According to ASCD, “In the act of learning, people obtain content knowledge, acquire skills, and develop work habits—and practice the application of all three to “real world” situations.” The goal of performance-based assessments is the application of skills, strategies, and concepts to the problems institutions and businesses wrestle with in real life. Moving from head knowledge to problem-solving benefits students in higher education and eventual career choices. Show Portfolios with grading rubrics, synthesized assessments that combine multiple subject areas, and other methodologies are designed to evaluate the mental process of learning, not the production of right answers to pre-made tests. This type of analysis has some very clear advantages over traditional multiple choice and even short answer. Performance-based evaluation goals are:
As any adult knows, the regurgitation of knowledge does not extend beyond Kindergarten-12 grade. A strong argument in favor of performance assessment is that it more accurately reflects post high school life, whether in college or in the work environment. The Virginia Department of Education provides an example of what this type of appraisal of Social Studies knowledge applied in a project might look like: “CONCEPTUAL UNIT QUESTION: Did the transformation of the United States from an agricultural to an industrial nation ruin the country? SCENARIO: It is 1910 and three industrialists– Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller, have received national attention. Each of these industrialists is a candidate in their states to be honored with a statue at the U.S. Capitol. As a citizen of the United States, you have an opinion on whether they should receive this honor. Choose one of the industrialists and write a speech providing your opinion on whether the honor is deserved. Provide specific evidence to support your opinion.” The project must include a persuasive speech either for or against an industrialist using at least 3 supporting documents. The same strategy can apply to any academic subject and at any grade level, with the objective being to move from recall, matching, listing, identifying to comparing, classifying, evaluating, and analyzing. The Thoughtco. suggests six methods of evaluation:
While performance-based assessments will likely never take the place of traditional assessments, teachers should give serious thought to using at least one performance-based evaluation during the academic year. One key feature of all performance assessments is that they require students to be active participants. They also focus attention on how students arrive at their answers and require students to demonstrate the knowledge or skills needed to obtain a correct answer. To illustrate, if high school juniors are asked to demonstrate their understanding of interest rates by shopping for a used-car loan (i.e., comparing the interest rates of banks and other lending agencies and identifying the best deal), a teacher can easily see if the students understand the concept of interest, know how it is calculated, and are able to perform mathematical operations accurately. What Are the Advantages of Assessing My Child This Way? Instruction in most subject areas is being altered to include more practical applications of skills and to incorporate a greater focus on the understanding and combining of content and skills. Performance assessments closely tied to this new way of teaching provide teachers with more information about the learning needs of their students and enable them to modify their methods to meet these needs. They also allow students to assess their own progress and, therefore, be more responsible for their education. Advocates of performance assessment believe these tests will prompt educators and school officials to identify the skills and knowledge they want their students to acquire and to focus on teaching students this information. It also provides educators with information about what students have learned, not just how well they can learn. What Are the Disadvantages of Assessing My Child This Way? Performance assessments usually include fewer questions and call for a greater degree of subjective judgement than traditional testing methods. Since there are no clear right and wrong answers, teachers have to decide how to grade and what distinguishes an average performance from an excellent one. This potential disadvantage can be avoided if teachers set up an evaluation rubric (rating scale with several categories) that clearly defines the characteristics of poor, average, and excellent performances so teachers can score them in a consistent manner. Critics argue that performance assessments will not improve schooling and could be harmful. The following concerns have been expressed about performance-based assessments: teachers might teach only to the test, thereby narrowing the curriculum and reducing the test's value. When using performance assessments such as portfolios, teachers and other individuals who are grading the work may differ greatly in their evaluations. Students may be unintentionally penalized for such things as having a disability, being from a certain cultural background, or attending classes at a school with limited resources. Which is better performancePerformance-based assessments allow teachers to assess areas of learning that traditional assessments do not address. Many traditional assessments do not directly measure progress toward the teacher's final learning objectives.
Which is better authentic assessment or traditional assessment Why support your answer?Authentic assessments have several advantages over conventional tests. They are likely to be more valid than conventional tests, particularly for learning outcomes that require higher-order thinking skills.
What differences can you give between traditional and performanceWhile traditional testing requires students to answer questions correctly (often on a multiple-choice test), performance assessment requires students to demonstrate knowledge and skills, including the process by which they solve problems.
What is performanceIn general, a performance-based assessment measures students' ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit or units of study. Typically, the task challenges students to use their higher-order thinking skills to create a product or complete a process (Chun, 2010).
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