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Teachers > Assessment > Performance Assessment

Performance assessments measure "authentic performance," a student doing an actual task--writing a critical essay or a play, performing a piece of music, choreographing a dance, or creating a painting.

Typically there are 3 steps to performance assessment.
1) gathering information through:

observation including: anecdotes and checklists
portfolios and journals, essays, qualitative questions, interviews, and case studies
CDs and web sites to store performances and portfolios

2) creating rubrics, rating instruments that describe different levels (quality) of performance

Rubrics are excellent assessment tools. They can help teachers clarify their teaching goals and strategies. They make assessing student work quick and efficient and help teachers justify to parents and others the grades they assign to students. Rubrics, at their very best, are teaching tools that support student learning and encourage the development of sophisticated thinking skills. Rubrics can be used to guide self- and peer assessment and can increase students' sense of responsibility for their own work. Teachers and students together should create the rubrics for an assignment.

3) communicating about the performance with the students and their

oral critiques
rating scales
written comments

The strength of this approach to testing is that it focuses directly on complex performances and the knowledge and skills required to accomplish them. Disadvantages of performance assessments are that they are susceptible to subjectivity in gathering the information and in scoring the student work; scoring can be difficult and costly; performances, essays, and written response require more classroom time than the forced-answer tests.

Time and assessment

"There is no one key place or correct format for reflection. It's not always at the end; it's not always in progress; it's not always when everyone is at the same point. It's just an ongoing part of the [teaching/learning] process. It's not one set way. It continues to float in and out and it's all along. It overlaps and it layers. It's an environment; it's a different kind of environment."
Barbara Albig, South Vocational-Technical High School, Pittsburgh

1. Not every performance needs to be assessed formally. Feedback can be given verbally and informally as students work in small groups or as the teacher leads a class discussion.

2. Keep assessment criteria boiled down to just those few items that you really care about (the ones stated in the "understanding" goals). This not only makes the grading and feedback process easier for you but also ensures that students will spend their time and energy well.

3. Take time to teach your students how to talk with one another about assessment. If everyone understands the criteria for a performance and has had practice providing supportive critiques, then students can coach and provide feedback for one another, even though you are the one who ultimately gives the grade. [C. Eric Bondy and Bill Kendall. "Ongoing Assessment," THE TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING GUIDE. (San Francisco: Josey-Bass, 1998) pp. 86-87.]

Teachers > Assessment > Performance > Observation and Checklists

Observation

Student approach to work can only be assessed by the classroom teacher.
Engagement: works hard and shows interest, meets deadlines, shows care and attention to detail in the presentation of the final product
Ability to Work Independently when appropriate and incorporate learning from life experiences
Ability to Work Collaboratively when appropriate
Ability to Use Cultural Resources: books, museums, tools, other people
Project Zero

Observation should be done on a periodic basis with each observation limited to several specific categories. A carefully constructed checklist or rating scale should be used. A rubric based on a sound conceptual framework should be used to guide any scoring of performances. The validity of the instrument should be checked making certain it directs the observer to those portions of the performance that are the focus of the work, that deal with the objectives of the lesson. The observers, both teachers and students, should practice using the checklists or rating scales so that they have some agreement on what they see and record.

Checklists

Include a list of activities accompanied by yes/no columns to check off the presence or absence of the behavior. It is a means for students to know what behaviors are expected and to keep a record of what has been done.

Middle School Dance Check List
From Marsha Himdman, Casa Grande Schools, AZ

Name: _______________________

Performance Date: ______________

Yes No

Did you warm up properly before the performance? ___ ___

Did you have all of your costume items and props? ___ ___

Did you wear your hair back from your face? ___ ___

Were you chewing gum? ___ ___

Did you peek out of the curtain at the audience at any time before or during the performance? ___ ___

Did you remember to smile during your performance? ___ ___

Did you forget any of the choreography? ___ ___

Did you miss any cue to come on stage? ___ ___

Did you dance to the best of your ability? ___ ___

While you were dancing, did you express enthusiasm through your movements? ___ ___

After the performance did you hang up, fold nicely, and put away in the proper box all of your props and costume items? ___ ___

Write a short paragraph on how you feel you did on today's performance.

Is there anything you need to do to better prepare yourself before the next performance?

Teachers > Assessment > Performance > Portfolios & Essays

Portfolios are becoming increasingly popular in schools. Unlike tests, they can be used to gather information about what students can do over a long period of time.

The Tucson Unified School District's definition: A portfolio is a purposeful collection of work that exhibits effort, progress, performance and achievement over time. The portfolio documents skills, knowledge and personal qualities. Construction of a portfolio is collaborative and reflective. Portfolios at all grade levels offer one way to exhibit student achievement.

Benefits: Demonstrates student growth, provides a system to organize materials, shows learning other than test performance, stimulates ownership in the learning process, involves parents in the educational process, links formal learning and application.

An art portfolio, for example, might include samples of student 2-dimensional work and photos of 3-dimensional work along with student and teacher evaluations. A theater portfolio might include draft and final versions of scenarios or plays that have been written, photos of scene/costume designs, photos or videos of scenes performed along with student and teacher evaluations. In either portfolio, student "interrogation" of a master work or research on the history or role of the art form in a given culture might be included.

Project Zero's Seidel & Walters make five points about portfolios:

1. Assessment of portfolios reveals a student's particular profile of strengths, weaknesses, and "chosen challenges."

2. Portfolio assessment is inseparable from learning and thus occurs at several points in the term rather than only at the end of the school term.

3. Assessment of portfolios recognizes student growth. Assessment provides a picture of development by comparing student work from at least two points in time.

4. Students are central in assessment of portfolios. Student reflection is a form of self-assessment that can itself be assessed.

5. Portfolios are most effective when students are doing authentic work in a domain, work that is close in form and process to that done by adults in the domain. Portfolios are most revealing when students are engaged in sustained projects that call for original thinking. Engagement and inventiveness seem to develop most readily in classrooms in which students are given choices about the focus and direction of their work.

A student's portfolio should contain evidence of the process of learning; drafts and unsatisfactory works are included, along with final, or strong works. In addition, students include their own reflections or comments about their works.

Propel portfolios educate the students in addition to providing assessment information for other audiences. Portfolios are personal records of learning that can be used as a source for ideas and understanding.

Essay Questions, Interviews and Focus Group Questions

Essay Questions, which involve writing several paragraphs or several pages, allow students to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a topic. Essays measure skills such as a student's ability to organize, integrate, and compare and contrast ideas, as well as demonstrate their writing ability.

This question type, however, requires considerable student time; its scoring requires more teacher time and can be more subjective than that of other types of questions. In addition, because essay questions take more time, tests, using them, cover less material than some other forms of testing.

A rubric to describe appropriate responses can help eliminate subjectivity and can shorten the teacher response time.

Interview and Focus Group Questions

Should be carefully constructed so that they yield the kind of information that will be helpful.

Example:

What did you learn in this unit?
What helped you most?
What caused you problems?
What did--or could have helped you over come the problems?
What are your goals for the next unit? What skills do you want to focus on? What information/knowledge do you want to learn?

Teachers > Assessment > Performance > Performance Assessment Rubrics

A rubric is. . .a type of scoring guide that expresses more than one level of achievement for one or more criteria. (Brophy, 2000)

A rubric:

is related to authentic learning in the subject area
includes subject-specific content
focuses on subject-specific knowledge or skill
describes or specifies levels of achievement.

Basic Features of a Rubric:

1) criteria (and descriptors for each criteria)
2) gradations of quality (achievement levels)

General examples from a Sandra Stauffer, ASU, presentation at the AAAE ITV3 Conference, October 2000, based on Marzona (2000, p.125)

Information-based topics

4) The student has a complete and detailed understanding of the information important to the topic.

3) The student has a complete understanding of the information important to the topic but not in great detail.

2) The student has an incomplete understanding of the topic and/or misconceptions about some of the information. However, the student maintains a basic understanding of the topic.

1) The student's understanding of the topic is so incomplete or has so many misconceptions that the student cannot be said to understand the topic.

0) No judgement can be made.

Skills -- or process-based topics

4) The student can perform the skill or process important to the topic with no significant errors and with fluency. Additionally, the student understands the key features of the skill process.

3) The student can perform the skill or process important to the topic without making significant errors.

2) The student makes some significant errors when performing the skill or process important to the topic but still accomplishes a rough approximation of the skill or process.

1) The student makes so many errors in performing the skill or process important to the topic that he or she cannot actually perform the skill or process.

0) No judgement can be made.

How Do You Create Rubrics?

look at models
list criteria
pack and unpack criteria - check for overlaps, choose those that you wish to emphasize
articulate levels of quality
create a draft rubric
revise the draft

Tips on Designing Rubrics:

avoid unclear language and unnecessary negative language. Be certain students know what to do to succeed and what they did wrong and how they can do better next time.
think about how to chunk criteria before defining the levels of quality. You might use the "Yes," "Yes but," No but," and "No" for ways to think about levels of quality. (Based on articles by Heidi Goodrich Andrade and the "High School Student Guide to AIMS")

What To Do Once You've Created Rubrics:

Teach the students to look at their work to see where and when they have matched their work to the criteria and quality level in the rubric. Teach students to evaluate their peers. Perhaps have them sign-off on their critique so they are responsible for what they've said. "Peer review can yield a profound result: the beginning of a truly professional relationship with colleagues" (Grant Wiggins, Ed. Leadership, J 97).

Examples: 1) Book Talk Rubric, created by teacher and second grade class;

Book Talk Rubric

Criteria Quality

Did I get my audiences attention? Creative beginning Boring beginning No beginning

Did I tell what kind of book? Tells exactly what type of book it is Not sure, not clear Didn't mention it

Did I tell something about the main character? Included facts about character Slid over character Did not tell anything about main character

Did I mention the setting? Tells when and where story took place Not sure, not clear Didn't mention setting

Did I tell one interesting part? Made it sound interesting - I want to buy it! Told part and skipped onto something else Forgot to do it

Did I tell who might like the book? Did tell Skipped over it Forgot to tell

How did I look? Hair combed, neat, clean clothes, smiled, looked up, happy Lazy look Just-got-out-of-bed look, head down

How did I sound? Clear, strong, cheerful voice No expression in voice Difficult to understand- 6-inch voice or screeching

2) Rubric for an Invention Report, an example from Perkins et al. 1994 for verbal, written, or graphic reports on students inventions

Rubric for an Invention Report

Criteria Quality

Purposes The report explains the key purposes of the invention and points out less obvious ones as well The report explains all the key purposes of the invention. The report explains some of the purposes of the invention, but misses key purposes. The report does not refer to the purposes of the invention.

Features The report details both key and hidden features of the invention and explains how they serve several purposes. The report details the key features of the invention and explains the purposes they serve. The report neglects some features of the invention or the purposes they serve. The report does not detail the features of the invention or the purposes they serve.

Critique The report discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the invention and suggests ways in which it can be improved. The report discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the invention. The report discusses either the strengths or weaknesses of the invention but not both. The report does not mention the strengths or the weaknesses of the invention.

Connections The report makes appropriate connections between the purposes and features of the invention and many different kinds of phenomena. The report makes appropriate connections between the purposes and features of the invention and one or two phenomena. The report makes unclear or inappropriate connections between the invention and other phenomena. The report makes no connections between the invention and other things.

Teachers > Assessment > Performance > Performance Assessment Rating Scales

In this example from Arlene M. Ashe, Paradise Valley Schools, AZ, the students' work is recorded and the recording and the rating scale entered in the students' web portfolios. "The parent and student reaction to this project has been very positive. The students look forward to 'recording days,' which may be as often as every third lesson. The parents who have had the opportunity to view their child's portfolio have been absolutely thrilled."

Music Rating Scale, Middle School

Title Student's Assessment Teacher's assessment

Masterpiece Theater    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

Bach Musette    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

Slavonic Song    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

C Scale    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

G Scale    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

D Scale    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

A Scale    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

F Scale    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

Bb Scale    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

Crystal City March    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

Spanish Dancer    4      3      2      1    4      3      2      1

Comments: Comments:

4 = Outstanding performance. Very few if any errors. Quality sound, accurate intonation and rhythm.
3 = Very Good work with few errors, skillfully performed.
2 = Satisfactory work, but not skillfully performed.
1 = Poor work, performance requires improvement.