Performance Assessment & Performance Tasks

Performance assessments measure students' skills based on authentic tasks such as activities, exercises, or problems that require students to show what they can do.

In some cases performance tasks are used to have students demonstrate their understanding of a concept or topic by applying their knowledge to a particular situation.

Because performance assessments require students to actively demonstrate what they know, they can be a more valid indicator of students' understanding, knowledge, abilities, and degree of transfer than other assessment methods.

When designing performance tasks, the assessor must attend to several critical design questions (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005):

• What kinds of evidence do we need to find hallmarks of our goals, including that of understanding? Before we design a particular test or task, it’s important to consider the general types of performances that are implied. For example, regardless of content, understanding is often revealed through the exercises of comparing and contrasting or summarizing key ideas. After mapping a general approach to assessment, we then develop the assessment particulars.
• The second question assumes that some particular task has been developed, about which we can then ask, What specific characteristics in student responses, products, or performances should we examine to determine the extent to which the desired results were achieved? This is where criteria, rubrics, and exemplars come into play.
• The third question has to do with a test for validity and reliability of the assessment: Does the proposed evidence enable us to infer a student’s knowledge, skill, or understanding? In other words, does the evidence align with our learning goals, and are the results sufficiently unambiguous? Few teachers are in the habit of testing their designs once the assessments have been fleshed out, but such self-testing is key to better results and to fairness.

UVEI uses performance assessments designed based on these principals as evidence of competency in each of our programs.

A Performance task is a piece of work students are asked to do to show how well they apply their knowledge, skills, or abilities—from writing an essay to diagnosing and fixing a broken circuit. A performance assessment typically consists of several performance tasks. Performance tasks also may be included in traditional multiple-choice tests.

Sources:

The Editors. (February 5, 2019). What is Performance Assessment? Education Week. Retrieved from: https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/02/06/what-is-performance-assessment.html

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design, 2nd Edition (2nd ed.). Alexandra, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Performance Assessments, Education World