PROCESS-ORIENTED PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

This chapter is concerned with processoriented performance based assessment. Assessment is not an end in itself but a vehicle for educational improvement. Its effective practice, then, begins with and enacts a vision of the kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help them achieve. Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and reveal in performance over time. Learning is a complex process. It entails not only what students know but what they know;

it involves not only knowledge and abilities but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and performance beyond the classroom. Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of methods, including those that call for actual performance, using them over time so as to reveal change, growth, and increasing degrees of integration. Such an approach aims for a more complete and accurate picture of learning.

2.1 Process-Oriented Learning Competencies

Information about outcomes is of high importance; where students end up matters greatly. But to improve outcomes. We need to know about student experience along the way about the curricula, teaching, and kind of student effort that lead to particular outcomes. Assessment can help us understand which students learn best under what conditions; with such knowledge comes the capacity to improve the whole of their learning. Process-oriented performance-based assessment is concerned with the actual task performance rather than the output or product of the activity.

2.1.1 Learning Competencies

The learning objectives in process-oriented performance based assessment are stated in directly observable behaviors of the students. Competencies are defined as groups or clusters of skills and abilities for needed for a particular task. The objectives generally focus on those behaviors which exemplify a best practice for the particular task. Such behaviors range from a beginner or novice level up to the level of an expert. An example of learning competencies for a process-oriented performance based assessment is:

Task: Recite a Poem by Edgar Allan Poe, The

Raven. Objectives: The activity aims to enable the students to recite a poem entitled The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Specifically:
1. Recite the poem from memory without referring to notes; 2. Use appropriate hand and body gestures in delivering the piece; 3. Maintain eye contact with the audience while reciting the poem; 4. Create the ambiance of the poem through appropriate rising and falling intonation; 5. Pronounce the words clearly and with proper diction.

Notice that the objective started with a general statement of what is expected of the student from the task (recite a poem by Edgar Allan Poe) and then breaks down the general objective into easily identified constitute the learning competencies for this particular task. As in the statement of objectives using Booms taxonomy, the specific objectives also range from simple observable processes to more complex observable processes e.g. creating an ambiance of the poem through appropriate rising and falling intonation. A competency is said to be more complex when it consist of two or more skills.

The

competencies are simple competencies: - Speak with a well-modulated voice; - Draw a straight line from one point to another point; - Color a leaf with a green crayon. The following competencies are more complex competencies: - Recite a poem with feeling using appropriate voice quality, facial expression and hand gestures; - Construct an equilateral triangle given three non-collinear points; - Draw and color a leaf with green crayon.

following

2.2 Task Designing

Learning tasks need to be carefully planned. Some generally accepted standards for designing a task include: - Identifying an activity that would highlight the competencies to be evaluated. - Identifying an activity that would entail more or less the same sets of competencies. If an activity would result in too many possible competencies then the teacher would have difficulty assessing the students competency on the task. - Finding a task that would be interesting and enjoyable for the students. Tasks such as writing an essay are often boring and cumbersome for the students.

2.3 Scoring Rubrics

Rubric is a scoring scale used to assess student performance along a task-specific set of criteria. Authentic assessments typically are criterion-referenced measures, that is, students aptitude on a task is determined by matching the students performance against a set of criteria to determine the degree to which the students performance meets the criteria for the task. To measure student performance against a pre-determined set of criteria, a rubric, or scoring scale which contains the essential criteria is typically created.

Why Include Levels of Performance? - Clearer expectations - More consistent and objective assessment - Better feedback - Analytic Versus Holistic Rubrics - Analytic rubric - Holistic rubric

Clearer expectations
It is very useful for the students and the teacher if the criteria are identified and communicated prior to completion of the task. Students know what is expected of them and teachers know what to look for in student performance. Similarly, students better understand what good (or bad) performance on a task looks like if levels of performance are identified, particularly for each level are included.

More

consistent and objective assessment In addition to better communicating teacher expectations, level of performance permit the teacher to more consistently and objectively distinguish between good and bad performance, or between superior, mediocre and poor performance, when evaluating student work.

Furthermore, identifying specific levels of student performance allows the teacher to provide more details feedback to students. The teacher and the students can more clearly recognize areas that need improvement.

Analytic Rubrics

Versus

Holistic

For a particular task you assign students, do you want to be able to assess how well the students perform on each criterion, or do you want to get a more global picture of the students performance on the entire task? The answer to that question is likely to determine the type of rubric you choose to create or use analytic or holistic.

Analytic rubric
Most rubrics, like the Recitation rubric, are analytical rubrics. An analytical rubric articulates levels of performance for each criterion. Using the Recitation rubric, good or excellent job of creating ambiance and distinguish that from how well the student did on voice inflection.

Holistic rubric
In contrast, a holistic rubric does not list separate levels of performance for each criterion. Instead, a holistic rubric assigns a level of performance by assessing performance across multiple criteria as a whole.

When to choose an analytic rubric?

Analytic rubrics are more common because teachers typically want to assess each criterion separately, particularly for assignments that involve a larger number of criteria. It becomes more and more difficult to assign a level of performance in a holistic rubric as the number of criteria increases. As student performance increasingly varies across criteria it becomes more difficult to assign an appropriate holistic category to the performance. In addition, an analytic rubric better handles weighting of criteria.

When to choose a holistic criteria?

Holistic rubrics tend to be used when a quick or gross judgment needs to be made. If the assessment is a minor one, such as a brief homework assignment, it may be sufficient to apply a holistic judgment to quickly review student work

How Many Levels of Performance Should I Include in my Rubric? There is no specific number of levels a rubric should or should not possess. It will vary depending on the task and your needs. A rubric can have a s few as two levels of performance or as many as well, as many as you decide is appropriate. Also, it is not true that there must be an even number or odd number of levels.

We recommend that fewer levels of performance be included initially because such is:
- easier and quicker to administer. -easier to explain to students (and others) - easier to expand than larger rubrics are to shrink.