Developing Performance Assessment

As the term suggests, performance assessments require a demonstration of students' skills or knowledge (Airasian, 2000; 2001; Brualdi, 1998; Perlman, 2002).  Performance assessments can take on many different forms, which include written and oral demonstrations and activities that can be completed by either a group or an individual.  A factor that distinguishes performance assessments from other extended response activities is that they require students to demonstrate the application of knowledge to a particular context (Brualdi, 1998; Wiggins, 1993).  Through observation or analysis of a student's response, the teacher can determine what the student knows, what the student does not know and what misconceptions the student holds with respect to the purpose of the assessment. 

Recommendations for developing performance assessments: 

1.   The selected performance should reflect a valued activity.  According to Wiggins (1990), "The best tests always teach students and teachers alike the kind of work that most matters; they are enabling and forward-looking, not just reflective of prior teaching."  He suggests the use of tasks that resemble the type of activities that are known to take place in the workforce (e.g., project reports and presentations, writing legal briefs, collecting, analyzing and using data to make and justify decisions).  In other words, performance assessments allow students the opportunity to display their skills and knowledge in response to "real" situations (Airasian, 2000; 2001; Wiggins, 1993).

2.   The completion of performance assessments should provide a valuable learning experience.  Performance assessments require more time to administer than do other forms of assessment.  The investment of this classroom time should result in a higher payoff.  This payoff should include both an increase in the teacher's understanding of what students know and can do and an increase in the students' knowledge of the intended content and constructs.

3.   The statement of goals and objectives should be clearly aligned with the measurable outcomes of the performance activity.  Once the task has been selected, a list can be made of how the elements of the task map into the desired goals and objectives.  If it is not apparent as to how the students' performance will be mapped into the desired goals and objectives, then adjustments may need to be made to the task or a new task may need to be selected.

4.   The task should not examine extraneous or unintended variables.  Examine the task and think about whether there are elements of the task that do not map directly into the goals and objectives.  Is knowledge required in the completion of the task that is inconsistent with the purpose?  Will lack of this knowledge interfere or prevent the students from completing the task for reasons that are not consistent with the task's purpose?  If such factors exist, changes may need to be made to the task or a new task may need to be selected.

5.   Performance assessments should be fair and free from bias.  The phrasing of the task should be carefully constructed in a manner that eliminates gender and ethnic stereotypes.  Additionally, the task should not give an unfair advantage to a particular subset of students.  For example, a task that is heavily weighted with baseball statistics may give an unfair advantage to the students that are baseball enthusiasts. 

The recommendations provided above have been drawn from the broader literary base concerning the construction of performance assessments.  The interested reader can acquire further details concerning the development process by consulting other articles that are available through this journal (i.e., Brualdi, 1998; Roeber, 1996; Wiggins, 1990) or books (e.g., Wiggins, 1993; 1998) that address this subject.