This document outlines an agenda for a 3-day workshop on performance-based assessment (PBA). Day 1 will provide interactive input on PBA. Day 2 will involve guided practice analyzing PBA examples. Day 3 will have participants collaboratively develop their own PBA tasks and rubrics. The goals are to help educators understand PBA, distinguish effective from ineffective examples, and apply the concepts to create assessments. PBA is presented as a way to authentically evaluate if students have achieved learning outcomes through real-world tasks. Developing, scoring, and providing feedback on PBA requires more time but yields learning gains, especially for lower achieving students.

1. Performance-Based
Assessment
June 16, 17, 18, 2008
Workshop

2. Goals for the Workshop
 Gain knowledge and understanding of
performance based assessment (PBA)
 Analyze and distinguish effective PBAs from
less effective PBAs
 Apply workshop concepts to develop effective
performance-based assessment tasks and
associated scoring rubrics

3. An Introduction
 Why?
 What?
 How?

4. 3 Day Progression…
 Day 1: Interactive Input
 Day 2: Guided Practice
 Day 3: Independent, but
collaborative, Practice

5. Why?
“Ultimately, we want students to grow to be
independent. For them to do that, they have
to have a sense of what the criteria (are) that
make them successful. For a long time, the
criteria (have) been a mystery to students…”
R.J. Tierney, M. Carter, & L. Desai
Portfolio Assessment in Reading-Writing Classroom

6. Student assessment should be grounded in the
authentic, real-life activities that are carried
out in the classroom. Because effective
language learning is meaningful, enjoyable,
and interactive, assessment should reflect a
similar focus… Students engaged in this
process become more and more actively
involved in their learning.
(Armstrong, 1998, p. 233)

7. Table Discussion Topic
At your tables discuss the following
questions:
 Why Performance-Based Assessment?
 What are advantages? Disadvantages?
 Potential pitfalls &/or challenges
Summarize your discussion on an transparency
sheet.

8. Report out

9. “People still think that assessment is
what you do after teaching and
learning are over as opposed to
thinking of assessment as giving
feedback to help you to achieve your
goal.”
 —Grant Wiggins, Educational Consultant

10. What is Performance-Based
Assessment (PBA)?
 Monitors students’ progress in relationship to
learner outcomes
 Requires students to create answers or
products/presentations/performances
demonstrating their knowledge and skills
applicable for real-life based purposes
 Differs widely from traditional testing (single
answer or fill in the blank).

11. PBA - Some Key Points
It takes time to develop, implement,
refine, and get to that “comfort” zone
in using PBA
 BUT THE PAY OFF IS
TREMENDOUS!

12. Key Point #1
Instructional design and decisions should
start with assessment
 What do we want students to learn?
 How will we know when they have learned it?
 How will I use the results?

13. Key Point #2
 Students should know the criteria
and what’s expected UP FRONT.
 Performance-based task
 Scoring Guides (rubrics)
 Exemplars of “excellent” work

14. Key Point #3
 Practice, practice, practice…
improves performance!
 Research supports the notion that all
students (especially low achievers)
will improve when given multiple
opportunities to practice
 When students feel “successful &
hopeful” their motivation &
performance increase

15. Key point #4 - Knowing the
targets, feedback, & reflection
Function Frameworks &
LinguaFolios
“…when students are informed about the
learning targets from the beginning, engage in
self-assessment, keep track of and regularly
reflect on their own growth, and play a role in
communicating their learning-the achievement
gains are profound, especially for low achievers.”
(Rick Stiggins, ETS)

16. Key Point #5
 Curriculum-embedded performance
and “on demand” performance are
not equal…
 Students tend to perform higher in
classroom activities, then they do when
assessment is “on demand”
 WYSI (not) WYG

17. Key Point #6
 Assessment is ongoing - all the time.
 What are some examples of ongoing
continuous assessment?
 Informs instructional decisions

18. Key Point #7
 Instruction and assessment should be
congruent.
 Proficiency-oriented instruction should be
matched with proficiency-based
assessment

19. Key Point #8
 Student Involvement: A sound
assessment system involves students in
self-assessment, recording keeping,
and/or communication.

20. Instruction, Outcomes,
Assessment
“Meaningful involvement of students with
material that is central to the teaching
objectives of a given course. For this
meaningful involvement to take place,
the goals of the assessment tasks need
to reflect the goals of the course, and
these goals need to be made clear to
the students.” (Cohen, 1994).

21. Course Goals
Essential Learnings
National
Standards
State & District
Standards
Function
Frameworks

22. How…
Keys to Success (Rick Stiggens, ETS)
 All assessments must center on high
quality standards
 All assessments must yield accurate
evidence of achievement
 All users must understand results and
use them productively

23. Characteristics of Effective PBA Tasks
 Students are active participants
 Intended outcomes are clearly identified
& guide the design of the performance
task
 Students are expected to demonstrate
mastery of those intended outcomes
when completing the task

24. Effective PBA Tasks (2)
 Students demonstrate their ability to
apply knowledge & skills to real-life
based situations & scenarios
 A clear, logical set of P-B activities are
evident
 Clear set of criteria to judge the
performance

25. PBAs - 3 points
Good tasks do 3 things…
 Content of the Task - What information
do students need?
 Sampling - Is there enough evidence?
 Distortion Due to Bias - What can
interfere with accuracy?

26. Designing PBA Tasks
1. Identifying Outcomes & Indicators
2. Creating a Meaningful Task
Context
3. Identifying Products &/or
Performances
4. Considering options in task design

27. Designing PBA Tasks (cont.)
5. Planning task activities
6. Identifying Evaluative Criteria
7. Generating an Exemplary
Response
8. Making Decisions about Scoring

28. A Word About Rubrics…
 Be understandable to students
 Be aligned with standards
 Be illustrated with samples of student work
 Be concise
 Be worded in a positive manner
 Match the task
 Define various levels of performance
 Include the same features across various
levels of performance

29. As they say, two
heads are better
than
one!