubrics
Types of Rubrics

• Structure of rubrics change when measuring

different learning targets

• Rubrics can be classified into two major types:

analytic and holistic
Analytic Rubric

• Requires teacher to list and identify major

knowledge and skill which are critical in
development of process or product tasks

• Identifies specific and detailed criteria prior to

assessment
Analytic Rubric

• Teachers can assess easily the specific concept

understanding, skill or product with a separate
component

• Each criterion receives a separate score, thus,

providing better diagnostic information and
feedback for students as a form of formative
assessment
Holistic Rubric

• Requires teacher to make a judgment about the

overall quality of each student response

• Each category of the scale contains several criteria

which shall be given a single score that gives an
overall rating
Holistic Rubric

• Provides a reasonable summary of rating in which

traits are efficiently combined, scored quickly, and
with only one score, thus, limiting precision of
assessment of result and providing little specific
information about performance of students and
what needs for further improvement
Thank you!
Do you have any questions?