|
Parent Brochure
What Should Parents Know About Performance Assessment?
Performance assessment is one alternative to traditional methods
of testing student achievement. While 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. Performance assessments measure
skills such as the ability to integrate knowledge across
disciplines, contribute to the work of a group, and develop a
plan of action when confronted with a new situation.
Performance assessments are also appropriate for determining if
students are achieving the higher standards set by states for
all students. This brochure explains features of this
assessment alternative, suggests ways to evaluate it, and offers
exploratory questions you might ask your child's teacher about
this subject.
What Are Performance Assessments?
The Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress
describes performance assessment as testing that requires a
student to create an answer or a product that demonstrates his
or her knowledge or skills. Examples of performance assessments
include:
 | Group projects enabling a number of students to work together
on a complex problem that requires planning, research, internal
discussion, and group presentation.
|
|
| Essays assessing students' understanding of a subject through
a written description, analysis, explanation, or summary.
|
|
| Experiments testing how well students understand scientific
concepts and can carry out scientific processes.
|
|
| Demonstrations giving students opportunities to show their
mastery of subject-area content and procedures.
|
|
| Portfolios allowing students to provide a broad portrait of
their performance through files that contain collections of
students' work, assembled over time.
|
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.
How Can I Evaluate Performance Assessments?
Parents who wish to evaluate the effectiveness of performance
assessments should ask the following questions:
| Does the performance assessment cover important skills and
knowledge?
|
|
| Are the test items varied to fairly test students having
different experiences, backgrounds, and motivations?
|
|
| Does the assessment give my child worthwhile educational
experiences?
|
|
| Does the assessment require my child to use higher level
thinking and problem-solving skills rather than simply
memorizing to determine the answer?
|
|
| Are teachers receiving training and assistance in designing
and using performance assessments?
|
|
| How are assessment results going to be used? Are teachers
using the results to evaluate their student's performance in
their own classrooms and then tailoring instruction in areas of
weakness? Or are the results being compared to those in other
classrooms and schools and for evaluating the teacher or
school? If assessments are going to be used as accountability
measures, reliability (the degree to which a test can be
depended on to produce consistent results repeatedly), and
validity (the extent to which a test accurately measures the
result that it is intended to measure), become critically
important.
|
How Can I Help My Child Do Well on Performance Assessments?
Students who are accustomed to traditional testing will need to
be carefully prepared for these new approaches to assessment.
Parents can help their children in the following ways:
| Ask the teacher to explain the types of performance assessment
to be used so that you can answer your child's questions and
help him or her decide how to prepare for the assessment.
|
|
| Request that the school give a presentation on performance
assessment for parents.
|
|
| When you talk with your child about what he or she is learning
in school, ask questions that encourage problemsolving or
creativity. Help your child see that learning is a process and
demonstrate how it is applied to real-life situations.
|
|
| Ask your child if he or she understands what will be expected
on the assessment. If you notice confusion or anxiety,
encourage him or her to ask the teacher for help.
|
Where Can Parents Find Out More About Performance Assessments?
Buros Institute of Mental Measurement
135 Bancroft Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588-0348
402-472-6203
Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and
Student Testing (CRESST)
University of California at Los Angeles
145 Moore Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1522
310-206-1532
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Rosedale Road
Princeton, NJ 08541
609-921-9000
ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation
University of Maryland—College Park
Department of Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation
College Park, MD 20742
Toll Free: 800-GO4-ERIC (464-3742)
E-mail: ericae@ericae.net
Web: http://ericae.net
Evaluation Assistance Center -- East
1730 North Lynn Street
Arlington, VA 22209
1-800-925-EACE
703-528-3588
Evaluation Assistance Center -- West
New Mexico Highlands University
121 Tijeras NE, Suite 2100
Albuquerque, NM 87102
1-800-247-4269
505-242-7447
Sources
Most of the following references -- those identified with an ED or
EJ number -- have been abstracted and are in the ERIC database.
Documents with an ED number can be found on microfiche at more
than 900 locations or can be ordered in paper copy from the
ERIC Document Reproduction Service at 1-800-443- ERIC. The
journal articles can be found at most research libraries. Call
1-800-LET-ERIC for more details.
Herman, J.L., P.R. Aschbacher, and L. Winters. 1992. A Practical
Guide to Alternative Assessment. Alexandria, VA: Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ED 352 389.
Linn, R.L., E.L. Baker, and S.B. Dunbar. November 1991.
"Complex, Performance-Based Assessment: Expectations and
Validation Criteria." Educational Researcher. 20 (8): 15-21.
Wiggins, Grant. November 1993. "Assessment: Authenticity,
Context, and Validity." Phi Delta Kappan (75) 8: 200-208. EJ
472 587.
Wiggins, Grant. May 1992. "Creating Tests Worth Taking."
Educational Leadership 49 (8): 26-33. EJ 444 309.
This brochure is based on the article, "Performance Assessment,"
by Lawrence M. Rudner and Carol Boston which appeared in The
ERIC Review, Volume 3, Issue 1, Winter 1994. This theme issue
on performance-based assessment (ED 369 389) is available from
ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). To purchase a copy,
call 1-800-443-ERIC.
This publication was prepared by ACCESS ERIC in association with
the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation, with
funding from the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under Contract No.
RR92024001. The opinions expressed in this brochure do not
necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the U.S.
Department of Education. The brochure is in the public domain.
Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted.
TITLE: What Should Parents Know About Performance Assessment?
AUTHOR: ACCESS ERIC
PUBLISHED: Summer 1995
This page was updated on Thu Feb 1 20:30:32 GMT 2001
| 
