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UNIT 2
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

At the end of the unit, the pre-service teacher must be able to:
Design appropriate performance assessment tools for intended student learning
outcomes.

A. What and Why of Performance Assessment

Performance Assessment
Performance assessment is an assessment activity or set of activities that
require students to generate products or performances that provide direct or
indirect evidence of their knowledge, skills, and abilities in an academic content
domain. It provides teachers with information about how well a student
understands and applies knowledge and goes beyond the ability to recall
information. It is used for assessing learning outcomes that involve designing
or creating projects or products such as research papers, art exhibits, reflective
essays, and portfolios. On the other hand, performance-based tasks include
actual performances of making those products, such as carrying out laboratory
experiments, exhibiting creative and artistic talents, such as dancing, painting,
and playing a musical instrument, and demonstrating writing skills through
extemporaneous essay writing, article review, and reflective papers. Both
product-based and performance-based assessments provide information about
how a student understands and applies knowledge and involve hands-on tasks
or activities that students must complete individually or in small groups.
Purpose of Performance Assessment:
1. It can be used to determine the proficiency level of students, to motivate
students to study and provide feedbacks to the students.
2. It also allows teachers to observe achievements, habits of mind, ways of
working and behavior of value in the real world. In many cases, these are
outcomes that conventional tests may miss.

Types Examples
A. Product-Based
Assessment
Visual Products Charts, illustrations, graphs, collages, murals,
maps, timeline flows, diagrams, posters,
advertisements, video presentations, art exhibits
Kinesthetic Products Diorama, puzzles, games, sculpture, exhibits,
dance recital
Written Products Journals, diaries, logs, reports, abstracts, letters,
thought or position papers, poems, story,
movie/TV scripts, portfolio, essay, article report,
research paper, thesis
Verbal Products Audiotapes, debates, lectures, voice recording,
scripts
B. Performance-
Based Assessment
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Oral Presentations/ Paper presentation, poster presentation,

Demonstrations individual or group report on assigned topic,
skills demonstration such as baking, teaching,
problem solving
Dramatic/Creative Dance, recital, dramatic enactment, prose or
Performances poetry interpretation, role playing, playing
musical instruments
Public Speaking Debates, mock trial, simulations, interviews,
panel discussion, story-telling, poem reading
Athletic Skills Playing basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball,
Demonstration/ and other sports
Competition

Similar to performance assessment is the concept of authentic

assessment. Authentic assessment requires students to actually demonstrate
their skills in applying skills and knowledge they have learned from class. It
involves tasks that resemble what people do in the real setting or context, such
as doing an actual research, making a case study, giving a speech, or
performing on a stage.

Characteristics of a Good Performance Assessment

With so many different types of performance assessment tasks or tools
that can be used to measure students’ learning outcomes, deciding which one
to use can be confusing and challenging. In choosing and designing the best
performance assessment, it is good to evaluate its suitability against the
following criteria:
1. It is authentic, that is, it includes performance tasks that are
meaningful and realistic.
Performance assessment should present or require tasks that are realistic and
related to everyday life. As it involves an authentic task, it should convey its
purpose and reflect its relevance to the students, their discipline, and the
outside world as a whole.
2. It provides opportunities for students to show both what they know
and how well they can do what they know.
Performance assessment should achieve a balanced approach wherein it gives
students opportunities to show their knowledge-and-skill competencies. Since
the main goal of teaching and learning is for students’ acquisition and
application of knowledge and skills, course assessments should therefore help
answer the questions “Do the students know it?” and “How well can they use
what they know?” to determine whether the students have actually achieved
this goal.
3. It allows students to be involved in the process of evaluating their
own and their peers’ performance and output.
Performance assessment should allow students to be involved in the process of
evaluating themselves and their peers. It should give students the opportunity
for self-reflection or self-assessment, as well as to be involved in evaluating
their classmates’ performance. Self-assessment allows students to make
judgment about their learning process and products of learning, track their
progress, and identify the areas where to focus or improve on. Peer
assessment, on the other hand, allows students to give constructive feedback
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about the performance of their classmates or groupmates, which the latter can
use to revise or improve their work. Both assessments require that scoring or
grading is based on the criteria agreed upon by the teacher and the students.
The use of a rubric can facilitate self-assessment and peer-assessment.
4. It assesses more complex skills.
Unlike traditional tests that usually assess a single skill and require simple
tasks such as remembering or recalling of concepts, performance assessment
usually taps higher-order cognitive skills to apply knowledge to solve realistic
and meaningful problems. As such, performance assessment allows students
to engage in more challenging activities that require various skills, such as
planning and decision-making, problem-solving, critical thinking,
communication, and creative skills, among others.
5. It explains the task, required elements, and scoring criteria to the
students before the start of the activity and the assessment.
At the start of the class, it is important that the requirements of the subject are
presented and explained to the students. These include the required tasks,
activities or projects, the expected quality and level performance or output, the
criteria to be included for assessment, and the rubric to be used. Ideally,
students should be involved in the whole assessment process from the very
onset, by providing them assessment options, getting them involved in
discussions and decision-making on performance standards and criteria,
allowing them opportunity to give feedback on teacher-made rubrics and to
revise them, and training them on how to apply rubric for self- and peer-
assessment

B. Developing Performance Tasks

Guidelines in Designing Performance Assessment Tasks
The learning outcomes at the end of the course serve as the bases in
designing the performance assessment tasks. With the learning outcomes
identified, the evidence of student learning that are most relevant for each
learning outcome and the standard or criteria that will be used to evaluate
those evidence is then identified. To guide you in designing performance
assessments, the following questions may be addressed:
1. What are the outcomes to be assessed?
2. What are the capabilities/skills implicit or explicit in the expected
outcomes (e.g., problem-solving, decision-making, critical thinking,
communication skills)?
3. What are the appropriate performance assessment tasks or tools to
measure the outcomes and skills?
4. Are the specific performance tasks aligned with the outcomes and skills
interesting, engaging, challenging, and measurable?
5. Are the performance tasks authentic and representative of real-world
scenarios?
6. What criteria should be included to rate students’ performance level?
7. What are specific performance indicators for each criterion?
The choice of teaching and learning activities is also of utmost importance in
choosing the performance assessments to use. There should also be an
alignment among the learning outcomes, the teaching learning activities and
assessment tasks.
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Using GRASPS Tasks to Create Authentic Assessment

G – Goal (What task do I want the students to achieve?)
R – Role (What’s the student’s role in the task?)
A – Audience (Who is the student’s target audience?)
S – Situation (What’s the context? The challenge?)
P – Product (What will students create/develop?)
S – Standards (On what criteria will they be judged?)

Example GRASPS tasks

You are a member of a team of scientists investigating deforestation of
the Papua New Guinean rainforests. You are responsible for gathering scientific
data (including visual evidence such as photos) and producing a scientific
report in which you summarize current conditions, possible future trends and
the implications for both Papua New Guinea and its broader influence on our
planet. Your report, which you will present to a United Nations subcommittee,
should include detailed and fully supported recommendations for an action
plan that are clear and complete.

GRASPS unpacked
G = The goal (within the scenario) is to determine current deforestation
conditions and possible future trends
R = Student is a member of a team of investigative scientists
A = The target audience is the United Nations subcommittee
S = The scenario: inform the United Nations subcommittee of the effects of
deforestation on the Papua New Guinean rain forest and convince
them to follow the recommended action plan.
P = The product is a clear and complete action plan
S = The standards by which the product will be judged are detailed and fully
supported recommendations in an action plan that is both clear and
complete.

G = Goal Your task is to …

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The goal is to …
The problem or challenge is …
The obstacle to overcome is …
R = Role You are …
You have been asked to …
Your job is …
A = Audience Your clients are …
The target audience is …
You need to convince …
S = Situation The context you find yourself in is …
The challenge involves dealing with …
P = Product, Performance You will create a … in order to …
and Purpose You need to develop a … so that …
S = Standards Your performance needs to …
Your work will be judged by …
Your product must meet the following
standards…
A successful result will …

Template to help create GRASPS task

Use one of the sentence starters from each letter to help you write your task.
Once you have your sentences, then write it up as a task.

Differentiating Performance Task for Diverse Learners

Who are diverse learners?
Diverse learners include children and students of all abilities from radically,
ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Diversity in classroom
➢ Get to know your student
➢ Re-evaluate your teaching materials
➢ Be willing to address inequality
➢ Connect the families and community
➢ Meet diverse learning need

Different Types of Learners

1. Auditory and Musical Learners
- Auditory learners like to hear solutions and examples explained to them,
and may gravitate towards music subjects and group learning as way to
understand information.
2. Visual and Spatial Learners
- These learners prefer information presented visually rather than spoken.
3. Verbal Learners
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- Verbal learners might have a preference for reading and writing, word
games and poems. They know the meaning of a broad category of words, can
use effectively, and actively seek out new words to add their repertoire.
4. Logical and Mathematical Learners
- Logical learners look for patterns and trends win what they learn. They
search for the connections, and the reasons and results. These learners greatly
appreciate any type of learning that logically explains the subject at hand.
5. Physical and Kinesthetic Learners
- Commonly called “hands-on” learners that emphasizes a type of
“Learning by Doing”.
6. Social Interpersonal Learners
- Social learners show preference towards groups and collaboration
7. Solitary and Intrapersonal Learners
- These learners can be visual, auditory, physical, verbal, or logical
learners.
8. Nature Learners
- Nature learners are learners who do best when interacting with nature.

Differentiated Instruction Techniques to Reach Diverse Learners

Key Vocabulary – educators work with students to help them identify,
recognize, develop, and use new terminology. Consider matching key
vocabulary with one of the other differentiated instruction techniques below to
engage all your students. Create a memory match game to learn and review
key vocabulary terms.
Prior Knowledge Links – This technique taps into students’ prior experiences
and knowledge. Have students interview each other to learn about their own
individual experiences in reference to a certain topic. You can also address
pointed questions to the entire group, such as: Have you ever visited a forest?
What was it like? Did you like it?
Paired and Cooperative Learning – Combine students with varying learning
abilities, interests, language proficiencies, or other skill strengths into groups of
two or more to provide peer support throughout a lesson.
Nonlinguistic Representations – Help students learn using modalities other
than the printed word, such as singing, role-playing, sketching, taking
photographs, etc.
Realia and Hands-on Learning – Provide students with tangible objects
illustrate what is being discussed, and get students to participate through the
use or creation of materials to engage multiple learning modalities.
Curricular and Personal Connections – Help students make connections with
other content and discipline areas by relating new concepts to previously
learned ones. This can be accomplished using group questioning, hands-on
realia, or a more formal assessment.
Oral, Reading, and Writing Skills – Encourage students to integrate the three
learning modalities of speaking, reading, and writing.
Higher Order Thinking – Challenge students to go beyond comprehension of
basic material by moving them toward more abstract reasoning, such as
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making inferences, predictions, and appropriate connections. This can also be

accomplished using group questioning or a more formal assessment.

Scoring Rubrics
A scoring rubric is an efficient tool that allows you to objectively measure
student performance on an assessment activity, particularly those that are not
traditional in nature such as portfolio, outputs or projects, performances,
collaborative work, and research.
The following are examples of student performances and outputs that can
be assessed by a rubric:
Student Performances:
1. Oral presentations/demonstrations
• Research paper/poster presentation
• Individual or group report
• Skills demonstration, such as baking and teaching
• Extemporaneous speech
2. Dramatic/Creative performances
• Dance recital
• Performance in a play or musicals
• Poetry reading and interpretation
• Playing musical instruments
3. Public speaking
• Debates
• Declamation
• Panel discussion
• Inspirational speech
4. Athletic Skills Demonstration/Competition

Products/Outputs
1. Visual products
• Paintings
• Collages
• Posters
• Video presentations
2. Kinesthetic products
• Diorama
• Sculpture
• Dance recital
• Wood carvings
3. Written products
• Essays
• Poems
• Thesis/term paper
• Movie/TV script
4. Verbal products
• Audiotapes
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• Voice recording
• Speech scripts (to inform, to persuade, etc.)
Types of Rubrics:
Type of Rubric Description
General/Generic It contains criteria that are general and can be applied
Rubric across tasks. This is most convenient for teachers who do
not have the time and skills in developing different types of
rubrics as they can reuse the same rubrics for several
tasks or assignments. However, the teacher may not be
able to assess accurately the student’s performance for a
particular task. For example, the same rubric that can be
used to evaluate both oral presentation and research
output.
Task-specific It contains criteria that are unique to a specific
Rubric performance task to be assessed. This kind of rubric is
best for instruction and formative assessment since it will
provide the students feedback on what aspects of their
performance or work need to be improved. However,
developing analytic rubrics is time-consuming for teachers.
For example, a rubric can only be used for oral
presentation and another rubric is applicable for research
output.
Holistic Rubric A Student’s performance or output is evaluated by
applying all criteria simultaneously, thus providing a
single score based on an overall judgment about the
quality of student’s work. It does not provide a score on
each individual criterion.
One advantage of holistic rubric is that it is quick to
develop and use by the teachers. However, it does not
inform students about their specific strengths and
weaknesses, and thus, may not be as sufficient and helpful
in guiding them in improving their performance.
For example, rubric for problem solving activities which
entails scoring the student’s overall ability to solve a
particular problem or issue, and rubric for creative work
(e.g., painting), which gives an overall score for the
student’s creativity and skill.
Analytic Rubric A student’s work is evaluated by using each criterion
separately, thus providing specific feedback about a
student’s performance or product along several
dimensions. This is most applicable for assessing a
complex performance or product.
One advantage is it identifies the student’s strengths and
areas for improvement based on the criteria identified.
Scoring with an analytic rubric however would entail more
time than with a holistic rubric.
For example, rubric for research paper that requires
scoring a student’s work on different parts of the research
paper, or a rubric for chemical laboratory experiment
taking into consideration the student’s performance in
every stage of the experiment.
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This is a general/generic rubric as this can be applied to any type of

performance tasks or outputs (e.g., research report, dance performance, oral
presentation, etc.)
Criterion Not evident Insufficient Sufficient Excellent
1 2 3 4
Provided No/few Comments Comments Comments
meaningful/ comments or are are include
relevant suggestions to superficial, relevant suggestions and
feedback on improve the not and additional
peer’s work, work, relevant, appropriate; resources;
output, performance, neutral or comments comments praise
performance or output, non- include specific strengths
comments encouraging. positive of the work/
might be feedback performance as
interpreted as and well as
insulting, with suggestions. constructively
little address
understanding weaknesses with
of the alternatives that
assigned task. might be
considered.

Sample Task-Specific Rubric for Reviewer/Critic of Performance

Tasks/Outputs
Criteria Not Insufficient Sufficient Excellent
Evident 2 3 4
1
Provided
meaningful/
Relevant
feedback on:
-Significance No/few Comments Comment Comments
of the study commen are s are include
ts or superficial relevant suggestions and
suggestio and not and additional
ns; with relevant appropriat resources
little e. regarding the
understa construct/
nding. problem.
-Theoretical No/few Comments Comment Comments
basis/ commen are s are include
conceptual ts or superficial relevant suggestions and
framework of suggestio and not and additional
the study ns; with relevant appropriat resources
little e. regarding the
understa construct/
nding. problem.
-methods No/few Comments Comment Comments
commen are s are include
ts or superficial relevant suggestions and
suggestio and do not and additional
ns provide appropriat resources
appropriate e. regarding the
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suggestions construct/
on how problem.
research
should be
conducted.
-comments in No/few Comments Comment Comments praise
a positive, commen Are neutral s include specific strengths
encouraging, ts or or non- positive of the work/
and suggestio encouraging feedback performance as
constructive ns; given ; comments and well as
manner to are not suggestion constructively
improve relevant to s. address
the the study weaknesses with
paper; alternatives that
comment might be
s might considered.
be
interprete
d as
insulting.
Grade

Sample Holistic Rubric for Oral Presentation

Rating/Grade Characteristics
A Is very organized. Has a clear opening statement that
(Exemplary) catches audience’s interest. Content of report is
comprehensively and demonstrates substance and depth.
Delivery is very clear and understandable, uses slides/
multimedia equipment effortlessly to enhance
presentation.
B Is mostly organized. Has opening statement relevant to
(Satisfactory) topic. Covers important topics. Has appropriate pace and
without distracting mannerisms. Looks at slides to keep
on track.
C Has an opening statement relevant to topic but does not
(Emerging) give outline of speech; is somewhat disorganized. Lacks
content and depth in the discussion of the topic.
Delivery is fast and not clear; some items not covered
well. Relies heavily on slides and notes and makes little
eye contact.
D Has no opening statement regarding the focus of the
(Unacceptable) presentation. Does not give adequate coverage of topic. Is
often hard to understand, with voice that is too soft or
too loud and pace that is too quick or too slow. Just
reads slides, slides too much text.

Sample Analytic Rubric for Oral Presentation

Standards 4 3 2 1
Exemplary Satisfactory Emerging Unacceptable
Organization Has a Has Has opening Has no
clear opening statement opening
opening statement relevant to statement or
statement that is topic and but has an
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that relevant to does not give irrelevant

catches topic and outline of statement,
audience’s gives outline speech, is gives listener
interest, of speech, is somewhat no focus or
maintain mostly disorganized. outline of the
focus organized, presentation
throughout provides
, adequate
summarize “road map”
s main for the
points listener.
Content Demonstra Covers Lacks Does not give
tes topic, uses content and adequate
substance appropriate depth in the coverage of
and depth, sources, is discussion of topic, lacks
is objective. the topic, sources
comprehen lacks
sive, shows resources.
mastery of
material.
Delivery Has Has Delivery is Is often hard
natural appropriate fast, some to
delivery, pace, has items not understand,
projects no covered well, has voice that
enthusias distracting not is too soft or
m, mannerisms understandabl too loud, has
interest, , is easily e. a pace that is
and understood. too quick or
confidence too slow,
report can demonstrates
be one or more
understood distracting
well. mannerisms
Use of media Uses Looks at Relies heavily Just reads
slides slides to on slides and slides, slides
effortlessl keep on notes, makes too much text
y to track, uses little eye
enhance as contact, uses
presentatio appropriate slides with
n, has an number of many texts.
effective slides.
presentatio
n without
media
Response to Demonstra Shows ease Answers Cannot
Questions tes full in questions, but answer most
knowledge answering not questions.
of topic, questions convincingly/ Demonstrates
explains but does not vague or little grasp of
and elaborate unclear information,
elaborates has
on all undeveloped
questions or unclear
answers to
questions
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GRADE

Characteristics of a Goof Rubric:

1. Explicit. A good rubric should contain criteria and performance
indicators that are clear, concrete, and observable as well as relevant and
applicable to the performance task to be assessed. Each benchmark and point
value should also have clearly delineated indicators, differentiating the
expected quality of work for each performance level.
2. Aligned. A good rubric should contain criteria that are aligned with the
expected quality of performance for a particular task or assignment, as well as
with the intended level of learning outcomes in the subject.
3. Authentic. A good rubric should include criteria and performance
indicators or descriptors that are meaningful and require application of real-life
skills.
4. Valid. A good rubric should be able to measure what it intends to
measure.
5. Diagnostic. A good rubric should be able to communicate to the
students what are expected of them in the course, allow them to reflect on their
performance, and provide them opportunities to improve on areas that they did
not do well.

Steps in Rubric Development

Step 1. Determine the learning outcome and the performance task to be
evaluated.
It is important to be clear about the learning outcome/s and the specific
performance task that will be evaluated. Choose tasks that are essential (i.e.,
aligned with desired learning outcomes), authentic (i.e., involves meaningful
and real-life application of skills), complex (i.e., contains numerous possibilities
for application, extensions, and connections of knowledge and skills), feasible
(i.e., can be done given the time constraints and availability of resources), and
measurable (i.e., it can be observed and measured).
Step 2. Identify the quality attributes or indicators of the performance
task.
Next, you need to identify and list all possible attributes or indicators of a good
performance. This can be based from your own expectations and benchmark
exemplars of work that reflect key standards. You may explore and specify the
skills, knowledge, and or behavior that you will be looking for to describe the
standard in one’s performance. Be sure to limit the characteristics that are
important.
Step 3. Determine the criteria or dimensions.
Cluster the list of attributes and/or indicators into possible groups or
categories and label the categories. This will form the criteria for
assessment. For example, in a dance performance task, all attributes that
pertain to how well the students execute the dance in terms of movement, body
position, placement in stage, and dance style can be grouped under the
criterion “Technical Skills”. You can also include criteria in terms of the
components of a performance task. For example, for a research report rubric,
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you can include as criteria the different parts of a research, such as

introduction, method, data gathering and analysis, conclusion, and
recommendations. Likewise, for a chemistry laboratory report, you can include
as dimensions introduction, materials/equipment, procedure, data results,
analysis. Keep in mind that only relevant criteria should be included in the
rubric. You also need to determine what type of criteria (i.e., content, process,
quality, or impact) and rubric (i.e., holistic, analytical, general, or task-specific)
will be used.
Step 4. Determine the benchmarks and point values.
A number of descriptors can be used to denote the levels of performance (with
or without accompanying symbols for letter or number grades). Examples of
levels of performance include:
Level 4 Exemplary Distinguished Substantially Outstanding
Developed
Level 3 Accomplished Proficient Mostly Developed Proficient
Level 2 Developing Apprentice Developed Acceptable
Level 1 Beginning Novice Underdeveloped Unacceptable

Usefulness of a Scoring Rubric

Rubric is an important component in the teaching-learning process. It

does not only help teachers in assessing students’ work through application of
consistent standards and in identifying the gaps in their learning, but it also
makes students aware of what are expected of them in relation to the
assessment tasks in particular and the subject as a whole, of how they will be
graded, and eventually of how well they are meeting these expectations.

Thus, to make the rubric more relevant and useful to the students, it is
important for teachers to:
1. Prepare the rubric and make it available to students before they begin
with the assigned tasks to inform them the requirements, criteria, and
expectations so as to guide them in carrying out their tasks;
2. Develop rubric with performance descriptors that are clear and easily
understood by students;
3. Present the rubric to students and allow them to give their feedback and
suggestions to improve or refine it;
4. If possible, involve students in the creation of rubric to enhance their
motivation, engagement, and self-regulation; and
5. Orient the students on how to effectively use the rubric, especially those
that are used for self-assessment and peer-assessment.