Module

Assessment of
 ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 2
MODULE THREE

PRELIMINARIES

Module Title: Module Three - NATURE OF PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

Course Title: Assessment of Learning 2

Course Number: Ed 107

Course Description:

This course focuses on the development and utilization of alternative forms in measuring authentic learning. Emphasis
is given to ways of assessing process – and product-oriented learning targets as well as affective learning. Students
will experience how to develop rubrics for performance based and portfolio assessment. This course is designed to
help education students in developing understanding and gain skills in crafting and utilizing alternative forms of
assessment and grading system for respective areas in the K-12 Program. It is anchored on the prescribed and
expected competencies of future teachers as mandated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Total Learning Time: 6 HOURS

Pre-requisites: N/A

OVERVIEW
Interwoven within the instructional context of this module are the concepts and applications of Outcome-Based Education
(OBE). Each section is divided into chapters which contain discussion of research-based concepts and principles in the
Engage Phase to help students gain and enrich their knowledge about the subject matter. Knowledge gained are
processed further by means of activities provided in the Explore Phase. Application of understanding skills are provided at
the Apply Phase to help students integrate the knowledge gained. Most of the application exercises are situational case
analyses. To ascertain that the intended learning outcome is achieved, assessment tasks congruent to the Intended
Learning Outcome (ILO) is provided in the Assess Phase at the end of every chapter. May this module be an instrument
and effective tool in guiding prospective teachers and professionals in the educational field in understanding, measuring and
assessing students’ learning outcomes.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course/module made a concerted effort to achieve the following learning outcomes;

➢ Use appropriate assessment tools and techniques as applied in instructional decision.

➢ Relate learning outcomes and assessment.
➢ Distinguish the different types of assessment and relate it to learning outcomes.
➢ Analyze the nature and essential characteristics of performance-based assessment.
➢ Develop n portfolio of performance-based assessment tools that measures learners’ competencies of a given subject.
➢ Craft effective learning outcome for the different levels in the affective domain.
➢ Construct instruments for measuring the different levels in the affective domain.
➢ Plan portfolio assessment tools for a given subject/course.
➢ Develop and evaluate portfolio assessment utilized in the classroom.
➢ Develop skills in preparing and interpreting grades.
➢ Assess the effectiveness of parent-teacher conference as a venue for reporting learners’ performance.
➢ Utilize processed data and results in reporting learners’ performance.

INDICATIVE CONTENT

CHAPTER 3 – NATURE OF PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

Lesson 1 – Meaning and Characteristics of Performance-Based Assessment

Lesson 2 – Types of Performance Tasks
Lesson 3 – Strengths and Limitation
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DISSCUSSION

Traditional testing cannot measure a number or skills directly. Skills requiring the demonstration of students’
understanding by creating an answer, carrying out performance, or producing a product which in involves
independent judgement, 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.

In the previous lesson, 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 on 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.

Lesson 1 – Meaning and Characteristics of Performance-Based Assessment

Performance-Based Assessment is one in which the teacher observes and makes a judgement about the
students’ 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 or (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 Assessment 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 stipulated in the DepEd order No. 7, series 2012 that the highest level of assessment focuses on the
performances (product) which the students are expected to produce through authentic performance tasks. These
assessment at this level should answer the question, “What product(s) or performance(s) do we want students to
produce as evidence of their learning or understanding?” or “How do we want them to provide evidence that they can
transfer their learning to real life situations?”

Moreover, Linn (1995) stated that the performance assessments provide a basis of teachers to 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 factual knowledge, there is unlikely to be a single right or best answers. 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, 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.

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Some performance assessment proponents contend that genuine performance assessments must possess at least
three features (Popham, 2011):

Multiple Evaluation Criteria. The students’ 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 students’ 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 judgements 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 ideas of importance and
substance which students can explain, justify and defend. Lastly, the performance should be grounded in real-word
context which calls for authenticity of the performance.

Lesson 2 – Types of Performance Tasks

The main objective of the performance tasks is to capture all the learning targets which 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 or completed. These could be in form of problem-solving, demonstration, tasks
and other authentic experiences that would influence the thinking processes, skills and products required from
performance tasks. Below are some performance-based assessment tasks (Musial, 2009):

Solving a Problem. Critical thinking and problem solving are important skills 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.

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
activities, survey and interviews or independent studies. Students determine what data are needed and under what
conditions that the data should be collected, present data and develop conclusions.

Determining a Position. This task requires students to make decisions or clarify a position. Case analysis and issue
related activities or debate are some examples of this task.

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 task is accuracy in clarifying
the steps of process as well as careful reasoning concerning the rationale for each step of process.

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.

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 presentation tasks.

Capstone Performance. These are tasks that occur at the end of the program of study 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 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.

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Lesson 3 – Strengths and Limitation

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

Performance assessments 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.

Performance assessments allows students to exhibit their own skills, talents, and expertise.
Tasks shows integration of the students’ skills, knowledge and abilities, provide challenge and opportunities to
exhibit their best creation. This also assesses the ability “to do” of the students.

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 structure and be actively involved in
exploration and inquiry through different tasks.

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

Performance assessment allows the teachers to explore the main goal and processes of teaching
and learning process. Teachers may reflect and revisit learning 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.

Development of a 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 tasks expected from students are authentic and match the
outcome to be assesses and not with other qualities that are not part of the outcomes to be assessed. Quality
scoring rubrics are difficult to create as well.

Performance assessment requires a considerable amount of time to administer. Paper-and pencil

takes 15-20 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.

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 rubric is recommended.

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.

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

Summary of Strengths and Weaknesses of Performance Assessment

Strengths Weaknesses
Integrates assessment with instruction. Reliability may difficult to establish.
Learning occurs during assessment. Measurement error due to subjective nature of the
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 scoring may be significant.
Provides opportunities for formative assessments. Inconsistent student performance across time may
result in inaccurate conclusions.
Tends to be more authentic than other types of Few samples of student achievement.
assessments.
More engaging; active involvement of students. Requires considerable teacher time to prepare and
student time to complete.
Provides additional way for students to show what they Difficult to plan for amount of time needed.
know and can do.
Emphasis on reasoning skills. Limited ability to generalize to a larger domain of
knowledge.
Forces teachers to establish specific criteria to identify
successful performance.
Encourage student self-assessment.
Emphasis on application of knowledge.
Encourages re-examination of instructional goals and the
purpose of schooling.

ACTIVITY

Activity 1.

Present a graphic organizer (provide picture) on the nature of the performance-based assessment. Note: you may
create your own style. 15 pts.

PERFORMANCE-
BASED
ASSESSMENT

Activity 2.
Convert into visual presentation the pluses and minuses of using performance-based assessment. Present at least
three pluses (+) and three minuses (-) with proper caption, citation or quotation. 10 pts.

Activity 3.
Make an essay answering “To what extent does performance-based assessment measure the level of authenticity?” 10 pts.

EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT

Answer comprehensively: 25 pts.

1. What are the different types of performance tasks? 5 pts.

2. From among the different types of performance tasks, what is the best for you and why? 5pts.
3. Why do we need to consider the limitations of performance-based assessment knowing that it offers several advantages? 5 pts.
4. Give one example of a multiple evaluation criteria with explanation. 5 pts.
5. “Reliability may be difficult to establish” is one of the weaknesses of performance-based assessment. How this statement
can be proven? 5 pts.

Write the letter of the best answer. If the answer is not found among the options, write E. 5 pts.
1. Ms. Kenjie is doing a performance-based assessment in web site development with the use of different
programming system in her Information Technology course. Which of the following will most likely happen?
A. Students are evaluated using portfolio.
B. Students are evaluated by traditional testing.
C. Students are evaluated on actual demonstration.
D. Students are evaluated based from past experience.

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2. Teacher Menvy assessed her students in terms of appropriate and effective use of some equipment and tools in
Technology and Livelihood Education. What mode of assessment should teacher Menvy use?
A. Journal Assessment
B. Affective Assessment
C. Traditional Assessment
D. Performance-Based Assessment
3. What should be considered in planning for performance-based assessment?
A. The table of specifications of the tasks
B. The purpose of assessment
C. The level of cognitive domains to be measured
D. Available paper-and pencil test
4. Which statement about performance-based assessment is FALSE?
A. It stresses what can students know and do.
B. It assesses both process and products tasks.
C. It emphasizes application of knowledge.
D. It accentuates process only
5. Mr. Henry, a business management professor, makes sure that he includes performance tasks at the end of the
course study that will enable the students to practice and apply what they have learned in the real world of business.
Which task is being practiced by Mr. Henry?
A. Capstone Performance
B. Completing an Inquiry
C. Solving a Problem
D. Presentation Tasks

ADDITIONAL READINGS

* Classroom Assessment: What Teachers Need to Know – Popham, W. James (2011)

* Foundation of Meaningful Educational Assessment – Musial, Dian et. al. (2009)
* Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education
* Report from the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment

REFERENCES

Assessment of Learning 2
Ronan M. Cajigal
Maria Leflor D. Mantuano

Authentic Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes

Rosita L. Navarro
Rosita De Guzman – Santos

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