Assessment of Student Learning 2

Module 2: Performance-Based Assessment 1

Module Title: PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

Course Title: Assessment of Learning 2
Course Number: Ed 107
Total Learning Time: 12 hours
Prerequisites: NONE

Overview:
Traditional testing cannot measure skills directly. Skills requiring the
demonstration of a number of students' understanding by creating an answer,
carrying out performance, or producing a product which involves independent
judgment, critical thinking and decision-making are best assessed with
performance test. This type of authentic assessment provides evidence of what the
students know and can do in the context of real life. This chapter gives an
introduction to performance assessment. It discusses the nature, principles, types,
advantages, and limitations of performance-based assessment.

Learning Outcomes
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
 Apply the principles in constructing and interpreting performance-based assessment;
 Develop a portfolio of performance-based assessment tools that measures learners’
competencies of a given subject.
 Develop rubrics for performance-based activities.

Indicative Content
 Nature of Performance-Based Assessment;
 Designing Meaningful Performance-Based Assessment; and
 Developing rubrics for performance-based activities.
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Discussion:
NATURE OF PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

In the previous section, we examined the principles of high quality assessment by

integrating basic concepts of assessment and discussing thoroughly the different types of
assessment being utilized in the teaching and learning process. These forms of assessment
have been very effective in determining learning outcomes of the students.
Most of the time, the teacher relied on paper-and-pencil test which measures knowledge and
understanding, not the ability of the learners to actually carry out the performance. With the
implementation of the Outcome-Based Education (OBE) across the country, greater emphasis
shall be given in assessing student outcomes through real life (authentic) which requires
students to work and carry on tasks to perform and do something.
Assessment in which students carry out activities or produce product in demonstrating
their metacognitive knowledge, understanding and skills is called performance-based
assessment.

Meaning and Characteristics

Performance-Based Assessment is one in which the teacher observes and makes a

judgment about the student's demonstration of a skill or competency in creating a product,
constructing a response, or making a presentation (McMillan, 2007). In this assessment, the
emphasis is on the students' ability to perform tasks by producing their own authentic work
with their knowledge and skills.
Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) is an alternative form of assessment that moves
away from traditional paper-and-pencil tests (Ferman, 2005). It involves students producing a
project, whether it is an oral, written, individual or group performance. The students are
engaged in creating a final project that exhibits understanding of concepts they have learned.
Performance-based assessments process the creative aspect of the students in bringing out
what they know and what they can do through different performance tasks such as exhibits,
projects and work samples. Hands-on experiences allow them to be more critical, motivated
and involved when they are allowed to perform on their own. Students can acquire and apply
knowledge, skills and work habits through the different performance tasks which are
meaningful and engaging to the students.
Types of activities that best exemplified performance-based assessments include writing
a research report, solving and conducting experiments and investigations, return
demonstration, speech, skit, role playing, constructing and implementing seminar plan or
creating video presentation.

It is lated in the DepEd Order No. 7, s. 2012 that the highest level of assessment
performances (product) which the students are expected to produce through
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lance tasks. The assessment at this level should answer the question," What performance(s)
do we want students to produce as evidence of their learning or understanding their learning
to real life situations?"

Moreover, Linn (1995) stated that performance assessments provide a basis of teachers
evaluate both the effectiveness of the process or procedure used (e.g. approach to data
collection, manipulation of instruments) and the product resulting from performance of a
task (e.g. completed report of results, completed art work)., Unlike simple tests of
factualknowledge, there is unlikely to be a single right or best answer. Rather, there may be
multiple performances and problem solutions that may be judged to be excellent. Problem
formulation, the organization of ideas, the integration of multiple types of evidence, and
originality are all important aspects of performance that may not be adequately assessed by
paper-and-pencil tests.

Performance products are outputs produced by the students that provide concrete
examples of their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. These performances
allow them to demonstrate the application of what they have learned with their schemata as
well. Students may also engage in some tasks which are useful not only within the four walls
of the school such as doing field work, demonstrating rules and guidelines, and engaging into
extension services. Process-oriented assessments provide insights on the students critical
thinking, logic and reasoning skills. These will lead them to independent learning and set
goals for future use.

Some performance assessment proponents contend that genuine performance

assessments must possess at least three features (Popham, 2011):

Multiple evaluation criteria. The student's performance must be judged using more than one
evaluation criterion.

Pre-specified quality standards. Each of the evaluative criteria on which a student's

performance is to be judged is clearly explicated in advance of judging the quality of the
student's performance.

Judgmental appraisal. Unlike the scoring of selected-response tests in which electronic

computers and scanning machines can, once programmed, carry on
without the need of humankind, genuine performance assessments depend on human
judgments to determine how acceptable a student's performance really is.

All educational institution expects students to demonstrate different skills in various

learning areas and most often subjected to classroom performance assessment. Some
characteristics of this assessment which can be observed in the actual classroom setting
may include student performance, creation, construction and production of product which
can assess deep understanding and reasoning skills. The performance involves engaging
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ideas of importance and substance which students can explain, justify, and defend. Lastly,
performance should be grounded in real-word contexts which calls for authenticity of the
performance.

Two types of Performance Tasks

The main objective of the performance task is to capture all the learning targets y
shall be aligned to the teaching and learning objectives, activities and assessment. Thus,
the focus of performance-based assessment is the final output that must be developed c
completed. These could be in form of problem-solving, demonstration, tasks and c
authentic experiences that would influence the thinking processes, skills and products
required from performance tasks. Below are some performance-based assessment tasks
(Musial, 2009).

2.1 Solving a problem. Critical thinking and problem solving are is that need to be sharpened
and developed by the learners. Teachers may include activities and make sense of complex
authentic problems or issues to be solved by the students. This helps the students become
independent thinkers and learners for life, and help them meet the challenges of the 21st century.

2.2 Completing an inquiry. An inquiry tasks is one in which the students are asked
to collect data in order to develop their understanding about a topic or issue. Examples of
inquiries include science investigation, research based and interviews or independent studies.
Students determine what data are needed and under what conditions that data should be
collected, present data and develop activities, survey conclusions.

2.3 Determining a position. This task quires students to make decision or clarify a
position. Case analysis and issue related activities or debate are some examples this task.

2.4 Demonstration Task. This task shows how the students use knowledge and skills to
complete well-defined complex tasks. Students explain or describe how something works or how
to do something when they perform these tasks. Examples are: demonstrating steps or procedures
of cooking, explaining the earthquake safety procedures and demonstrating how to set up
microscope for viewing slides. The focus of demonstration tasks is accuracy in clarifying the
steps of process as well as careful reasoning concerning the rationale for each step of the process.

2.5 Developing Exhibits. Exhibits are visual presentations or displays that need little or no
explanation from the creators. An exhibit is offered to explain, demonstrate or show something.
Classroom applications include exhibit of best works, pictures or paintings, projects or even
portfolios.

2.6 Presentation Task. This is a work or task performed in front of an audience. Storytelling,
singing and dancing, musical play or theatrical acting are some presentations which demonstrate
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presentations tasks.

2.7. Capstone Performances. These are tasks that occur at the end of a program of shady and
enable students to show knowledge and skills in the context that matches
the world of practicing professionals. These tasks include research paper, practice
teaching, internship or on-the-job training.

With the different types of performance tasks, the teacher may decide what and when
materials should be used, specifies the instructions for performance, describes the kinds of
outcomes toward which students should work, tells the students they are being assessed, and
gives students opportunities to prepare themselves for the assessment. Performance tasks on the
other hand can be performed also in a typical and natural setting, which give students
opportunity to perform particular activity which the teacher would like to assess.

3. Strengths and Limitations

As we explored the nature of performance assessment and examined the different types
of assessment tasks, several authorities discussed the advantages of performance assessments
over other assessments.

3.1 Performance assessment clearly identifies and clarifies learning targets. Authentic
performance tasks such as real world challenges and situations can closely match with the
various complex learning targets. This offers a direct way to assess what the students know and
can do within the variety of realistic contexts.

3.2 Performance assessment allows students to exhibit their own skills, talents,
and expertise. Tasks show integration of the student's skills, knowledge and
abilities, provide challenge and opportunities to exhibit their best creation. This
also assesses the ability "to do" of the students.

3.3 Performance assessment advocates constructivist principle of learning. Students are

more engaged in active learning and give more opportunities to demonstrate their learning in
different ways in complex tasks. Students use their previous knowledge to build a new
knowledge structures and be actively involved
in exploration and inquiry through different tasks.

3.4 Performance assessment uses a variety of approaches to student evaluation. This offers
students a variety of way of expressing their learning and increases the
validity of student's evaluation. Teachers may share criteria of assessment before the actual
evaluation so that students can use these criteria as well.

3.5 Performance assessment allows the teachers to explore the main goal
and processes of teaching and learning process. Teachers may reflect and revisit learning
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targets, curriculum and instructional practices, and standards as they utilize performance-based
assessment. They may use a variety of teaching strategies and techniques, and explore how
students will use the instructional material and resources given to them.

Though performance assessments offer several advantages over traditional objective

assessment procedures, they have some distinct limitations as well.

1. Development of high quality performance assessment is a tedious process. Performance

assessment needs careful planning and implementation. It is very time consuming to construct
good tasks. Teachers have to make sure that the performance asks expected from the students are
authentic and match the outcome to be assessed
and not the other qualities that are not part of the outcomes to be assessed. Quality Scoring
rubrics are difficult to create as well.

2. Performance assessment requires a considerable amount of time to administer.

Paper-Pencil takes 15 to 20 minutes per tasks to complete depending on the number of items,
Most authentic tasks take a number of days to complete. Most of the time, performance
assessment is administered to small groups of students unlike traditional testing which is
simultaneously administered to an entire class.

3. Performance assessment takes a great deal of time to score. The more complex the process
and performance, the more time you can expect to spend on scoring. To reduce the scoring time,
crafting a high quality rubrics is recommended.

4. Performance task score may have lower reliability. This resulted to inconsistency of
scoring by teachers who interpret observation quite differently. With complex tasks, multiple
correct answers, and fast-paced performances, scoring depends on teachers' own scoring
competence.

5. Performance task completion may be discouraging to less able students. Some asks that
require students to sustain their interest for a longer time may discourage disadvantage students.
They may have partial knowledge of the learning target but may to complete the task because it
does not allow them to utilize this partial knowledge effectively and efficiently.

DESIGNING A PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

Designing performance assessment entails critical processes which start from the tasks at
the teacher wants to assess. A well-designed performance assessment helps the student thee the
connections between the knowledge, skills, and abilities they have learned from the classroom,
including the experiences which help them to construct their own meaning of knowledge. The
following steps will guide you in developing a meaningful performance assessment-process and
product that will match to the desired learning outcomes.
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1. Defining the Purpose of Assessment

The first step in designing performance-based assessment is to define the purpose of
assessment. Defining the purpose and target of assessment provides information on what
students need to be performed in a task given. By identifying the purpose, teachers are able to
easily identify the weaknesses and strengths of the 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. Basic questions which teachers ask in determining
possible learning competencies to be considered are listed below.

Basically, the teacher should select those learning targets which can be assessed by
performance which fits to the plan along with the assessment techniques to be utilized measuring
other complex skills and performances.

1.1. Four Types of Learning Targets Used in Performance Assessment

In defining the purpose of assessment, learning targets must be carefully
identified and taken in consideration. Performance assessments primarily use four
types of learning targets which are deep understanding, reasoning, skills, and products
(McMillan, 2007).
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Deep Understanding
The essence of performance assessment includes the development of students'
deep understanding. The idea is to involve students meaningfully in hands-on
activities for extended periods of time so that their understanding is rich and more
extensive than what can be attained by more conventional instruction and traditional
paper-and-pencil assessments. This focuses on the use of knowledge and skills.

Reasoning
Reasoning is essential with performance assessment as the students demonstrate
skills and construct products. Typically, students are given a problem to solve or are
asked to make a decision or other outcome, such as a letter to the editor or school
newsletter, based on information that is provided.

Skills
In addition to logical and reasoning skills, students are required to demonstrate
communication, presentation, and psychomotor skills. These targets are ideally suited
to performance assessment.

Psychomotor Skills
Psychomotor skills describe clearly the physical action required for a given task.
These may be developmentally appropriate skills or skills that are needed for specific
tasks: fine motor skills (holding a pen, focusing a microscope, and using scissors),
gross motor actions (jumping and lifting), more complex athletic skills (shooting a
basketball or playing soccer), some visual skills, and verbal / auditory skills for young
children. These skills also identify the level at which the skill is to be performed.
Generally, deep understanding and reasoning involve in-depth, complex thinking
about what is known and application of knowledge and skills in novel and more
sophisticated ways. Skills include student proficiency in reasoning, communication,
and psychomotor tasks.

Products
Are completed works, such as term papers, projects, and other assignments in
which students use their knowledge and skills.
1.2 Process and Product-Oriented Performance-Based Assessments
In defining the purpose of assessment, the teacher should identify whether the
students will have to demonstrate a process or a product. If the learning outcomes deal on the
procedures which you could specify, then it focuses on process assessment. In assessing the
process, it is essential also that assessment should be done while the students are performing the
procedures or steps.
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Learning targets which require students to demonstrate process include the procedures of
preparing/manipulating of microscope, or steps to be done when in an earthquake drill.
Mathematical operations, reciting a poem, and constructing a table of specification are of this
target.
Example of process oriented performance-based assessment in which the main domain
Oral Language and Fluency (Enclosure No. 4, DepEd Order No. 73, S. 2012):

Example 1: English Grade 7

Content Standard: The students demonstrate oral language proficiency and fluency in various
social contexts.

Performance Standard: The learner proficiently renders rhetorical pieces.

Tasks: Oral - Aural Production (The teacher may use dialogs or passages from other written or
similar texts).
Task:
Specific Competencies:

1. Observe the right syllable stress pattern in different categories.

2. Observe the use of the rising and falling intonation, rising intonation, and the
combination of both intonation patterns in utterances.
3. Demonstrate how prosodic patterns affect understanding of the message.

Example 2: Filipino Grade 7

Kakayahan (domain): Pag-unawa sa Napakinggan

Pamantayang Pangnilalaman (Content Standard): Naipamamalas ng mga mag-aaral ang pag-

unawa sa paksa ng akdang napakinggan.

Pamantayan sa Pagganap para sa aralin (Performance Standard): Ang mga mag-aaral ay

nakasusulat ng talata na may kaugnayan sa paksa ng akdang napakinggan.
Kakayahan:
1. Nakapagbabahagi ng mga nasaliksik na impormasyon.

2. Nakapag-uugnay ng mga nasaliksik na impormasyon sa paksa ng akdang napakinggan.

3. Natutukoy ang ilang akda o awitin na may pagkakatulad sa paksa ng akdang
napakinggan.

Usually, the learning objectives start with a general competency which

target of the task, and it follows with specific competencies which are observable on the target
behavior or competencies. This can be observed also in defining the purpose of assessment for
product-oriented performance-based assessment.
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Sometimes, even though you teach specific process, the learning outcomes simply
implies that the major focus is product that the student produces. Nitko (2011) suggested
focusing assessment on the product students produce if most or all of the evidence about their
achievement of the learning targets is found in the product itself, and little or none of the
evidence you need to evaluate students is found in the procedures they use or the ways in which
they perform.
Assessment of products must be done if the students will produce a variety of better ways
to produce high quality products, sometimes, method or sequence does not make much
difference as long as the product is the focus of the assessment.
Examples of learning targets which require students to produce products include building
a garden, conducting classroom-based researches, publishing newspaper and creating
commercials or PowerPoint presentation.
O the given examples 1 and 2 for English and Filipino Grade 7 domains, product-oriented
performance-based assessment can be stated as:
 Use the correct prosodic patterns (stress, intonation, phrasing, pacing, tone) in
rendering various speech acts or in oral reading activities, and
 Nakasusulat ng talatang nagsasalaysay ng ilang pangyayari sa kasalukuyan na
may kangnayan sa paksa ng akdang napakinggan.

Below is another example of product-oriented performance-based assessment task.

Example 3: Creating a Book Cover Taken from a Digital Camera
Performance Task: Creating A Book Cover
Competencies the students should be able to:
1. Generate appropriate shots for book cover using digital camera
2. Use page la y-out software (MS Publisher) or presentation software (MS Powerpoint);
3. Create size estimation of image, shapes, and textbox in terms of importance, emphasis
and visual hierarchy; and
4. Demonstrate skills in information design principles such as clarity, balance, relevance,
Contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity.
Product-oriented competencies require students to demonstrate multiple levels of
cognitive skills which require the use of complex procedural skills for creating authentic product.
The discussion on the steps of designing performance-based assessment shall be focused on the
process and product assessments.

2: Identifying Performance Tasks

Having a clear understanding of the purpose of assessment, the next step is to identify
performance tasks which measure the learning target you are about to assess. Some targets imply
that the tasks should be structured; others require unstructured tasks. Below are some questions
that should be answered in designing tasks:
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 What ranges of tasks do the learning targets imply?

 Which parts of the tasks should be structured, and to what degree?
 Does each task require students to perform all the important elements implied by the
learning targets?
 Do the tasks allow me to assess the achievement dimensions I need to assess?
 What must I tell students about the task and its scoring to communicate to them what they
need to perform?
 Will students with different ethnic and social backgrounds interpret my task
appropriately?
(McMillan 2007)

Performance needs to be identified so that students may know what tasks and criteria to
be performed. In this case, a task description must be prepared to provide the listing of
specification of the tasks and will elicit the desired performance of the students. Task description
should include the following:

1. Content and skill targets to be assessed

2. Description of the student activities
3. Group or individual
4. Help allowed
5. Resource needed
6. Teacher role
7. Administrative process
8. Scoring procedures
(McMillan 2007)
Tasks on the other hand should be meaningful and must let the student be personally
involved in doing and creating the tasks. This could be done by selecting a task which has
personal meaning for most of the students. Choose a task 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.
In creating performance tasks, one should specify the learning targets, the criteria by
which you will evaluate performance, and the instructions for completing the task include also
the time needed to complete the tasks. Be sure students understand how long a response you are
expecting. Some learning targets can be assessed in a relatively short period of 20 to 30 minutes.
But it also depends on the learning targets which necessitate a longer time. Examples are
conducting opinion survey and gathering of data for research which need more than two weeks
and done outside of the class. With these activities, the results can make a valid generalization of
how the students achieved the learning target.
Participation of groups must be considered also in crafting performance task. Some tasks
require cooperative or collaborative learning or in group tasks. With this, the number of tasks
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must be given an attention as well, as a rule, the fewer the number of tasks, the fewer targets can
be assessed in a given performance.

21 Suggestions for Constructing Performance Tasks

The development of high-quality performance assessments that effectively measure
Complex learning outcomes requires attention to task development and to the ways in which
performances are rated. Linn (1995) suggested ways to improve the 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. Since performance-based tasks generally require a substantial investment
of student time, they should be used primarily to assess learning outcomes that are
adequately measured by less time-consuming approaches.
2. 2. Select or develop tasks that represent both the content and the skills that are
central to important learning outcomes. It is important to specify the range of
content and resources students can use in performing task. In any event, the
specification of assumed content understandings is critical in ensuring that a task
functions as intended
3. 3. Minimize the difference of task performance on skills that are irrelevant to the
intended purpose of the assessment task. The key here is to focus on the attention
of the assessment. Example is the ability to read complicated texts and the ability to
communicate clearly are both important learning outcomes, but they are not
necessarily the intent of a particular assessment.
4. 4. Provide the necessary scaffolding for students to be able to understand the
task and what is expected. Challenging tasks often involve ambiguities and require
students to experiment, gather information, formulate hypothesis, and evaluate their
own progress in solving a problem. However, problems cannot be solved in a
vacuum. Students need to
have a prior knowledge and skills required to address the problem. These
prerequisites can be a natural outcome of prior instruction or may be built into the
task.
5. Construct task directions so that the student's task is clearly indicated. Vague
directions can lead to such a diverse array of performances that it becomes impossible
to rate them in a fair or reliable fashion. By design, many performance-based tasks
give students a substantial degree of freedom to explore, approach problems in
different ways, and come no with novel solution.
6. Clearly communicate performance expectations in terms of the criteria by which
the performances will be judged. Specifying the criteria to be used in rating helps
clarify task expectations for a student. Explaining the criteria that will be used in
rating performances not only provides students with guidance on how to focus their
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efforts, but helps to convey priorities for learning outcomes.

Example of Process-Oriented performance task on Problem-Solving and

Decision- Making:

Example 4 Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Performance Task

Key Competencies:
1. Uses reading skills and strategies to comprehend and interpret what is read.
2. Demonstrate competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning.
3. Construct complex sentences.
Your friend is going through a difficult time. You have tried talking about the issue but
to no avail. After much thought you recall a book you had read where the character went through
a similar experience as your friend. How might the book help your friend deal with the problem?
What other sources of information or resources could you find to help your friend? What might
be some strategies your friend could use? Use your writing skills to compose a letter to your
friend as to why he should read the book or resources you have collected. Be sure your letter
contains examples from the readings, our feelings and encouragement.

As a problem solver, devise a plan to meet with your friend to identify possible
solutions to the problem after he has read the materials. Be sure you are considerate of
feelings and outline steps you'll take to make sure your discussion is one of collaboration.
You be assessed on your ability to make informed decisions, your ability to create a letter
with complex sentences, your ability to solve problem and your ability to work collaboratively
with a peer.
Adopted from Educational Planning, Portland Public Schools

The example below shows performance task for product-oriented performance-based

assessment.

Competency: Prepare Useful Solution

Performance Task

Barangay Luntian is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the theme "Kalikasan Ko,
Mahal ko”. The barangay captain called for a council meeting to discuss the preparations for a
program as a councilor, you are asked to take charge of the preparation of "Natural Beverage" for
the guests. This healthful drink should promote your locally produced fruits or vegetables as well
as health and wellness. On your next council meeting, you will present your plan for the
preparation of the drink and let the council member do the taste testing. The council members
will rate your drink based on the following criteria: Practicality, Préparation, Availability of
materials, Composition of solution (drink).
Taken from Enclosure No. 4. DepEd Order N0. 73 S. 2012
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DESIGNING A RUBRIC

What is a rubric?
A rubric is a scoring guide used to evaluate performance, a product, or a project. It has
three parts: 1) performance criteria; 2) rating scale; and 3) indicators. For you and your
students, the rubric defines what is expected and what will be assessed. Whether for online or
face-to-face courses, it indicates that you will evaluate according to specified criteria, making
grading and ranking simpler, more transparent, and fairer.

Types of Rubrics
The structure of the rubrics change when measuring different learning targets. Generally,
rubrics can be classified into two major types: analytic and holistic rubrics.
It requires the teacher to list and identify the major knowledge and critical in the
development of process or product tasks. It identifies specific criteria prior to assessment.
Teachers can assess easily the specific concept, skills or product with a separate component.
Each criterion for this kind of separate score, thus, providing better diagnostic information and
feedback as a form of formative assessment.
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.

Sample analytic rubric

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Holistic Rubric. It requires the 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. This provides a reasonable summary of rating in which
traits are efficiently combined, scored quickly and with only one score, thus, limiting the
precision of assessment of the results and providing little specific information about the
performance of the students and what needs for further improvement. 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.

What does a rubric look like?

On the left side, the criteria describe the key elements of a student work or product. At
the top, the rating scale identifies levels of performance. Under each section of the rating scale,
the indicators provide examples or concrete descriptors for each level of performance.
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Where do I start the process of creating a rubric?

Start by consulting professional literature and online resources to find rubrics that others
have done or created. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel—just revise it to meet your needs!
Once you find a model, you can adapt the criteria, rating scale, and indicators to your needs.

How can I design a rubric?

Whether you have found a rubric to adapt or are designing a rubric from scratch and
whether it’s for an online or face-to-face assignment, the process begins with identifying basic
rubric components: the performance criteria, the rating scale, and the indicators of performance.

Determine the criteria to assess student work.

Figure out what areas really matter to the quality of the work that’s being produced.
Whether it’s an essay, a project, a digital story or essay, or a presentation, what do you want
evidence of in the final product?
 List all the possible criteria you might want students to demonstrate in the assignment.
 Include criteria for the process of creating the product and the quality of the product.
 Decide which of those criteria are “non-negotiable.” Ideally, your rubric will have three
to five performance criteria. If you’re having a hard time deciding, prioritize the criteria
by asking:
a. What are the learning outcomes of this unit?
b. Which learning outcomes will be listed in the rubric?
c. Which skills are essential at competent or proficiency levels for the task or assignment
to be complete?
d. How important is the overall completion of the task or project?
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Develop a rating scale.

Rating scales can include either numerical or descriptive labels. Usually, a rating scale
consists of an even number of performance levels. If an odd number is used, the middle level
tends to become a catch-all category.

Develop indicators of quality.

Define the performance quality of the ideal assessment for each criteria, one at a time.
Begin with the highest level of the scale to define top quality performance. Remember, this is the
level that you want all students to achieve and it should be challenging.
1. Create indicators that are present at all performance levels.

2. Make certain there is continuity in the difference between the criteria for exceeds vs. meets,
and meets vs. does not meet expectations. The difference between a 2 and a 3 performance
should not be more than the difference between a 3 and a 4 performance.

3. Edit the indicators to ensure that the levels reflect variance in quality and not a shift in
importance of the criteria.

4. Make certain that the indicators reflect equal steps along the scale. The difference between
4 and 3 should be equivalent to the difference between 3 - 2 and 2 - 1. “Yes, and more,”
“Yes,” “Yes, but,” and “No” are ways for the rubric developer to think about how to describe
performance at each scale point.

Some common descriptive terms to indicate that progression are listed below.
Assessment of Student Learning 2
Module 2: Performance-Based Assessment 18

What can I consider as I review a rubric?

The following questions can help determine if the rubric is effective:

1. Are the characteristics of each performance level clear? Will students be able to self-assess by
having the descriptors? Will the descriptors give students enough information to know what they
need to improve?

2. Does the rubric adequately reflect the range of levels at which students may actually perform
given tasks?

3. Are the criteria at each level defined clear to ensure that scoring is accurate, unbiased, and
consistent? Could several instructors use the rubric and score a student’s performance within the
same range?

4. Does the rubric reflect both process and product?

5. Are all criteria equally important, or is one variable stronger than the others?

6. Is the language used descriptive for students to determine what is being measured in both
qualitative and quantitative methods.
Assessment of Student Learning 2
Module 2: Performance-Based Assessment 19

Additional considerations related to rubrics are listed below:

1. Rubrics need to be piloted, or field tested, to ensure they are measuring the variable intended
by the designer.

2. Rubrics can be discussed with students to create an understanding of expectations.

3. Rubrics ensure that scoring is accurate, unbiased, and consistent.

4. Rubrics list expectations of student performance that are aligned with the conceptual lesson or
unit delivered. Students shouldn’t be expected to do what they haven’t been previously taught or
shown.

Evaluation
Tasks:
A. Design a webbing as a graphic organizer on the nature of performance based assessment.
B. List down five activities which are considered as performance-based outputs. From the list
you have made, what do you think are the competencies to be accomplished? What
assessment procedures were done by the instructor?
Activities Competencies Assessment Procedure

C. As a teacher education student, think of a subject you plan to teach and make workable tasks
which are applicable to your teaching situation in the different types of performances.
Types of Performance Tasks Performance Tasks to be Workable tasks
Undertake

D. Identify a product-oriented and process-oriented performance. Formulate competencies in

defining the purpose of assessment. Use the template below in accomplishing the task.
Orientation Topic General Specific Expected
Competencies Competencies Performance
Process
Product
E. Design your own analytic and holistic rubrics.