Republic of the Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY STATE POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Region IX, Zamboanga Peninsula
R.T. Lim Blvd, Zamboanga City

LEARNING MODULE
Course Code: PED 10
Course Description : ASESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING 2

Date Developed: February 4, 2021 Date Revised:

Document No- ZCSPC – LM2020 Issued by: ZCSPC – CTE

Prepared by:WARRELEN D. CASPILLO Dr. EDGARDO H. ROSALE

Asso. Prof. 1 Asso. Prof. V
Reviewed by:
Dr. JUDITH M. MAGHANOY, Associate Dean
Recommending Approval: Dr. ELIZABETH JANE P. SEBASTIAN, Dean
Approved by: Dr. Carlos C. Lolo, VPAA

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 VISION MISSION INSTITUTIONAL CORE VALUES
ZCSPC Provide effective and OUTCOMES Love of God;
As the leading efficient services Globally competitive graduates Social
provider of globally through advance who can perform advanced Responsibility;
competitive human technological studies technological competencies in Commitment/
resources. and researches for the their field of specialization. Dedication to the
empowerment of the Service; and
nation’s human Accountability
resources.

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Zamboanga City State Polytechnic College, the premier higher education
institution in Zamboanga Peninsula, one of the Centers of Development in Teacher Education
Institutions in the country and an ISO accredited institution as recognized by the Commission
on Higher Education. It is our pride and honor, that you choose ZCSPC as your school of
choice.

With the current situation under a NEW NORMAL condition due to COVID19 Pandemic,
our school is now trying to find ways and means to provide accessible and quality tertiary
education. It is for this reason that the administration has decided to offer flexible learning
education using two modalities: Blended and Distance Learning education. In as much as
we limit that actual and physical face-to-face mode of delivery, each college has decided
to come up with printed module to cater those students who cannot avail online learning
modalities.

This module has been prepared to guide you in your learning journey with the use of the
Guided and Self-directed learning activities prescribed to finish your course. Each module
includes reading materials that have been chosen to help you understand the ideas and
concepts introduced by the module.

For this semester, your class in PED 10 focuses on the principles, development and
utilization of alternative forms of assessment in measuring, monitoring and evaluating
authentic learning and communicating each result. It emphasizes/stresses on how to
assess process-and-product oriented learning outcomes as well as affective learning. Pre-
service Teachers will experience how to design, develop, select and use rubrics and other
alternative assessment tools for performance based and product-based assessment. The
course further addresses how to provide accurate and constructive feedback to improve
instruction and learning performance.

Exercises and assessment of learning activities are provided to test your comprehension
and apply the concepts that you have learned from this module. After accomplishing all
modules, you are expected to do the following:
1. Demonstrate
2. Develop/design
3. Apply the concepts in a different tasks or outputs

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 HOW TO USE THIS MODULE

This is a self-study module particularly designed to help you study with little or no intervention
from your teacher. Please follow very carefully the instructions on how to use this module so
you can fully benefit from it.

• The lessons on this module is logically organized. Every lesson is connected to the
next and necessary for a better understanding of the next topic. Hence, please do not
skip a page. Read every page of this module and do every task that is asked of you.
• Read the Table of Contents so that you will have a good grasp of the entire course.
Having an overview of what you are about to study will help you see the
interrelationships of the concepts or knowledge that you are about to learn.
• Every lesson or unit begins with the learning objectives. The objectives are the target
skills or knowledge that you must be able to gain or perform after studying the entire
lesson/unit.
• Take the post test, activity or practice exercise given at the end of the lesson or unit.
Do this only when you have thoroughly read the entire lesson or unit. When answering
every activity, test or exercise, please answer them honestly without looking at the
answer key. The answer key is given to you for you to check your own progress and
monitor your own understanding of the lesson. The knowledge you will gain depends
on how much effort and honesty you put into your work.
• Please pay attention to the Study Schedule on page 4. This will guide you and make
sure that you don’t lag behind. Lagging behind will result to cramming and eventually
affects your understanding of the lesson.
• Know what it takes to pass the course. Please refer to the Evaluation and Grading
System on page 5.
• If you encounter difficult words which are not found in the Glossary page of this module,
take some time to locate the meaning of these words in a dictionary. You will fully
understand your lesson if you exert extra effort in understanding it. There is no room
for laziness and complacency. College students are expected to be independent
learners.
• If there is anything in the lesson which you need clarifications on, do not hesitate to
contact your instructor or professor at the appropriate time.
• You will be evaluated by your instructor or professor to check how much knowledge
and skills you have gained. The result of this evaluation will form a big chunk of your
grade. So please do well and do not waste time.
• Lastly, you are the learner; hence, you do the module on your own. Your family
members and friends at home will support you but the activities must be done by you.

• As ZCSPCians you must always be guided by our core values, Love of God;
Social Responsibility; Commitment/ Dedication to the Service; and Accountability

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 GUIDE FOR STUDY SCHEDULE

Week Title Expected Output(s)

Module 1 Authentic Assessment in the Classroom
Unit 1 1 What is Authentic Assessment?
week • Nature, characteristics and related terms
Unit 2
2nd & 3rd weeks Why use authentic assessment?
• Principles and Authentic Assessment Development Process
Module 2 Authentic Assessment Tools Sample Authentic Assessment Tools
6th week • Observation-Based Assessment
Tools
• Performance Samples
Assessment Tools
• Product samples assessment
tools
Module 3 Process Oriented Performance Based Assessment
Unit 1
7th & 8th weeks
• Process Oriented Learning
Competencies Create Process Oriented Performance
Mid-Term Exam Based Assessment
9th week • Task Designing
• Scoring Rubrics

Unit 2 Product Oriented Performance Based Create Product Oriented Performance

10th, 11th & 12th Based Assessment
Assessment
weeks
• Product Oriented Learning
Competencies
• Task Designing
• Scoring Rubrics
Module 4 Assessment in the Affective Domain Construct Affective Assessment
13th & 14th weeks
• Taxonomy in the Affective Tools
Domain
• Affective Learning Competencies
• Development of Affective
Assessment Tools
Module 5 Portfolio Assessment Methods Construct Portfolio Assessment
15th & 16th weeks
• Features and Principles of
Portfolio Assessment
• Purpose of Portfolio Assessment
• Essential Elements of the
Portfolio
• Stages in Implementing Portfolio
Assessment

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 Module 6 17th week Types of Portfolio Assessment and
Assessing and Evaluating the Portfolios
Using Rubrics

Final Exams
18th week

GRADING SYSTEM
Citeria What to expect? Percentage

Portfolio Outputs required from each of the modules 50%

Learning
Outcome Short Quizzes/Long Quiz / Class 20%
Validation Recitations

Summative Mid-term and Final Exam 30%

Assessment
100%

EVALUATION
To pass the course, you must:

1. Read and understand the recommended learning materials and do some

extra readings via google search and You Tube watching if necessary .

2. Accomplish the varied module tasks and reflections

3. Participate actively during on- line discussion

4. Take and pass the midterm and final exams and

5. Submit the final project (Portfolio).

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 I’m to meet you all!

You are now officially enrolled in the course of PED

10
(Assessment of Student Learning 2).This module is designed to
guide you in achieving the necessary learnings you need to gain
and master.

I, Dr. Edgardo H. Rosales, have been assigned as your facilitator in this course. For
questions and clarifications, message me thru my Facebook account: Dr Rosales , Ed and
my cp no 09531492387.. Let us learn together with fun!

God Bless!!!

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 PREFACE

The sudden circumstance of having a pandemic in the country has shifted face to face
learning to blended learning. To address the current situation, this module is designed to
provide a comprehensive and extensive discussion of Assessment of Student Learning 1, a
3unit course in the professional education courses prescribed for all Teacher Education
courses per CHED Memo NO. 30, series 2004, Article V – Curriculum.

This course is all about teaching the students how to monitor and evaluate learners of
their progress and to empower them to take necessary action to improve performance. In
here, the students have easy access to basic information about classroom assessment and
its application. Thus, this comprises of six(6) modules. Some modules are focused on different
specific lessons/topics using units.

Module 1- Authentic Assessment in the Classroom

Module 2- Authentic Assessment Tools

Module 3- Process Oriented Performance-Based Assessment

Module 4-Product Oriented Performance-Based Assessment

Module 5 – Assessment in the Affective Domain

Module 6 – Portfolio Assessment Methods

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………. 2
Study Guide………………………………………………………………………………… 3
Guide for Study Schedule……………………………………………………………….. 4
Grading System……………………………………………………………………………. 5
Evaluation…………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Preface………………………………………………………………………………………. 6
Module I: Authentic Assessment in the Classroom
……………………………… 9
Unit 1 The Nature and Characteristics of Authentic Assessment 8
Unit 2. Developing Authentic Assessment…….…………………………………………. 15

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Module II Authentic Assessment Tools……………………………………………. 55
Module III: Process- Oriented Performance- Based Assessment…………………….. 61

Module IV: Product- Oriented Performance- Based Assessment………………………..64

Module V: Assessment in the Affective Domains………………………………… 66

Module VI: Portfolio Assessment Methods …………………………………………………….72
References……………………………………………………………………………………

About the Author…………………………………………………………………………… 91

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MODULE I

Authentic Assessment in the Classroom

Unit 1: Basic Terminologies in Authentic Assessment

• Nature and Characteristics
• Related Terms

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this module, you are expected to:

 Demonstrate knowledge of the nature and characteristics of authentic

assessment and related terms

Introduction
In this module, you are tasked to explore the definition , nature and characteristics of
authentic assessment including its related terms as differentiated to traditional assessment.
You should start this by first reading varied articles on what is authentic assessment via
highly informative websites and recommended references in this course. After grounding
yourself in the theoretical knowledge ,you will perform the recommended activities reflected in
the module tasks to achieve the module objectives .Write your reflections after you
accomplish the task designed for this particular unit. Your best outputs will be included as part
of your portfolio requirement at the end of the semester of this course. Rubrics will be
provided to earn points in every activity .

Unit 1 Objectives
1. Define authentic assessment
2. List down and explain the nature and characteristics of authentic assessment.
3. Name other related terms to authentic assessment
4. Differentiate authentic assessment from traditional assessment.

Unit 1 Tasks
1. Read the recommended attached reading materials and other related inputs
pertaining to authentic assessment found in the internet or you may watch short
You Tube presentation .

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 2. After reading or watching You Tube presentation on authentic assessment ,do
the following activities:
1. Create a Concept Cluster to define Authentic Assessment
2. Make a Retrieval Chart to describe the nature and characteristics of Authentic
Assessment and other related terms
3. Use Venn diagram to differentiate Authentic from Traditional Assessment
Template
4. Construct five samples of traditional assessments in your own chosen field of
specialization and convert them into authentic assessments (Please refer to
the samples of traditional and authentic assessment reflected in the suggested
attached reading material).

Concept Cluster

Authentic
Traditional
Assessment
Assessment

Retrieval Chart

Type of Definition Characteristics Purpose / Samples Other

Assessment Usage Related
Names

1.Traditional
Assessment
2.Authentic
Assessment

Venn Diagram

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 4.Give (5) five examples of traditional assessment in any learning area and
convert them into authentic assessment .Pls refer to the examples given in the topic
Traditional Assessment vs Authentic Assessment below.

Reflections.

1 Concept ( What did you learn in this unit ?)

2.Process ( How did you find the task given ? )

3.Product ( How would you describe your outputs in this task ? )

Assessment :
Construct your own authentic assessment tools to rate your own outputs
in this unit.

Recommended Learning Materials on Authentic Assessment

Authentic Assessment

What is Authentic Assessment?

• A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that
demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills Jon Mueller
• Performance assessments call upon the examinee to demonstrate specific skills and
competencies, that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered.

What does Authentic Assessment look like?

An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students to perform and a rubric by which their
performance on the task will be evaluated.

When considering how to assess student learning in a course, most instructors would agree that the
ideal assessment would be one that not only assesses students’ learning; it also teaches students and
improves their skills and understanding of course content. One fundamental aspect of such assessments
is that they are authentic.

An authentic assignment is one that requires application of what students have learned to a new
situation, and that demands judgment to determine what information and skills are relevant and how
they should be used. Authentic assignments often focus on messy, complex real-world situations and
their accompanying constraints; they can involve a real-world audience of stakeholders or “clients” as
well. According to Grant Wiggins (1998), an assignment is authentic if it

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 • is realistic.
• requires judgment and innovation.
• asks the student to “do” the subject.
• replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are “tested” in the workplace or in civic or personal
life.
• assesses the student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to
negotiate a complex task.
• allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and
refine performances and products.

Authentic assessments can be contrasted with conventional test questions, which are often indirect
measures of a student’s ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained in a course. Conventional tests
have an important place in college courses, but cannot take the place of authentic assessments. The
table below, drawn from Wiggins, illustrates the differences between typical tests and authentic
assessments.

Typical tests Authentic tasks Indicators of authenticity

Require correct responses
Must be unknown to the student in
advance to be valid
Are disconnected from real-world
contexts and constraints
Contain items that isolate particular
skills or facts
Include easily scored items
Are “one shot”; students get one
chance to show their learning
Provide a score
Require a high-quality product or
performance, and a justification of the
solutions to problems encountered
Should be known in advance to
students as much as possible
Are tied to real-world contexts and
constraints; require the student to “do”
the subject.
Are integrated challenges in which a
range of skills and knowledge must be
used in coordination
Involve complex tasks that for which
there may be no right answer, and that
may not be easily scored
Are iterative; contain recurring tasks
Provide usable diagnostic information
about students’ skills and knowledge
Correctness is not the only
criterion; students must be
able to justify their answers.
The tasks and standards for
judgment should be known or
predictable.
The context and constraints of
the task are like those
encountered by practitioners in
the discipline.
The task is multifaceted and
complex, even if there is a
right answer.
The validity of the assessment
is not sacrificed in favor of
reliable scoring.
Students may use particular
knowledge or skills in several
different ways or contexts.
The assessment is designed to
improve future performance,
and students are important
“consumers” of such
information.

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. Because they involve real-world tasks, they are also likely to be more interesting for students,
and thus more motivating. And finally, they can provide more specific and usable information about
what students have succeeded in learning as well as what they have not learned.

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However, authentic assessments may require more time and effort on an instructor’s part to develop,
and may be more difficult to grade. To address the difficulty of grading authentic assessments, it is
often useful to create a grading rubric that specifies the traits that will be evaluated and the criteria by
which they will be judged. (For more information, see the CITL resource on rubrics.)

Examples of Authentic Assessments

Provide a case study of a patient and ask students to assess and create a
Nursing
plan of care
Develop a business/marketing/sales plan for an imaginary (or real)
Business
company in a student's area of interest.
Troubleshoot a problematic piece of code; Develop a website/app to solve
Computer Science
a particular problem and/or meet a set of criteria
Psychology Examine/critique a case study from multiple theoretical positions
Public Affairs or Service Consider how a community agency might be impacted by a particular
Learning Courses challenge (budget cuts, infrastructure outage, public health crisis, etc.)
Draw a diagram of how a process works, indicating what happens if X
Biology/Chemistry
occurs
History

Authentic assessment evaluates the students’ collective skills and abilities to perform and
demonstrate the tasks in real-world situation.
• It involves performance tests and portfolio assessment.
• Criterion-referenced measure is used to assess the performance of the student in

Traditional Assessment Definition:

Traditional assessment are the conventional methods of testing such as:-quiz.exam.paper.
Standardized tests.most state achievement test.high school graduation examination.

Authentic Assessment Definition:

An assessment that is performance-oriented, the thinking goes, with the assessment that aims
to measure not only the correctness of the response, but also the thought process involved in
arriving at the response, and that encourage students to reflect their own learning in both depth
and breadth, the belief is that instruction will be pushed into a more thoughtful, more reflexive,
richer mode as well.

Alternative Names for Authentic Assessment

Performance Assessment /Alternative Assessment/ Direct Assessment

Other Definitions: Performance assessments call upon the examinee to demonstrate

specific skills and competencies, that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered.

Other Definitions: A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world
tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills (Jon Mueller)

Characteristics of Authentic Assessment

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 • Authentic assessment requires the students to perform meaningful tasks in real
world situation.
• It promotes the development of higher order thinking skills.
• It tenders direct evidence of application and construction of knowledge and skills
acquired.
• It includes portfolio collection of entries. 5. It demonstrates application of a particular
knowledge and skills. 6. It fosters role-playing of the lessons learned by students
which serves as show window to them.
• It identifies performance of students’ acquired skills and expertise.
• It assesses directly holistic projects by multiple human judgment like self, peer,
subject teacher, and teacher-adviser.
• It trains the students to evaluate their own work as well as to their parents.
• It is designed on criterion- referenced measure rather than norm-referenced
measure

Distinctions Between Authentic Assessment and Traditional Assessment

• Authentic assessment is personalized, natural and flexible relevant to the students’ level of
difficulty, skills, abilities.
• Traditional assessment is impersonal and absolute owing to uniformity of test without regard
to the skills and abilities of the students.
• Authentic assessment is fair because skills and abilities are appropriate to the learners.
Traditional assessment is unfair since learners are forced to accept the contexts of the tests
even if these are inappropriate to them.
• Authentic assessment gives the student (self) and peer (classmate) the chance to evaluate
their own work and work of their classmates, respectively. In traditional assessment, only
the subject teacher evaluates the performance of the students and there is tendency of
subjectivity.
• Authentic assessment identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the students’ skills and
abilities. Traditional assessment compares the performance of students to others.
• Authentic assessment promotes good rapport or bonding between the teacher and student
due to their mutual understanding. Traditional assessment has poor relationship between
the teacher and students.
• Authentic assessment develops the students’ responses while traditional assessment
requires the students to choose the options prepared by the teacher.
• Authentic assessment gives the students freedom to choose evidence of good performance.
In traditional assessment, the teacher prepares the test and students have to respond on
what is asked on the test.
• Authentic assessment makes use of performance test in real-world situation and portfolio
assessment.

Traditional assessment involves paper-and-pencil tests in which the students are required to choose the
correct answer among the options prepared by the teacher.

Samples of Traditional Assessment and Authentic Assessment

• Traditional Assessment Authentic Assessment

1. Which of the following water is most acids? a. fresh water b. marine water c. brackish
water (TA)
2. Place separately the fresh water, marine water, brackish water in a basin. Get a pH
paper or pH meter and soak it in a basin of water. Change the pH paper for every basin
of water. Then record. Ask: What is the pH of fresh water? Marine water? Brackish
water? Which is most acidic? Why? (AA)
• Traditional Assessment Authentic Assessment
1. How many milliliters (ml) are there in one liter? a. 1,150 ml b. 1,100 ml c. 1,000 ml (TA)

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 2. Get a 100-ml graduated cylinder and 1 liter empty soft drink bottle. Let the student fill the
graduated cylinder with water and decant it to the empty bottle until it is filled. Ask: How
many times did you fill the graduated cylinder. (AA)
• Assessment Authentic Assessment
1. How many grams (g) are there in 1 kilogram (kg)? a. 1,000 g b. 1,050 g c. 1,100 g (TA)
2. Get a table with sets of weights. Place 1 kg of mangoes on the table balance and 10 sets
of weights of 100 g each. You count the set weights you put on the table balance and
multiply (100x10). Ask: How many grams are there in 1 kilogram? (AA)

• Traditional Assessment Authentic Assessment

1. How many cups are there in 1 gallon? a. 14 cups b. 15 cups c. 16 cups (TA)
2. Get an empty 1 gallon ice cream container and a measuring cup. Let the student fill
the cup with water and pour it to the empty container until it is filled up. Ask: How
many cups of water did you pour into a gallon container of ice cream? How many
cups are there in 1 gallon?(AA)
• Traditional Assessment Authentic Assessment
1. How many teaspoons (tsp) are there in 1 tablespoon (tbsp)? a. 2 tsp b. 3 tsp c. 4 tsp
(TA).
2. Get a set of measuring spoons. Let the student fill the teaspoon with water and pour
it to the tablespoon until filled. Ask: How many times did you fill the tablespoon?
How many teaspoons are there in 1 tablespoon? (AA)

In authentic assessment, the knowledge acquired through “learning by doing” can hardly be erased
in the mind of the learners due to logical understanding of the process and product. Whereas,
traditional assessment can be easily forgotten by learners as a consequence of rote memorization
and no actual performance of the tasks.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Unit 2: DEVELOPING AUTHENTIC CLASSROOM ASSESSMENTS

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

To make connections between the principles of high quality
assessments and the development and use of authentic assessment
techniques tools within and across teaching areas.

INTRODUCTION
After you have defined authentic assessment ,describe its characteristics and
differentiated it from traditional assessment , you are ready now to develop authentic
classroom assessments following the basic steps which are illustrated in the attached
reading materials in this module. You are expected to do the suggested authentic tasks
in order to achieve the module objectives stipulated below.

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Module Objectives
1.enumerate the authentic assessment development process.
2.create an output in every authentic assessment development process

Module Tasks
After reading the recommended learning material attached in this module, you are
expected to do and accomplish the following authentic tasks below:
1. Create a flow chart in the development of authentic assessment process
2. Create your own procedures in each authentic assessment development process
STEPS ON HOW TO IDENTIFY STANDARDS/ LEARNING COMPETENCIES
STEPS ON HOW TO CREATE AUTHENTIC TASKS
STEPS ON HOW TO CREATE CRITERIA FOR AUTHENTIC TASK
STEPS ON HOW TO CREATE RUBRICS (ANALYTIC AND HOLISTIC)
3. Give ten examples of the following:
a. Content standards or content learning competencies (cognitive domains)
b. Process standards or process learning competencies (process skills)
c. Value standards or affective domain learning competencies. (affective
domains)
d. Product standards or product learning competencies (concrete outputs)
4. Based from the inputs that you have read in the development of authentic
assessment process, construct your personalized Authentic Learning
Assessment Plan as your reference to do the succeeding tasks below.

Authentic Learning Assessment Plan

Subject Area Unit/ Learning Activity Assessment Task Design Authentic Task Rubrics /
Topic Competencies Assessment Purpose Criteria Authentic
Assessment
Tools

English

Filipino

Values
Education
Science

5. Construct one 1 sample task design of the following learning areas reflected in
your above Assessment Plan
a. English (process standards) 1 Task design

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 b. Filipino (product standards) 1 Task design
c. Values Education (Value standards) 1 task design
d. Science (Process standards) 1 Task design

6. In the Task Design that you have constructed above based from Module task no.
5, identify and list down the possible criteria that you will utilize as basis for
authentic assessment.

7. Based from the criteria that you have set in every task design that you have
created, please construct your scoring rubrics

One (1) Analytic Rubric per task design

One (1) Holistic Rubric per task design
.

RECOMMENDED READING MATERIALS, INTERNET WEBSITES AND YOU TUBE

WATCHING FOR THIS PARTICULAR UNIT OF YOUR COURSE.

How to Create Authentic Assessments

Step 1: Identify the standards / learning competencies

Step 2: Select an authentic task design

Step 3: Identify the criteria for the authentic task

Step 4: Create the scoring rubrics

13 STEP 1: Identify the Standards

Standards, like goals, are statements of what students should know and be able to do.
However, standards are typically more narrow in scope and more amenable to assessment
than goals.

Example: Standards: “Students will be able to add two-digit numbers correctly.”

14 STEP 2: Select an Authentic Task

Find a way students can demonstrate that they are fully capable of meeting the standard. The
language of a well-written standard can spell out what a task should ask students to do to
demonstrate their mastery of it.

Example: Task: Calculate the given math problems without using the calculator and
answer it in the board. Explain their answers.

15 STEP 3: Identify the Criteria for the Task

Ask "What does good performance on this task look like?" or "How will I know they have done
a good job on this task? "Criteria: Indicators of good performance on a task

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 Characteristics of a Good Criterion clearly stated brief observable statement of
behavior written in a language students understand

Example: Criteria: The proper use of the step-by-step process in solving the problem.
Correctness of the final answer. The way they explain and deliver the reason of how
they arrive with the final answer.

18 STEP 4: Create the Rubric

Once you have identified the criteria you want to look for as indicators of good performance,
you next decide whether to consider the criteria analytically or holistically.

19 Holistic Rubric (Accent)

Score LevelCriteria4The student’s accent has no trace of first language influence. Accent is
fairly Standard American.3The student’s accent is very understandable by a native American
although some intonation can be inconsistent and can be traced back to L1 intonation.2The
student’s accent is evidently very much affected by L1 intonation. However, it is fairly
understandable.1The student’s accent is very much affected by L1 intonation and it is difficult
to understand.

20 Analytic Rubric (Composition Writing)

Criteria Wt 4 3 2 1 Organization x2 Information in logical, interesting sequence which reader
can follow. Student presents information in logical sequence which reader can follow. Reader
has difficulty following work because student jumps around. Sequence of information is
difficult to follow. Content Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required). Student
is at ease with content, but fails to elaborate. Student is uncomfortable with content and is
able to demonstrate basic concepts. Student does not have grasp of information; student
cannot answer questions about subject. Vocabulary x1Few errors; precise and appropriate
Fairly broad vocabulary; some errors Adequate but repetitive; invented words. Words don’t fit
the context; hard to understand Neatness Work is neatly done. Work has one or two areas
that are sloppy. Work has three or four areas that are sloppy. Work is Illegible.

21 Experts Say…“For many students, assessment is not an educational experience in itself,

but a process of ‘guessing what the teacher wants.’”(McLaughlin & Simpson, 2004)

22 Bibliography:

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ADDITIONAL READING MATERIALS

STEPS IN CREATING AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT WITH EXAMPLE

Step 1: Identify the Standards

For any type of assessment, you first must know where you want to end up. What
are your goals for your students? An assessment cannot produce valid inferences
unless it measures what it is intended to measure. And it cannot measure what
it is intended to measure unless the goal(s) has been clearly identified. So,
completing the rest of the following steps will be unproductive without clear goals
for student learning.

Standards, like goals, are statements of what students should know and be able
to do. However, standards are typically more narrow in scope and more amenable
to assessment than goals. (Before going further, I would recommend that you
read the section on Standards for a fuller description of standards and how they
are different from goals and objectives.)

What Do Standards Look Like?

How do you get Started Writing Standards?

What are Some Guidelines to Follow in Developing Standards?

Workshop: Writing a Good Standard

What Do Standards Look Like?

Standards are typically one-sentence statements of what students should know

and be able to do at a certain point. Often a standard will begin with a phrase
such as "Students will be able to ..." (SWBAT). For example,

Students will be able to add two-digit numbers.

Or, it might be phrased

Students will add two-digit numbers.

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A student will add two-digit numbers.

Or just

Identify the causes and consequences of the Revolutionary War.

Explain the process of photosynthesis.

More examples:

Standards examples (this site)

Also, read the section on types of standards to see how standards can address
course content, or process skills or attitudes towards learning.

How Do You Get Started?

I recommend a three-step process for writing standards:

1. REFLECT

2. REVIEW

3. WRITE

1. REFLECT

As I will discuss below, there are many sources you can turn to find examples of
goals and standards that might be appropriate for your students. There are
national and state standards as well as numerous websites such as those above
with many good choices. It is unnecessary to start from scratch. However, before
you look at the work of others, which can confine your thinking, I would highly
recommend that you, as a teacher or school or district, take some time to examine
(or REFLECT upon) what you value. What do you really want your students to
know and be able to do when they leave your grade or school?

Here is a sample of questions you might ask yourself:

• What do you want students to come away with from an education at

_______?
• What should citizens know and be able to do?
• If you are writing standards for a particular discipline, what
should citizens know and be able to do related to your discipline?
• What goals and standards do you share with other disciplines?

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 • What college preparation should you provide?
• Think of a graduate or current student that particularly exemplifies the set
of knowledge and skills that will make/has made that student successful in
the real world. What knowledge and skills (related and unrelated to your
discipline) does that person possess?
• Ask yourself, "above all else, we want to graduate students who can/will
........?
• When you find yourself complaining about what students can't or don't do,
what do you most often identify?

As a result of this reflection, you might reach consensus on a few things you most
value and agree should be included in the standards. You might actually write a
few standards. Or, you might produce a long list of possible candidates for
standards. I do not believe there is a particular product you need to generate as
a result of the reflection phase. Rather, you should move on to Step 2 (Review)
when you are clear about what is most important for your students to learn. For
example, reflection and conversation with many of the stakeholders for education
led the Maryland State Department of Education to identify the Skills for
Success it believes are essential for today's citizens. Along with content
standards, the high school assessment program in Maryland will evaluate how
well students have acquired the ability to learn, think, communicate, use
technology and work with others.

2. REVIEW

Did you wake up this morning thinking, "Hey, I'm going to reinvent the wheel
today"? No need. There are many, many good models of learning goals and
standards available to you. So, before you start putting yours down on paper,
REVIEW what others have developed. For example, you can

Look at

• your state goals and standards

• relevant national goals and standards
• other state and local standards already created
• check out the site mentioned above - Putnam Valley
• your existing goals and standards if you have any
• other sources that may be relevant (e.g., what employers want, what
colleges want)

Look for

• descriptions and language that capture what you said you value in
Step 1 (REFLECT)
• knowledge and skills not captured in the first step -- should they be
included?

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 • ways to organize and connect the important knowledge and skills

Look to

• develop a good sense of the whole picture of what you want your
students to know and to do
• identify for which checkpoints (grades) you want to write standards

3. WRITE

The biggest problem I have observed in standards writing among the schools and
districts I have worked with is the missing of the forest for the trees. As with many
tasks, too often we get bogged down in the details and lose track of the big
picture. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to periodically step back
and reflect upon the process. As you write your standards, ask yourself and your
colleagues guiding questions such as

• So, tell me again, why do we think this is important?

• Realistically, are they ever going to have to know this/do this/use this?
• How does this knowledge/skill relate to this standard over here?
• We don't have a standard about X; is this really more important than X?
• Can we really assess this? Should we assess it?
• Is this knowledge or skill essential for becoming a productive citizen? How?
Why?
• Is this knowledge or skill essential for college preparation?

Yes, you may annoy your colleagues with these questions (particularly if you ask
them repeatedly as I would advocate), but you will end up with a better set of
standards that will last longer and provide a stronger foundation for the steps that
follow in the creation of performance assessments.

Having said that, let's get down to the details. I will offer suggestions for writing
specific standards by a) listing some common guidelines for good standards and
b) modeling the development of a couple standards much as I would if I were
working one-on-one with an educator.

Guidelines for Writing Standards

GUIDELINE #1: For a standard to be amenable to assessment, it must be

observable and measurable. For example, a standard such as

"Students will correctly add two-digit numbers"

is observable and measurable. However, a standard such as

"Students will understand how to add two-digit numbers"

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is not observable and measurable. You cannot observe understanding directly,
but you can observe performance. Thus, standards should include a verb phrase
that captures the direct demonstration of what students know and are able to do.

Some bad examples:

Students will develop their persuasive writing skills.

Students will gain an understanding of pinhole cameras.

Rewritten as good examples:

Students will write an effective persuasive essay.

Students will use pinhole cameras to create paper positives and negatives.

GUIDELINE #2: A standard is typically more narrow than a goal and broader
than an objective. (See the section on Standards for a fuller discussion of this
distinction.)

Too Broad

Of course, the line between goals and standards and objectives will be fuzzy.
There is no easy ways to tell where one begins and another one ends. Similarly,
some standards will be broader than others. But, generally, a standard is written
too broadly if

• it cannot be reasonably assessed with just one or two assessments

• (for content standards) it covers at least half the subject matter of a course
or a semester

For example, the old Illinois Learning Standards for social science (since
updated) listed "Understand political systems, with an emphasis on the United
States" as a goal. That is a goal addressed throughout an entire course, semester
or multiple courses. The goal is broken down into six standards including
"Understand election processes and responsibilities of citizens." That standard
describes what might typically be taught in one section of a course or one unit.
Furthermore, I feel I could adequately capture a student's understanding and
application of that standard in one or two assessments. However, I do not believe
I could get a full and rich sense of a student's grasp of the entire goal without a
greater number and variety of classroom measures. On the other hand, the
standard, "understand election processes and responsibilities of citizens," would
not typically be taught in just one or two lessons, so it is broader than an
objective. Hence, it best fits the category of a standard as that term is commonly
used.

Another tendency to avoid that can inflate the breadth of a standard and make it
more difficult to assess is the coupling of two or more standards in a single

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statement. This most commonly occurs with the simple use of the conjunction
"and." For example, a statement might read

Students will compare and contrast world political systems and analyze the
relationships and tensions between different countries.

Although these two competencies are related, each one stands alone as a distinct
standard. Additionally, a standard should be assessable by one or two measures.
Do I always want to assess these abilities together? I could, but it restricts my
options and may not always be appropriate. It would be better to create two
standards.

Students will compare and contrast world political systems.

Students will analyze the relationships and tensions between different countries.

In contrast, the use of "and" might be more appropriate in the following standard:

Students will find and evaluate information relevant to the topic.

In this case, the two skills are closely related, often intertwined and often assessed
together.

Too Narrow

A possible objective falling under the social science standard mentioned above
that a lesson or two might be built around would be "students will be able to
describe the evolution of the voter registration process in this country." This
statement would typically be too narrow for a standard because, again, it
addresses a relatively small portion of the content of election processes and citizen
responsibilities, and because it could be meaningfully assessed in one essay
question on a test. Of course, you might give the topic more attention in your
government course, so what becomes an objective versus a standard can vary.
Also, it is important to note that standards written for larger entities such as states
or districts tend to be broader in nature than standards written by individual
teachers for their classrooms. A U.S. government teacher might identify 5-15
essential ideas and skills for his/her course and voter registration might be one of
them.

As you can see, each of these distinctions and labels are judgment calls. It is more
important that you apply the labels consistently than that you use a specific label.

Note: You may have noticed that the Illinois Learning Standard that I have been
using as an example violates Guideline #1 above -- it uses the
verb understand instead of something observable. The Illinois Standards avoids
this "problem" in most cases. However, the State addresses it more directly by
writing its "benchmark standards" in more observable language. For example,
under the general standard "understand election processes and responsibilities of

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citizens" it states that by early high school (a benchmark) students will be able to
"describe the meaning of participatory citizenship (e.g., volunteerism, voting) at
all levels of government and society in the United States."

GUIDELINE #3: A standard should not include mention of the specific task by
which students will demonstrate what they know or are able to do.

For example, in a foreign language course students might be asked to

Identify cultural differences and similarities between the student's own culture
and the target culture using a Venn diagram.

The statement should have left off the last phrase "using a Venn diagram."
Completing a Venn diagram is the task the teacher will use to identify if students
meet the standard. How the student demonstrates understanding or application
should not be included with what is to be understood or applied. By including the
task description in the standard, the educator is restricted to only using that task
to measure the standard because that is what the standard requires. But there
are obviously other means of assessing the student's ability to compare and
contrast cultural features. So, separate the description of the task from the
statement of what the student should know or be able to do; do not include a task
in a standard.

GUIDELINE #4: Standards should be written clearly.

GUIDELINE #5: Standards should be written in language that students and

parents can understand.

Share your expectations with all constituencies. Students, parents and the
community will feel more involved in the process of education. Standards are not
typically written in language that early elementary students can always
understand, but the standards (your expectations) can be explained to them.

Workshop: Writing a Good Standard

In the "workshops" sprinkled throughout this website I will attempt to capture

(and model) the process I follow when assisting someone or some group in
developing standards or authentic tasks or rubrics. For this workshop, I will begin
with an initial draft of a standard and work with an imaginary educator towards a
final product. You can "play along at home" by imagining how you would respond
to the educator or to me.

Somewhere in the Smoky Mountains .... (hey, it's my workshop; I'll host it where
I like!)

Educator: How is this for a standard:

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I will teach my students what the main themes of Romeo and Juliet are.

Me: First, standards describe what students should know and do, not what the
teacher will do. So, standards typically begin, "Students will ...."

Educator: So, I could change it to

Students will know the main themes of Romeo and Juliet.

Me: Yes, that would be a more appropriate way to begin your standard. Standards
also should describe observable and measurable behavior on the student's part
so that we can assess it. "Knowing" is not something you can directly observe.
So, ask yourself "how could they show me they know?"

Educator: Well, I could have them write a paper explaining the main themes.
Maybe I could write a standard saying

Students will write a paper explaining the main themes of Romeo and Juliet.

Me: Can you observe "explaining"?

Educator: Yes, I think so.

Me: Yes, so that verb is a good one for a standard. Are there other ways a student
could explain the themes to you besides in a paper?

Educator: Sure. They could do it in a speech, or a poster or on an exam.

Me: Good. You don't want to limit yourself in how you might assess this
understanding. So, you usually want to avoid including an assignment or task in
your standard. Otherwise, you always have to assign a paper to meet that
standard.

Educator: I could say

Students will explain the themes of Romeo and Juliet.

Me: Yes, that is observable and clear. It effectively describes the student learning
you said you wanted at the beginning. But let's go back to the main question. You
always want to ask yourself "why would I want my students to meet this
standard?" Why do you want them to be able to explain the themes of Romeo and
Juliet?

Educator: Well, I want my students to be able to pick up a piece of literature and

be able to tell what the author's main ideas are, and to find some meaning in it
for them.

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Me: So, you would like them to do that for literature other than Romeo and Juliet
as well?

Educator: Yes, we just always teach Romeo and Juliet.

Me: So, you want to identify what really matters to you, what you really want the
students to come away with. Typically, that will go beyond one piece of literature
or one author. So, you want to write a standard more generically so that you can
choose from a variety of literature and still develop the same knowledge and skills
in your students.

Educator: I see. That makes sense. I could say

Students will be able to identify themes across a variety of literature.

Me: Very good. But now I am going to be tough on you. I imagine there are some
fourth grade teachers who would tell me they have that same standard for their
readers. Is the skill of "identifying a theme" really something your ninth and tenth
grade students are learning in your classes or do they come to you with that
ability?

Educator: Well, they should have it when they get to me, but many of them still
can't identify a theme very well. And, now I am asking them to do it with a more
sophisticated piece of literature than fourth graders read.

Me: So, it is certainly appropriate that your students continue to review and
develop that skill. But would you hope that your students understanding of theme
goes beyond simply being able to identify it in a piece?

Educator: Sure. I would like my students to understand the relationship now

between theme and character development and plot and setting and how all of
those work to shape the piece.

Me: And why does any of that matter? Why should they learn that?

Educator: Well, like I said before, I want them to be able to pick up a play or
story and make sense of what the author is trying to communicate so they can
make some personal connections to it and hopefully make some more sense of
their lives. Also, I hope they realize that literature is another way they can
communicate with others. So, by learning the techniques of Shakespeare and
others they can learn how to express themselves effectively and creatively. Maybe
those should be my standards, making sense of the world and communicating
effectively, or are those too broad?

Me: Those are too broad for standards. Those sound like your overall goals for
your course. But you could not easily assess such goals in one or two measures.
You want to break them down into several standards that capture the key
components of your goals and that are amenable to assessment. So, let's go back

27 | P a g e
to your statement about the relationship of theme to the other elements of
literature. It's not that being able to identify a theme is a useless skill. But you
want your students to go beyond that. How can we frame what you said as a
standard?

Educator: How about

Students will explain the relationships between theme, character, setting ...

Do I need to list all the literary elements I cover?

Me: You could. Or, if that might change from one year to another you could say
something like

Students will explain the relationships between several literary elements (e.g.,
theme, character, setting, plot) ....

Educator: You can do that in a standard?

Me: Yes, you can do anything you want in writing a standard as long as it captures
significant learning you value and is written in a manner that can be assessed.

Educator: But there are some elements, like theme, that I would always want
them to understand.

Me: Then you can say "several literary elements including theme, character,
setting, and plot ...."

Educator: That's better. So, how about this?

Students will explain relationships between and among literary elements including
character, plot, setting, theme, conflict and resolution and their influence on the
effectiveness of the literary piece.

Me: Very nice! Is it realistic?

Educator: Yes, I think so.

Me: Is it something worth learning?

Educator: Definitely.

Me: Can you assess it?

Educator: Oh yes, there would be a lot of ways. So.... are we done?

Me: Yes. You have developed an excellent standard.

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Educator: That was a lot of work.

Me: Yes. It is not easy to write good standards. But, after you have done a few
the rest will come more easily.

Educator: (with a touch of sarcasm) Oh, sure

Step 2: Select an Authentic Task

Note: Before you begin this section I would recommend you read the section
on Authentic Tasks to learn about characteristics and types of authentic tasks.

Starting from Scratch: Look at Your Standards

Starting from Scratch: Look at the Real World

Workshop: Creating an Authentic Task

If you completed Step 1 (identify your standards) successfully, then the remaining
three steps, particularly this one, will be much easier. With each step it is helpful
to return to your goals and standards for direction. For example, imagine that one
of your standards is

Students will describe the geographic, economic, social and political consequences
of the Revolutionary War.

In Step 2, you want to find a way students can demonstrate that they are fully
capable of meeting the standard. The language of a well-written standard can
spell out what a task should ask students to do to demonstrate their mastery of
it. For the above standard it is as simple as saying the task should ask students
to describe the geographic, economic, social and political consequences of the
Revolutionary War. That might take the form of an analytic paper you assign, a
multimedia presentation students develop (individually or collaboratively), a
debate they participate in or even an essay question on a test.

"Are those all authentic tasks?"

Yes, because each one a) asks students to construct their own responses and b)
replicates meaningful tasks found in the real world.

"Even an essay question on a test? I thought the idea of Authentic Assessment

was to get away from tests."

First, authentic assessment does not compete with traditional assessments like
tests. Rather, they complement each other. Each typically serves different

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assessment needs, so a combination of the two is often appropriate. Second, if
you read the section on Authentic Tasks I mentioned above (and I am beginning
to doubt you did :-), then you will recall that essay questions fall near the border
between traditional and authentic assessments. Specifically, essay questions are
constructed-response items. That is, in response to a prompt, students construct
an answer out of old and new knowledge. Since there is no one exact answer to
these prompts, students are constructing new knowledge that likely differs slightly
or significantly from that constructed by other students. Typically, constructed
response prompts are narrowly conceived, delivered at or near the same time a
response is expected and are limited in length. However, the fact that students
must construct new knowledge means that at least some of their thinking must
be revealed. As opposed to selected response items, the teachers gets to look
inside the head a little with constructed response answers. Furthermore,
explaining or analyzing as one might do in an essay answer replicates a real-world
skill one frequently uses. On the other hand, answering a question such as

Which of the following is a geographical consequence of the Revolutionary War?

a.
b.
c.
d.

requires students to select a response, not construct one. And, circling a correct
answer is not a significant challenge that workers or citizens commonly face in
the real world.

So, yes, it can be that easy to construct an authentic assessment. In fact, you
probably recognize that some of your current assessments are authentic or
performance-based ones. Moreover, I am guessing that you feel you get a better
sense of your students' ability to apply what they have learned through your
authentic assessments than from your traditional assessments.

Starting from Scratch?: Look at your Standards

What if you do not currently have an authentic assessment for a particular

standard? How do you create one from scratch? Again, start with your standard.
What does it ask your students to do? A good authentic task would ask them to
demonstrate what the standard expects of students. For example, the standard
might state that students will

solve problems involving fractions using addition, subtraction, multiplication and

division.

Teachers commonly ask students to do just that -- solve problems involving

fractions. That is an authentic task.

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See an example of the process of creating an authentic task from a standard in
the workshop below.

Starting from Scratch?: Look at the Real World

But what if you want a more engaging task for your students? A second method
of developing an authentic task from scratch is by asking yourself "where would
they use these skills in the real world?" For computing with fractions teachers
have asked students to follow recipes, order or prepare pizzas, measure and plan
the painting or carpeting of a room, etc. Each of these tasks is not just an
instructional activity; each can also be an authentic assessment.

See more examples of authentic tasks.

Workshop: Creating an Authentic Task

In the "workshops" sprinkled throughout this website I will attempt to capture

(and model) the process I follow when assisting someone or some group in
developing standards or authentic tasks or rubrics. For this workshop, I will begin
with a particular skill an imaginary educator would like to develop and assess in
her second grade students, and we will work towards an authentic means of
assessing the skill. You can "play along at home" by imagining how you would
respond to the educator or to me.

Somewhere in Vienna .... (hey, it's my workshop; I'll host it where I like!)

Educator: I often get frustrated when my students constantly ask me whether

they think their work is any good or not, or when they ask me if I think they are
finished with some task. I want them to learn to judge those things for
themselves. I need to teach more of that. But I have no idea how I would measure
something like that. Is that really an authentic skill, and could I really assess it?

Me: No and no. Let's go have some Sachertorte. Just kidding. First, is it
authentic? Do you ever find yourself needing to reflect on your own work, to figure
out what is working and what is not, to make changes when necessary, or to
decide when you have finished something?

Educator: Of course. I do that all the time as a teacher, like when I am working
on a lesson plan. I do that in a lot of situations, or I wouldn't get much better at
whatever I am working on.

Me: That point is well supported by a recent article from Wiggins and McTighe
(2006) entitled, "Examining the teaching life," in which they describe how
educators can reflect upon their work "in light of sound principles about how

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learning works." So, it certainly is an authentic skill. Authentic tasks do not have
to be large, complex projects. Most mental behaviors are small, brief "tasks" such
as deciding between two choices, or interpreting a political cartoon, or finding a
relationship between two or more concepts. Thus, many authentic tasks we give
our students can and should be small and brief, whether they are for practicing
some skill or assessing students on it.

Educator: But are second graders too young to evaluate their own work?

Me: No, teachers can and have begun developing this skill in kindergarteners. As
with anything, start simple and small.

As you may know, considering how to assess such a skill in the classroom usually
begins by referring to your standards. Did you write a standard addressing the
skill you described?

Educator: Yes. In fact, I completed your absolutely fabulous "Writing a good

standard" workshop. So, see what you think of what I came up with.

Students will evaluate their own work.

Is that okay? I know it is rather broad. I could have chosen more specific elements
of self-assessment such as identifying errors in their work or judging if they have
completed the assignment. But I want my students to begin acquiring all the skills
of self-evaluation so I wrote the standard with that in mind.

Me: I think that is a reasonable standard. Your standard may be broad in some
sense, but I notice that you are limiting it to evaluating the students' work, not
their behavior. As you probably know, some teachers ask their students to
evaluate their own behavior during the day. For example, students are asked to
assess how well they are contributing to the class, staying on task, avoiding or
resolving conflicts with others, etc. I think the scope of your standard is
appropriate and manageable. So, let's go with that standard. If you need to
change it as we consider the tasks you always can. Nothing in assessment is
written in stone.

Now, second, can you assess it? "Evaluate" is an observable verb. But, what does
"evaluate their own work" actually look like when people are doing it?

Educator: When I think of evaluating one's own work or self-assessing I think of

things like

• judging the quality of one's work

• identifying one's strengths and weaknesses
• finding errors and correcting them when necessary

Me: Those are very good examples. Other ways of saying much the same thing
include

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 • comparing one's work against specific criteria or standard (which is similar
to judging its quality)
• or comparing it to past work or the work of others
• reflecting upon one's work:
o does it meet the goal(s)?
o in other words, have I finished yet?
o where are there discrepancies between the goal(s) and one's current
piece of work?
o what do I need to improve?
o am I making progress?

Notice in our list of skills that with the exception of correcting them when
necessary all of the statements focus on identifying how well one is performing
and not on the next step of identifying strategies for improvement or addressing
one's weaknesses. Although correcting one's errors or devising strategies for
improvement follows logically from identifying those errors or weaknesses, the
two sets of skills can be considered, taught and assessed independently of each
other. So, I think it makes sense for you to limit your focus to the first step
of evaluating one's work. Given that, which of the evaluation skills do you want
your students to develop?

Educator: All of them really.

Me: There is quite a bit of overlap or redundancy in the list we created. Can you
consolidate those skills into two or three that you would like to focus on here?

Educator: Well, as I mentioned before, I would like my students to stop asking

me or their parents or others all the time if their work is any good. Sometimes
they will need to check with others. But, I want them to be able to determine if
their work is any good for themselves, whether that means being able to compare
their work against a set of criteria or a rubric I might give them or just knowing
what "good" looks like for a particular task. Related to that, I would like my
students to be able to judge when they are "done" with a task. Yes, I want them
to recognize when the minimum requirements have been met, but I also want
them to judge when they have produced something worthwhile.

Me: Very good. We should not have too much difficulty thinking of tasks you could
assign your students that will indicate whether or not they are acquiring those
skills.

Educator: First, I want to check on something: Just because I have a standard

for something, do I have to assess it?

Me: Only the most essential understandings and skills should be captured in your
standards. Thus, if it is important enough to include in your standards you will
want to know if your students are meeting those goals. You will want to assess it.
On the other hand, there may be skills that you would like to promote or
encourage in your students, but you don't consider them critical. So, you don't

33 | P a g e
have to assess them. However, if this is a skill you would really like to teach and
develop in your students...

Educator: It is...

Me: Then you will want to assess it, which brings us back to your original question.
How can you assess the skill described in your standard: Students will evaluate
their own work? Let's start with the first skill you described: Judging the quality
of their own work. To get you started, here are a few possible options:

• applying the rubric for a specific task to their own work on that task (click
here to see some elementary level examples)
• applying a generic self-assessment rubric applicable to most tasks to their
work on a specific task
• applying a generic self-assessment rubric applicable to most tasks to a
collection of student work over a period of time
• identifying strengths and/or weaknesses in their work on a task or across a
collection of work
• answering some open-ended questions about their work such as
o what do you like about your work on ________?
o what did you find difficult/easy?
o what still needs improvement?
o what do you need more help with?
o what do you still need to learn more about for this task?
o what did you discover about yourself as you worked on this task?
o if you had 24 more hours to work on this task, what changes would
you make?

So, pick one of these and flesh it out to give me a task that would work in your
class. You have 30 seconds.

Educator: What?!? Okay, um, how about ... I got it! I borrowed the Fairy Tale
Letter task from your Toolbox developed by Debra Crooks and Kate Trtan. They
created a good rubric for the task. So, I could do the following with my students:

1) Assign my students the Fairy Tale Letter task with a certain time or date for
completion of a draft. I will give them the rubric before they begin the task.
2) When the students have written a draft of the letter, I will ask them to review
the rubric.
3) Then I will ask them to review their letter draft.
4) Next, I will ask them to circle the descriptor that best fits their letter for each
criterion.
5) Then I will collect their drafts and rubrics on which they circled the descriptors.
6) I will judge how well they have applied the rubric to their drafts.
7) Finally, I will return their drafts and rubrics so they can complete the letter.

34 | P a g e
Me: That's a good start.

Educator: Uh oh. I know what that means when you say "a good start."

Me: I mean that you have described a very good framework for assessing self-
assessment in this manner. I just think your task needs a little tweaking. In fact,
we need to do the very thing you are asking your students to do: Evaluate the
quality of your work. How do you think you judge the quality of a task you have
created, adapted or borrowed?

Educator: The task should align with the standard. So, first, I want to make sure
I am really assessing whether or not students are evaluating their own work. Of
course, it looks good to me -- I wrote it! So, how can I try to more objectively
evaluate the task?

Me: A good strategy for evaluating a task is to imagine possible student

performance on the task and see if you can really determine whether the standard
was met or not. For example, if this is the rubric,

Criteria 5 3 1
Correctly
Parts of a used all Omitted one part of a Omitted more than one
letter parts of a letter part of a letter
letter
Number At least
Used fewer than four
of five Used four sentences
sentences
sentences sentences
Complete
sentences Sentences are Sentences are
Sentence
with incomplete or mechanics incomplete and mechanics
structure
correct errors errors
mechanics
Used
character
Used character voice Used character voice
voice
Voice throughout most of the throughout little of the
throughout
letter letter
entire
letter

imagine a student scored himself a 5 (correctly used all parts of a letter) for the
"parts of a letter" criterion, a 5 for number of sentences, a 3 for sentence
structure, and a 5 for voice on his draft. When you look at the student's draft, you
score him a 3, 5, 3, 3. What have you learned about how well this student can
evaluate his own work?

Educator: Well, I can tell that the student recognized that most of the parts of
the letter were there, but he missed one part. Also, he correctly realized that he

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included five sentences. He appears to be aware that there were some incomplete
sentences or mechanical errors, but I cannot tell which errors he identified. Finally,
the student did not seem to realize that his character lost its voice in a few places.

Me: That's a possible interpretation of the student's ratings. Is it also possible

that the student just guessed and happened to agree with you on some criteria
by chance?

Educator: I guess that's possible, too. How could I tell if he just guessed?

Me: I was about to ask you that. If you were there with the student, what would
you do to find out?

Educator: I would just ask him: Why did you circle "Correctly used all parts of a
letter" for that criterion?

Me: Then you can make that question part of your assessment. But, before we
consider how you might incorporate that formally into your assessment, let's go
back to the way you originally described it. Simply asking your students to apply
the rubric to their drafts is a good task in itself. It may not tell you formally
whether or not they are meeting the standard, but it serves as good practice for
this skill. And with any skill, you would want to give them feedback on it. So, you
could give them your ratings on the rubric and ask them to compare them with
their own. With second graders, it may not be very helpful just to see your ratings
without some assistance. But you could

• meet with some or all of your students individually to share your ratings and
ask some questions like you mentioned (they can also be invited to ask you
questions about how you arrived at your ratings so you can model that
thought process)
• assign the students to pairs in which they help each other compare their
ratings to yours to see if they can figure out why there is a discrepancy for
one or more of the criteria
• ask them to pick one criterion where your rating differed from theirs and
then carefully review their draft for that criterion again

By simply asking your students to apply the rubric and examining their ratings
you will get some sense of how well they are judging their own work. You may
notice certain patterns such as they all seem to be able to determine if they have
included enough sentences, but they are quite poor at judging whether their
character has used a consistent voice. So, as an informal assessment, I think your
task (and its many possible variations) should give you some useful information
and provide some good practice in the skill of self-assessment.

However, if you want to draw more valid inferences about how well the students
are meeting your standard, you will need to collect evidence that more clearly
indicates how well your students are evaluating their own work. Earlier, you said
you could help determine if students were just guessing when they applied the

36 | P a g e
rubric by asking them follow-up questions. How might we include such questions
as part of the task?

Educator: For a more formal assessment, I could give the students the rubric at
the top of a sheet with a few questions at the bottom. After they apply the rubric
to their drafts, the students could be directed to answer the questions. For
example, I could give them one of the following sheets:

1)

• Review the rubric below.

• Then review your draft of the fairy tale letter.
• Circle the descriptors (such as "correctly used all parts of a letter") that best describe
your draft.
• Finally, answer the questions below the rubric.

The Rubric

For each criterion in the rubric above, explain why you circled the level (5, 3, or 1)
you did.

Parts of a letter

Number of sentences

Sentence structure

Voice

2)

• Review the rubric below.

• Then review your draft of the fairy tale letter.
• Circle the descriptors (such as "correctly used all parts of a letter") that best describe
your draft.
• Finally, answer the questions below the rubric.

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 The Rubric

Which rating that you just circled in the rubric do you feel most confident about? Tell
me why.

Which rating that you just circled in the rubric do you feel least confident about? Tell
me why.

3)

• Review the rubric below.

• Then review your draft of the fairy tale letter.
• Circle the descriptors (such as "correctly used all parts of a letter") that best describe
your draft.
• Finally, answer the question below the rubric.

The Rubric

Pick one criterion that you rated the lowest in the rubric above. What could you do in
your letter draft to move you up to the next level in the rubric for that criterion?

Me: Those are very good questions. I would feel more confident about assessing
a student's ability to evaluate his work if, in addition to completing the rubric, he
also had to answer one or more of those questions. You will have made his
thinking visible so you can more easily discern whether he arrived at his answer
through guessing or through genuine reflection on his level of performance.

Engaging in such self-assessment, particularly with some thoughtful reflection, is

not an easy task by any means, and particularly not for second graders. Skill
development requires careful scaffolding. So, we must assume that administering
an assessment such as one of these for your students would come only after
considerable practice with the skill. Furthermore, practice should follow significant
teacher modeling. For example, you could write a fairy tale letter, intentionally
including some stronger and weaker parts. Then, you would walk through the
rubric with your students to illustrate how to apply the rubric. You could model it
yourself, or you could invite their participation in the process. Similarly, asking
students to apply a rubric to someone else's work, whether another student's in
the class or a mock sample you provide them, should also provide good practice.

38 | P a g e
Alternatively, some teachers provide students with samples of what specific
descriptors might look like. For example, you might share examples of what a 5
or a 3 or a 1 looks like for the criterion of Voice for the Fairy Tale Letter task.

Of course, even if students take the task seriously and attempt to fairly judge
their work, they still may have great difficulty doing so. For example, one of the
criteria in the above rubric is "sentence structure," and applying that criterion
means judging if the sentences are complete and the mechanics are free from
errors. That is not always easy for good writers; how will weak writers know? An
interesting article by Dunning et al. (2003) entitled, "Why people fail to
recognize their own incompetence," describes research finding that "...poor
performers are doubly cursed: Their lack of skill deprives them not only of the
ability to produce correct responses, but also of the expertise necessary to
surmise that they are not producing them" (p. 83). Thus, before many of our
students can effectively evaluate their own work we need to equip them with the
meta-cognitive skills of thinking about how they would accomplish that task.

In other words, how would good or weak writers determine if their writing contains
mechanical errors? If they cannot do that, they cannot yet apply that criterion in
the rubric. So, another question we might ask a second grader or a sixth grader
or a high school senior when applying a rubric to a task is

• How will you determine which level of that criterion applies to your work?

Of course, the easy answer to that is "ask my teacher," and we are back where
we started this whole discussion! But, if we teach and model the meta-cognitive
strategies underlying good self-assessment, then eventually we should get some
intelligent answers to that question, and better self-assessment, and better
performance.

So, what do you think? Could you feasibly assess how well your students could
evaluate their own work?

Educator: I think so. At least I am much more confident about it than when we
started. It will definitely take a lot of practice and feedback and reflection.

Me: Is it worth the time?

Educator: Definitely. Instead of spending all that time asking my students to

learn to apply criteria to their work and then giving them assessments on it, I
could have them devote more time to working on their fairy tale letter, for
example. But, in the long run, I believe they will produce better work if they can
confidently critique it themselves, they will acquire a truly valuable skill that they
can apply to almost every facet of their lives, and I may even save time if they
become more efficient at producing good work.

Me: You sold me. But, you know what? We are not done yet. Eons ago, or
whenever we started this conversation, you also said you would like your students

39 | P a g e
to acquire a related ability: The ability to judge when their work is "done." We will
try to keep this brief, but let's see if we can come up with a task or two to assess
that skill.

Educator: Okay. Your turn. You've got 15 seconds. Go!

Me: What?!?!? My...mind...is...blank...oh, here we go. Before students turn in a

particular assignment, and, perhaps, after reviewing the assignment rubric, give
them one of the following sheets:

Have you completed the requirements of Assignment X?

Yes No

If not, what do you still need to do to complete the assignment?

Have you completed Assignment X well?

Yes No

If you said Yes, how do you know it is finished and it is done well?

If you said No, how do you know it is not finished or not yet done well?

or

If you said No, what still needs to be improved?

or

If you said No, how will you know when it is done well?

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Educator: At this point, my students would have a hard time answering those
questions. Yet, as you said, you have to start somewhere. I could definitely model
answers to those questions, and I would give my students plenty of practice,
feedback and opportunity for reflection on these skills. The tasks we created
should help me teach my students self-assessment skills and provide me a tool
for assessing the standard. So, are we done here?

Me: One more thing... We created some possible tasks, but for a formal
assessment of the skill you would need some way to score your students'
performance.

Educator: A rubric?

Me: That's one possibility. Authentic assessments are not required to include a
rubric; some do, some don't. But we will save rubrics for a rubric workshop. To
get your thinking started in that direction I just want to ask you to briefly identify
a few of the criteria you would look for in your students' efforts on these tasks.
What would be the characteristics of good performance on your first self-
assessment task that you might measure?

Educator: I would probably look for the following indicators:

• Did the students select the appropriate descriptors in the rubric for their
drafts?
• For the first two sheets, did they provide reasonable justification for their
choices?
• Or, for the last sheet, did their answer indicate a good grasp of their
deficiencies?

Me: Very nice. We're done! Oh, could you grab that sheet of paper on the table.

Educator: What is it?

Me: It's my Sachertorte rubric. I like to hit four or five Viennese restaurants or
hotels and compare. It's research

Step 3: Identify the Criteria for the Task

Examples of Criteria

Characteristics of a Good Criterion

How Many Criteria do you Need for a Task?

Time for a Quiz!

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Criteria: Indicators of good performance on a task

In Step 1, you identified what you want your students to know and be able to do.
In Step 2, you selected a task (or tasks) students would perform or produce to
demonstrate that they have met the standard from Step 1. For Step 3, you want
to ask "What does good performance on this task look like?" or "How will I know
they have done a good job on this task?" In answering those questions you will
be identifying the criteria for good performance on that task. You will use those
criteria to evaluate how well students completed the task and, thus, how well they
have met the standard or standards.

Examples

Example 1: Here is a standard from the Special Education collection

of examples:

The student will conduct banking transactions.

The authentic task this teacher assigned to students to assess the standard was
to

make deposits, withdrawals or cash checks at a bank.

To identify the criteria for good performance on this task, the teacher asked
herself "what would good performance on this task look like?" She came up with
seven essential characteristics for successful completion of the task:

• Selects needed form (deposit, withdrawal)

• Fills in form with necessary information
• Endorses check
• Locates open teller
• States type of transaction
• Counts money to be deposited to teller
• Puts money received in wallet

If students meet these criteria then they have performed well on the task and,
thus, have met the standard or, at least, provided some evidence of meeting the
standard.

Example 2: This comes from the Mathematics collection. There were six
standards addressed to some degree by this authentic task. The standards are:
Students will be able to

• measure quantities using appropriate units, instruments, and methods;

42 | P a g e
 • setup and solve proportions;
• develop scale models;
• estimate amounts and determine levels of accuracy needed;
• organize materials;
• explain their thought process.

The authentic task used to assess these standards in a geometry class was the
following:

Rearrange the Room

You want to rearrange the furniture in some room in your house, but your parents
do not think it would be a good idea. To help persuade your parents to rearrange
the furniture you are going to make a two dimensional scale model of what the
room would ultimately look like.

Procedure:

1. You first need to measure the dimensions of the floor space in the room you
want to rearrange, including the location and dimensions of all doors and
windows. You also need to measure the amount of floor space occupied by
each item of furniture in the room. These dimensions should all be explicitly
listed.
2. Then use the given proportion to find the scale dimensions of the room and
all the items.
3. Next you will make a scale blueprint of the room labeling where all windows
and doors are on poster paper.
4. You will also make scale drawings of each piece of furniture on a cardboard
sheet of paper, and these models need to be cut out.
5. Then you will arrange the model furniture where you want it on your
blueprint, and tape them down.
6. You will finally write a brief explanation of why you believe the furniture
should be arranged the way it is in your model.

Your models and explanations will be posted in the room and the class will
vote on which setup is the best.

Finally, the criteria which the teacher identified as indicators of good performance
on the Rearrange the Room task were:

• accuracy of calculations;
• accuracy of measurements on the scale model;
• labels on the scale model;
• organization of calculations;
• neatness of drawings;
• clear explanations.

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(But how well does a student have to perform on each of these criteria to do well
on the task? We will address that question in Step 4: Create the Rubric.)

You may have noticed in the second example that some of the standards and
some of the criteria sounded quite similar. For example, one standard said
students will be able to develop scale models, and two of the criteria
were accurary of measurements on the scale model and labels on the scale model.
Is this redundant? No, it means that your criteria are aligned with your standards.
You are actually measuring on the task what you said you valued in your
standards.

Characteristics of a Good Criterion

So, what does a good criterion (singular of criteria) look like? It should be

• a clearly stated;
• brief;
• observable;
• statement of behavior;
• written in language students understand.

Additionally, make sure each criterion is distinct. Although the criteria for a single
task will understandably be related to one another, there should not be too much
overlap between them. Are you really looking for different aspects of performance
on the task with the different criteria, or does one criterion simply rephrase
another one? For example, the following criteria might be describing the same
behavior depending on what you are looking for:

• interpret the data

• draw a conclusion from the data

Another overlap occurs when one criterion is actually a subset of another criterion.
For example, the first criterion below probably subsumes the second:

• presenter keeps the audience's attention

• presenter makes eye contact with the audience

Like standards, criteria should be shared with students before they begin a task
so they know the teacher's expectations and have a clearer sense of what good
performance should look like. Some teachers go further and involve the students
in identifying appropriate criteria for a task. The teacher might ask the students
"What characteristics does a good paper have?" or "What should I see in a good
scale model?" or "How will I (or anyone) know you have done a good job on this
task?"

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How Many Criteria do you Need for a Task?

Of course, I am not going to give you an easy answer to that question because
there is not one. But, I can recommend some guidelines.

• Limit the number of criteria; keep it to the essential elements of the

task. This is a guideline, not a rule. On a major, complex task you might
choose to have 50 different attributes you are looking for in a good
performance. That's fine. But, generally, assessment will be more feasible
and meaningful if you focus on the important characteristics of the task.
Typically, you will have fewer than 10 criteria for a task, and many times it
might be as few as three or four.
• You do not have to assess everything on every task. For example, you
might value correct grammar and spelling in all writing assignments, but
you do not have to look for those criteria in every assignment. You have
made it clear to your students that you expect good grammar and spelling
in every piece of writing, but you only check for it in some of them. That
way, you are assessing those characteristics in the students' writing and
you are sending the message that you value those elements, but you do not
take the time of grading them on every assignment.
• Smaller, less significant tasks typically require fewer criteria. For
short homework or in-class assignments you might only need a quick check
on the students' work. Two or three criteria might be sufficient to judge the
understanding or application you were after in that task. Less significant
tasks require less precision in your assessment than larger, more
comprehensive tasks that are designed to assess significant progress toward
multiple standards.

Ask. Ask yourself; you have to apply the criteria. Do they make sense to you? Can
you distinguish one from another? Can you envision examples of each? Are they
all worth assessing?

Ask your students. Do they make sense to them? Do they understand their
relationship to the task? Do they know how they would use the criteria to begin
their work? To check their work?

Ask your colleagues. Ask those who give similar assignments. Ask others who are
unfamiliar with the subject matter to get a different perspective if you like.

If you have assigned a certain task before, review previous student work. Do these
criteria capture the elements of what you considered good work? Are you missing
anything essential?

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Do you think you could write a good criterion now? Do you think you would know
a good one when you saw one? Let's give you a couple small tasks:

Task 1: Write three criteria for a good employee at a fast-food restaurant. (There
would likely be more than three, but as a simple check I do not need to ask for
more than three. Assessments should be meaningful and manageable!)

Task 2: I have written three criteria for a good employee below. I intentionally
wrote two clear criteria (I hope) and one vague one. Can you find the vague one
among the three? Are the other two good criteria? (Yes, I wrote them so of course
I think they are good criteria. But I will let you challenge my authority just this
once :-)

• the employee is courteous

• the employee arrives on time
• the employee follows the sanitary guidelines

What do you think? In my opinion, the first criterion is vague and the latter two
are good criteria. Of course, evaluating criteria is a subjective process, particularly
for those you wrote yourself. So, before I explain my rationale I would reiterate
the advice above of checking your criteria with others to get another opinion.

To me, the statement "the employee is courteous" is too vague. Courteous could
mean a lot of different things and could mean very different things to different
people. I would think the employer would want to define the behavior more
specifically and with more clearly observable language. For example, an employer
might prefer:

• the employee greets customers in a friendly manner

That is a more observable statement, but is that all there is to being courteous?
It depends on what you want. If that is what the employer means by courteous
then that is sufficient. Or, the employer might prefer:

• the employee greets customers in a friendly manner and promptly and

pleasantly responds to their requests

"Is that one or two criteria?" It depends on how detailed you want to be. If the
employer wants a more detailed set of criteria he/she can spell out each behavior
as a separate criterion. Or, he/she might want to keep "courteous" as a single
characteristic to look for but define it as two behaviors in the criterion. There is a
great deal of flexibility in the number and specificity of criteria. There are few hard
and fast rules in any aspect of assessment development. You need to make sure
the assessment fits your needs. An employer who wants a quick and dirty check
on behavior will create a much different set of criteria than one who wants a
detailed record.

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The second criterion above, the employee arrives on time, is sufficiently clear. It
cannot obviously name a specific time for arriving because that will change. But
if the employer has identified the specific time that an employee should arrive
then "arrive on time" is very clear. Similarly, if the employer has made clear the
sanitary guidelines, then it should be clear to the employees what it means to
"follow the guidelines."

"Could I include some of that additional detail in my criteria or would it be too

wordy?" That is up to you. However, criteria are more communicable and
manageable if they are brief. The employer could include some of the definition
of courteous in the criterion statement such as

• the employee is courteous (i.e., the employee greets customers in a friendly

manner and promptly and pleasantly responds to their requests)

However, it is easier to state the criterion as "the employee is courteous" while

explaining to the employees exactly what behaviors that entails. Whenever the
employer wants to talk about this criterion with his/her employees he can do it
more simply with this brief statement. We will also see how rubrics are more
manageable (coming up in Step 4) if the criteria are brief.

"Can I have sub-criteria in which I break a criterion into several parts and assess
each part separately?" Yes, although that might be a matter of semantics. Each
"sub-criterion" could be called a separate criterion. But I will talk about how to
handle that in the next section "Step 4: Create the Rubric."

Step 4: Create the Rubric

Creating an Analytic Rubric

Creating a Holistic Rubric

Final Step: Checking Your Rubric

Workshop: Writing a Good Rubric

Note:Before you begin this section I would recommend that you read the section
on Rubrics to learn about the characteristics of a good rubric.

In Step 1 of creating an authentic assessment, you identified what you wanted

your students to know and be able to do -- your standards.

In Step 2, you asked how students could demonstrate that they had met your
standards. As a result, you developed authentic tasks they could perform.

47 | P a g e
In Step 3, you identified the characteristics of good performance on the authentic
task -- the criteria.

Now, in Step 4, you will finish creating the authentic assessment by constructing a
rubric to measure student performance on the task. To build the rubric, you will
begin with the set of criteria you identified in Step 3. As mentioned before, keep
the number of criteria manageable. You do not have to look for everything on
every assessment.

Once you have identified the criteria you want to look for as indicators of good
performance, you next decide whether to consider the criteria analytically or
holistically. (See Rubrics for a description of these two types of rubrics.)

Creating an Analytic Rubric

In an analytic rubric performance is judged separately for each criterion. Teachers

assess how well students meet a criterion on a task, distinguishing between work
that effectively meets the criterion and work that does not meet it. The next step
in creating a rubric, then, is deciding how fine such a distinction should be made
for each criterion. For example, if you are judging the amount of eye contact a
presenter made with his/her audience that judgment could be as simple as did or
did not make eye contact (two levels of performance), never, sometimes or
always made eye contact (three levels), or never, rarely, sometimes, usually, or
always made eye contact (five levels).

Generally, it is better to start small with fewer levels because it is usually harder
to make more fine distinctions. For eye contact, I might begin with three levels
such as never, sometimes and usually. Then if, in applying the rubric, I found that
some students seemed to fall in between never and sometimes, and never or
sometimes did not adequately describe the students' performance, I could add a
fourth (e.g., rarely) and, possibly, a fifth level to the rubric.

In other words, there is some trial and error that must go on to arrive at the most
appropriate number of levels for a criterion. (See the Rubric Workshop below to
see more detailed decision-making involved in selecting levels of performance for
a sample rubric.)

Do I need to have the same number of levels of performance for each

criterion within a rubric?

No. You could have five levels of performance for three criteria in a rubric, three
levels for two other criteria, and four levels for another criterion, all within the
same rubric. Rubrics are very flexible Alaskan Moose. There is no need to force an
unnatural judgment of performance just to maintain standardization within the
rubric. If one criterion is a simple either/or judgment and another criterion
requires finer distinctions, then the rubric can reflect that variation.

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Here are some examples of rubrics with varying levels of performance......

Do I need to add descriptors to each level of performance?

No. Descriptors are recommended but not required in a rubric. As described

in Rubrics, descriptors are the characteristics of behavior associated with specific
levels of performance for specific criteria. For example, in the following portion of
an elementary science rubric, the criteria are 1) observations are thorough, 2)
predictions are reasonable, and 3) conclusions are based on observations. Labels
(limited, acceptable, proficient) for the different levels of performance are also
included. Under each label, for each criterion, a descriptor (in brown) is included
to further explain what performance at that level looks like.

Criteria Limited Acceptable Proficient

most all observations
made good observations are
observations are are clear and
observations absent or vague
clear and detailed detailed
predictions are
made good most predictions all predictions
absent or
predictions are reasonable are reasonable
irrelevant
conclusion is conclusion is
conclusion is
appropriate absent or consistent with
consistent with
conclusion inconsistent with most
observations
observations observations

As you can imagine, students will be more certain what is expected to reach each
level of performance on the rubric if descriptors are provided. Furthermore, the
more detail a teacher provides about what good performance looks like on a task
the better a student can approach the task. Teachers benefit as well when
descriptors are included. A teacher is likely to be more objective and consistent
when applying a descriptor such as "most observations are clear and
detailed" than when applying a simple label such as "acceptable." Similarly, if
more than one teacher is using the same rubric, the specificity of the descriptors
increases the chances that multiple teachers will apply the rubric in a similar
manner. When a rubric is applied more consistently and objectively it will lead to
greater reliability and validity in the results.

Assigning point values to performance on each criterion

As mentioned above, rubrics are very flexible tools. Just as the number of levels
of performance can vary from criterion to criterion in an analytic rubric, points or
value can be assigned to the rubric in a myriad of ways. For example, a teacher
who creates a rubric might decide that certain criteria are more important to the
overall performance on the task than other criteria. So, one or more criteria can
be weighted more heavily when scoring the performance. For example, in a rubric
for solo auditions, a teacher might consider five criteria: (how well students

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demonstrate) vocal tone, vocal technique, rhythm, diction and musicality. For this
teacher, musicality might be the most important quality that she has stressed and
is looking for in the audition. She might consider vocal technique to be less
important than musicality but more important than the other criteria. So, she
might give musicality and vocal technique more weight in her rubric. She can
assign weights in different ways. Here is one common format:

Rubric 1: Solo Audition

0 1 2 3 4 5 weight
vocal tone
vocal technique x2
Rhythm
Diction
Musicality x3

In this case, placement in the 4-point level for vocal tone would earn the student
four points for that criterion. But placement in the 4-point box for vocal technique
would earn the student 8 points, and placement in the 4-point box for musicality
would earn the student 12 points. The same weighting could also be displayed as
follows:

Rubric 2: Solo Audition

NA Poor Fair Good Very Good Excellent

vocal tone 0 1 2 3 4 5
vocal technique 0 2 4 6 8 10
Rhythm 0 1 2 3 4 5
Diction 0 1 2 3 4 5
Musicality 0 3 6 9 12 15

In both examples, musicality is worth three times as many points as vocal tone,
rhythm and diction, and vocal technique is worth twice as much as each of those
criteria. Pick a format that works for you and/or your students. There is no
"correct" format in the layout of rubrics. So, choose one or design one that meets
your needs.

Yes, but do I need equal intervals between the point values in a rubric?

No. Say it with me one more time -- rubrics are flexible tools. Shape them to fit
your needs, not the other way around. In other words, points should be
distributed across the levels of a rubric to best capture the value you assign to
each level of performance. For example, points might be awarded on an oral
presentation as follows:

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 Rubric 3: Oral Presentation

Criteria never sometimes always

makes eye contact 0 3 4
volume is appropriate 0 2 4
enthusiasm is evident 0 2 4
summary is accurate 0 4 8

In other words, you might decide that at this point in the year you would be
pleased if a presenter makes eye contact "sometimes," so you award that level of
performance most of the points available. However, "sometimes" would not be as
acceptable for level of volume or enthusiasm.

Here are some more examples of rubrics illustrating the flexibility of number of
levels and value you assign each level.

Rubric 4: Oral Presentation

Criteria never sometimes usually

makes eye contact 0 2 4
volume is appropriate 0 4
enthusiasm is evident 0 4
summary is accurate 0 4 8

In the above rubric, you have decided to measure volume and enthusiasm at two
levels -- never or usually -- whereas, you are considering eye contact and
accuracy of summary across three levels. That is acceptable if that fits the type of
judgments you want to make. Even though there are only two levels for volume
and three levels for eye contact, you are awarding the same number of points for
a judgment of "usually" for both criteria. However, you could vary that as well:

Rubric 5: Oral Presentation

Criteria never sometimes usually

makes eye contact 0 2 4
volume is appropriate 0 2
enthusiasm is evident 0 2
summary is accurate 0 4 8

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In this case, you have decided to give less weight to volume and enthusiasm as
well as to judge those criteria across fewer levels.

So, do not feel bound by any format constraints when constructing a rubric. The
rubric should best capture what you value in performance on the authentic task.
The more accurately your rubric captures what you want your students to know
and be able to do the more valid the scores will be.

Creating a Holistic Rubric

In a holistic rubric, a judgment of how well someone has performed on a task

considers all the criteria together, or holistically, instead of separately as in an
analytic rubric. Thus, each level of performance in a holistic rubric reflects
behavior across all the criteria. For example, here is a holistic version of the oral
presentation rubric above.

Rubric 6: Oral Presentation (Holistic)

Oral Presentation Rubric

Mastery

• usually makes eye contact

• volume is always appropriate
• enthusiasm present throughout presentation
• summary is completely accurate

Proficiency

• usually makes eye contact

• volume is usually appropriate
• enthusiasm is present in most of presentation
• only one or two errors in summary

Developing

• sometimes makes eye contact

• volume is sometimes appropriate
• occasional enthusiasm in presentation
• some errors in summary

Inadequate

• never or rarely makes eye contact

• volume is inappropriate
• rarely shows enthusiasm in presentation
• many errors in summary

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An obvious, potential problem with applying the above rubric is that performance
often does not fall neatly into categories such as mastery or proficiency. A student
might always make eye contact, use appropriate volume regularly, occasionally
show enthusiasm and include many errors in the summary. Where you put that
student in the holistic rubric? Thus, it is recommended that the use of holistic
rubrics be limited to situations when the teacher wants to:

• make a quick, holistic judgment that carries little weight in evaluation, or

• evaluate performance in which the criteria cannot be easily separated.

Quick, holistic judgments are often made for homework problems or journal
assignments. To allow the judgment to be quick and to reduce the problem
illustrated in the above rubric of fitting the best category to the performance, the
number of criteria should be limited. For example, here is a possible holistic rubric
for grading homework problems.

Rubric 7: Homework Problems

Homework Problem Rubric

++ (3 pts.)

• most or all answers correct, AND

• most or all work shown

+ (1 pt.)

• at least some answers correct, AND

• at least some but not most work shown

- (0 pts.)

• few answers correct, OR

• little or no work shown

Although this homework problem rubric only has two criteria and three levels of
performance, it is not easy to write such a holistic rubric to accurately capture what
an evaluator values and to cover all the possible combinations of student
performance. For example, what if a student got all the answers correct on a
problem assignment but did not show any work? The rubric covers that: the student
would receive a (-) because "little or no work was shown." What if a student showed
all the work but only got some of the answers correct? That student would receive
a (+) according to the rubric. All such combinations are covered. But does giving a
(+) for such work reflect what the teacher values? The above rubric is designed to
give equal weight to correct answers and work shown. If that is not the teacher's
intent then the rubric needs to be changed to fit the goals of the teacher.

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All of this complexity with just two criteria -- imagine if a third criterion were
added to the rubric. So, with holistic rubrics, limit the number of criteria
considered, or consider using an analytic rubric.

Final Step: Checking Your Rubric

As a final check on your rubric, you can do any or all of the following before
applying it.

• Let a colleague review it.

• Let your students review it -- is it clear to them?
• Check if it aligns or matches up with your standards.
• Check if it is manageable.
• Consider imaginary student performance on the rubric.

By the last suggestion I mean to imagine that a student had met specific levels of
performance on each criterion (for an analytic rubric). Then ask yourself if that
performance translates into the score that you think is appropriate. For example,
on Rubric 3 above, imagine a student scores

• "sometimes" for eye contact (3 pts.)

• "always" for volume (4 pts.)
• "always" for enthusiasm (4 pts.)
• "sometimes" for summary is accurate (4 pts.)

That student would receive a score of 15 points out of a possible 20 points. Does
75% (15 out of 20) capture that performance for you? Perhaps you think a
student should not receive that high of a score with only "sometimes" for the
summary. You can adjust for that by increasing the weight you assign that
criterion. Or, imagine a student apparently put a lot of work into the homework
problems but got few of them correct. Do you think that student should receive
some credit? Then you would need to adjust the holistic homework problem rubric
above. In other words, it can be very helpful to play out a variety of performance
combinations before you actually administer the rubric. It helps you see the forest
through the trees.

Of course, you will never know if you really have a good rubric until you apply it.
So, do not work to perfect the rubric before you administer it. Get it in good
shape and then try it. Find out what needs to be modified and make the
appropriate changes.

Okay, does that make sense? Are you ready to create a rubric of your own? Well,
then come into my workshop and we will build one together. I just need you to
wear these safety goggles. Regulations. Thanks.

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(For those who might be "tabularly challenged" (i.e., you have trouble making
tables in your word processor) or would just like someone else to make the rubric
into a tabular format for you, there are websites where you enter the criteria and
levels of performance and the site will produce the rubric for you.

END OF MODULE I

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 Module 2 Authentic Assessment Tools

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Demonstrate knowledge of monitoring and evaluation of

learner progress and achievement using Authentic Assessment
Tools.

Show understanding of the role of authentic assessment in

assessing student’s performance

INTRODUCTION
In module 1, you were tasked to master the concepts related
to authentic assessment as well as to be familiarized with the
recommended basic steps to develop them in order to be utilized in
the different learning areas. In this module, you are expected to be
exposed to the different authentic assessment tools and methods
that can be used in assessing varied authentic tasks and activities.

Module Objectives
1. list down varied authentic assessment tools
2. describe when to use them appropriately in assessing
student’s authentic performance.
3. align authentic activities and tasks with the
appropriate assessment tools.

Module Tasks
After reading the recommending materials attached in this
module , you are expected to do and accomplish the following
suggested authentic tasks and activities below to achieve the
module objectives .

1. Make a Retrieval Chart of Assessment tools

2. Propose five (5) authentic activities with appropriate authentic tools in the
following learning areas:
a Araling Panlipunan
b Math

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 c TLE
d MAPEH

REFLECTIONS( Follow the recommended reflection template found in module 1

Assessment (Construct your own rubrics to assess your own authentic outputs
in this module)

Recommended Reading Materials

Authentic Assessment Tools

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Authentic assessment makes use of three models of assessment:
• Observations which include date and information that the teacher collects for daily work with
students.
• Performance samples which are tangible results that demonstrate student achievements.
• Tests and measures of student’s actual performance at a specific place and time.

Observations-Based Assessment Tools To make observation-based assessment systematic and

objective, Diane Hart (1994) suggested the following guidelines:
• Observe not only one but all the students.
• Observation must be frequent and regular as possible.
• Observations must be recorded in writing.
• Observations should cover both routine and exceptional occurrences.
• Reliability of observation records is enhanced if multiple observations are gathered and
synthesized.

Developmental Checklist is an observation tool which requires the teacher recorder to describe the
traits or learning behaviours being assessed.
• Example of Individual Developmental Checklist
• Example of Group Developmental Record Sheet
• Example of Observation Checklist

Interview Sheet – is another observation tool which is also called the conference recording form.
Interview sheets consist of a list of questions the teacher intends to ask and space for recording the
student’s answers.

Performance Samples Assessment Tools A portfolio is a compilation of pieces of evidence of an

individual’s skills, ideas, interests, and accomplishments. The portfolio serves the following
purposes:
a. The teacher can assess the growth and development of the students at various levels.
b. Parents are informed of the progress of their children in school.
c. Instructional supervisors are able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the
academic program. What can be included in a portfolio?

Performance Assessment Tools Performance checklist consists of a list of behaviors that make up a
certain type of performance.
Oral questioning is an appropriate assessment method for actual performance when
objectives are:

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 a. to assess the student’s stock knowledge and/or
b. to determine the student's ability to communicate ideas in coherent verbal
sentences. Observations and self-reports need a tally sheet as a device when used
by the teacher to record the frequency of student behaviors, a

Authentic Assessment Tools

Strategies and Tools

We now turn our attention to the tools themselves. These tools must be carefully
selected to provide opportunities for students to practice and perform meaningful
tasks that are reflective of life outside of the classroom. Authentic assessment
starts with the selection of meaningful learning tasks. These tasks need to be
organized and structured so that they are contextualized, integrative
metacognitive (require students to think about thinking), related to the curriculum
taught, flexible (require multiple applications of knowledge and skills), open to self-
assessment and peer assessment, contain specified standards and criteria, and
are ongoing and formative (Weber 1999).

Mabry (1999) notes that we must match purpose or outcome expectations with
assessment strategies. “What do we want to assess–and do we really need to
assess it?” “Why do we want to assess it–what will we do with the results?” “How
should we assess–how can we get the information we need?” “How can we
assess without harmful side effects?” (p. 41). The central issue here has to do
with “tool selection.” Given a particular problem, situation, or set of questions,
teachers need to learn to ask, “What is the best tool for the job?”

Teachers will need to use a variety of assessment tools and techniques in order
to enable all students to have a more complete picture of their growth and
achievement. The National Center for Research in Vocational Education study
Using Alternative Assessment in Vocational Education (Stecher et al. 1997)
identified four categories of alternative assessment that are widely used in
vocational education:
1. written assessments, including selected response types such as multiple
choice and constructed responses types such as essay items or writing
samples;
2. performance tasks;
3. senior projects including research papers, performance projects, and oral
presentations; and
4. portfolios.
With the development of computer-based simulation software,
additional possibilities are being developed.

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 Graphic Organizers and Concept Mapping

Graphic organizers are visual representations of mental maps using important

skills such as sequencing, comparing, contrasting, and classifying. They involve
students in active thinking about relationships and associations and help students
make their thinking visible. Many students have trouble connecting or relating new
information to prior knowledge because they cannot remember things. Graphic
organizers help them remember because they make abstract ideas more visible
and concrete. This is particularly true for visual learners who need graphic
organizers to help them organize information and remember key concepts (Burke
1994).

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 Performance Products
Many of the performance activities are end products of learning that can be
assessed by rubrics (scoring forms) and other assessment tools designed to
measure both processes and product quality. Teachers who use authentic
performance products provide students with opportunities to construct knowledge
in real-world contexts so they can understand what they have learned. These
products serve as a culminating experience in which students can retrieve
previous learning, organize important information, and complete an assigned
activity showing mastery of what they have learned. Some teachers are reluctant
to assign performance products because they do not feel comfortable grading
them. They recognize that it takes time to construct exemplary models and to
develop criteria and performance indicators required for rubric development. The
key to assessing performance products is to set the standards and criteria in
advance. Students who know the criteria that will be used to assess their work
receive valuable instructional guidance in completing their products so they meet
and/or exceed expectations. As teachers recognize the importance of engaging
students in making performance products, they will learn how to structure the
learning environment to facilitate the process. They will also plan ahead to develop
the tools needed to assess both the process of developing the product as well as
the completed product. Scoring rubrics are one of the key assessment tools used
for performance products. Information on how to construct and use them follows
later.

Live Performances and Presentations

As with performance products, the key to effective assessment of live
performances and presentations is establishing the criteria and performance
indicators in advance. Criteria and performance indicators effectively organized
into scoring rubrics provide examples of what students must do to demonstrate that they
have learned at a specified level. The most important assessment strategy with live
performances and presentations is to engage students in assessing their own performance
first, followed by teacher assessment and an opportunity for students and teachers to
interact over assessment findings. Live presentations involve two major assessment
factors. One is the quality of the assigned work and the second is the demonstration of
presentation skills. Scoring rubrics must include both of these factors.

Rubrics
Among the most common methods for student self-assessment are scoring rubrics.
Marzano, Pickering, and McTighe (1993) have defined rubrics as “a fixedscale and list of
characteristics describing performance for each of the points on the scale” (p. 10). Rubrics
are scoring devices (or tools) that are designed to clarify, communicate, and assess
performance. They are grading tools containing specific information about what is
expected of students based on criteria that are often complex and subjective.

Rubrics typically contain two important features; they identify and clarify specific
performance expectations and criteria, and they specify the various levels of student
performance. In their simplest form, rubrics are checklists requiring a “yes” or “no”
response. More complex rubrics include written standards of expected student

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 performance with different levels of performance indicators describing student
performance that meets or exceeds the standard.

There are as many different types of rubrics as there are rubric designers. Most rubrics fall
under the two categories, holistic or analytical. Holistic rubrics con-sider performance as
a totality, with the primary purpose being to obtain a global view of performance, typically
on complex tasks or major projects. By contrast, analytical rubrics are designed to focus
on more specific aspects of performance. Their purpose is to provide specific feedback on
the level of performance on each major part, with the advantage of providing a detailed
analysis of behavior or performance. These rubrics detect strengths and weaknesses and
identify areas for refinement.

Rubrics of both types can be used appropriately for product and process assessment as
well as for formative and summative assessment. It is also important to note that rubrics
are typically developed and used as open communication de-vices. For example, it is not
unusual for students to be involved in the process of developing the rubrics that will be
used to assess their performance. Used in this way, rubrics become an effective mechanism
for clarifying and openly communicating the expectations of learning activities. Many
teachers share and discuss the contents of rubrics that will be used to assess an activity
early in the process. As a result, the expectations are clarified and, in some cases,
negotiated.

Portfolios
Another alternative assessment tool that has attracted widespread popular attention is
portfolios. Portfolios are collections of student work gathered over time. The contents of
portfolios can range from comprehensive coverage containing aplethora of materials to
those that are quite selective, containing only a limited number of student-selected items.
Student portfolios offer a range of flexibility that makes the method attractive to a wide
range of teachers and programs. The elements to be included in this type of assessment
are almost endless. Several critical components of effective portfolios are—
• A thoughtful student-developed introduction to the portfolio,
• Reflection papers behind each major assignment of the portfolio,
• Scoring rubrics for portfolio entries that enable students to self-assess their work,
• Established models, standards, and criteria that enable students to select their best
work to be included in the portfolio, and
• Student oral presentation of their portfolios to significant others such as peers,
teachers, and parents.

Learning Logs and Journals

Learning logs and journals are tools designed to cause students to reflect on what
they have learned or are learning. Used properly, they encourage student self
assessment and provide a mechanism for making connections across the various
subject matter areas. Journals have been used widely in English classes for many
years. Now they are being adopted by other teachers to develop communication
skills and to help students to make connections, examine complex ideas, and think
about ways to apply what they have learned over an extended period of time.
Herman, Aschbacher, and Winters (1992) indicated that the fundamental purpose
of learning logs and journals is to “allow students to communicate directly with the

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 teacher regarding individual progress, particular concerns, and reflections on the
learning process” (p. 2).

A distinction can be made between learning logs and journals. Learning logs
usually consist of short, objective entries under specific heading such as problem
solving, observations, questions about content, lists of outside readings,
homework assignments, or other categories designed to facilitate recordkeeping
(Burke 1994). Student responses are typically brief, factual, and impersonal.
Fogarty and Bellanca (1987) recommend teachers provide lead-ins or stem
statements that encourage students responses that are analytical (breaking
something down into its parts), synthetic (putting something together into a whole),
and evaluative (forming judgment about the worth of something). Example log
stems include the following: One thing I learned yesterday was…, One question I
still have is…, One thing I found interesting was…, One application for this is…,
and I need help with…

By contrast, journals typically include more extensive information and are usually
written in narrative form. They are more subjective and focus more on feelings,
reflections, opinions, and personal experiences. Journal entries are more
descriptive, more spontaneous, and longer than logs. They are often used to
respond to situations, describe events, reflect on personal experiences and
feelings, connect what is being learned with past learning, and predict how what
is being learned can be used in real life (Burke 1994). As with learning logs, stem
statements can be used to help students target responses. Example lead-ins are
as follows: My way of thinking about this is..., My initial observation is..., Upon
reflection I...

Projects
Many different types of projects can be developed to challenge students to
produce something rather than reproduce knowledge on traditional tests. Projects
allow students to demonstrate a variety of skills including communication,
technical, interpersonal, organizational, problem-solving, and decision making
skills (Burke1994). Projects also provide students with opportunities to establish
criteria for determining the quality of the planning and design processes, the
construction process, and the quality of the completed project.

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 MODULE 3
PROCESS- ORIENTED PERFORMANCE – BASED ASSESSMENT

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Demonstrate knowledge of constructing process- oriented performance –
based assessment to provide timely, accurate and constructive feedback to
improve student’s performance.

INTRODUCTION

After you have acquired the basic knowledge on varied authentic tools, you
are now ready to design your own authentic tools to be utilized in assessing
process – oriented performance- based activities.

Module Objectives
1. Construct varied process – oriented performance – based assessment in
different learning areas
2. Follow the steps in creating authentic assessment correctly

Module Tasks

Following the steps in creating authentic assessment, Do the following

tasks below:
a. Choose your own grade level and make an authentic learning
assessment plan based from the content of the following areas for
the 1st and 2nd grading period:
1. TLE
2. Math
3. Science
4. English
b. Construct the appropriate process – oriented performance
assessment tools for every authentic activity and design task in each
topic or unit of the concerned learning area as reflected in your
authentic assessment plan

REFLECTIONS (Follow the reflection template)

Assessment (Construct your own rubrics to assess your authentic outputs in this
module)

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Recommended Reading Materials

PROCESS-ORIENTED PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT PRODUCT-ORIENTED

PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT
Performance assessment is a measure of assessment based on authentic tasks such
as activities, exercises, or problems that require students to show what they can do. Some
performance tasks are designed to have students demonstrate their understanding by
applying their knowledge to a particular situation.

PROCESS-ORIENTED PERFORMANCEBASED ASSESSMENT

- is concerned with the actual task performance rather than the output or product of an
activity. - Process oriented performance based assessment evaluates the actual task
performance. It does not emphasize on the output or product of the activity. This
assessment aims to know what processes a person undergoes when given a task.

LEARNING COMPETENCIES The learning objectives in process oriented performance

based assessment are stated in direct observable behaviors of the students. Competencies
are defined as groups or cluster of skills and abilities needed for a particular task.
An example of learning competencies for process-oriented is given below: TASK: Recite a
Poem by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”. OBJECTIVES: The activity aims to enable the
students to recite a poem entitled “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. Specifically: 1. Recite
the poem from memory without referring to notes; 2. Use appropriate hand and body
gestures in delivering the piece; 3. Maintain eye contact with the audience while reciting
the poem; 4. Create the ambience of the poem through appropriate rising and falling
intonation; 5. Pronounce the words clearly and with proper diction. Note: The specific
objectives identified constitute the learning competencies.

The following competencies are simple competencies:  speak with a well-modulated

voice;  Draw a straight line from one point to another point;  Color a leaf with a green
crayon. The following competencies are more complex competencies:  Recite a poem
with feeling using appropriate voice quality , facial expressions and hand gestures; 
Construct an equilateral triangle given three noncollinear points  Draw and color a leaf
with green crayon

TASK DESIGNING learning tasks need to be carefully planned. In particular, the teacher
must ensure that the particular learning process to be observed contributes to the overall
understanding of the subject or course. Some generally accepted standards for designing a
task include: o identifying an activity that would highlight the competencies to be
evaluated. e.g. Reciting a poem, writing an essay, manipulating the microscope. o
identifying an activity that would entail more or less the same sets of competencies. If an
activity would result in too many possible competencies then the teacher would have
difficulty assessing student’s competency on the task. o Find a task that would be
interesting and enjoyable for the students.

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 SCORING RUBRICS 
RUBRIC is a scoring scale used to assess student performance a long a task-specific set of
criteria.  a RUBRIC, which contains the essential criteria for the task and appropriate
levels of performance is typically created to measure student’s performance.

For example, the following rubric(scoring scale) covers the actual performance of the task
in an English class. CRITERIA 1 2 3 Number of Appropriate Hand Gestures 1-4 5-9 10-12
x1 Lots of inappropriate facial expression Few of inappropriate facial expression No
apparent inappropriate facial expression x2 Monotone voice used Can vary voice inflection
with difficulty Can easily vary voice inflection Recitation contains very little feelings
Recitation has some feelings Recitation fully captures ambiance through feelings in the
voice Appropriate Facial Expressions x1 Voice Inflection Incorporate Proper Ambiance
Through Feelings in the Voice x3

DESCRIPTORS it spells out what is expected of students at each level of performance for
each criterion. it tells students more precisely what performance looks like at each level
and how their work maybe distinguished from the work of others fro each criterion.
descriptors help the teacher more precisely and consistently distinguish between student
work.

Examples of descriptors are given below: CRITERIA 1 2 3 Number of Appropriate Hand

Gestures 1-4 5-9 10-12 x1 Lots of inappropriate facial expression Few of inappropriate
facial expression No apparent inappropriate facial expression x2 Monotone voice used Can
vary voice inflection with difficulty Can easily vary voice inflection Recitation contains
very little feelings Recitation has some feelings Recitation fully captures ambiance through
feelings in the voice Appropriate Facial Expressions x1 Voice Inflection Incorporate Proper
Ambiance Through Feelings in the Voice x3

WHY INCLUDE LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE?

Clearer expectations -students know what is expected of them and teachers know what to
look for in student performance. More consistent and objective assessment -Levels of
performance permit teacher to more consistently and objectively distinguish between good
and bad performance, or between superior, mediocre and poor performance, when
evaluating student work Better feedback - identifying levels of performance allows teacher
to provide more detailed feedback to students.

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 Module 4
PRODUCT – ORIENTED PERFORMANCE – BASED ASSESSMENT

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Demonstrate knowledge of constructing product- oriented performance- based
assessment to provide timely, accurate and constructive feedback to improve
student’s performance.

INTRODUCTION
After you have gained knowledge on the different authentic assessment
tools, you are now ready to design varied authentic assessments specifically to
be used to assess product- oriented performance- based authentic tasks and
activities in the different learning areas.

Module Objectives
1. Construct varied assessment tools for product- oriented performance-
based authentic tasks and activities in the different learning areas.
2. Follow the steps in creating assessment correctly.

MODULE TASKS
Following the steps in creating authentic assessments, you are
expected to do and accomplish the suggested authentic tasks below.
a. Choose your own grade level and make an authentic assessment
plan based from the content of the following learning areas for the 1st
and 2nd grading period :
1. MAPEH
2. Social Studies or ARPAN
3. TLE
4. Math
b. After making an authentic assessment plan, construct at least five (5)
product- oriented authentic tasks and activities with corresponding
product – oriented performance- based assessment tools in each
learning area.

REFLECTIONS (Follow the reflection template )

Assessment ( construct your own rubrics on how to assess your own authentic
outputs )

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 RECOMMENDED LEARNING MATERIALS

PRODUCT-ORIENTED PERFORMANCE BASED ASSESSMENT - product oriented assessment

is a kind of assessment where in the assessor views and scores the final product made and
not on the actual performance of making that product. - It is concern on the product alone
and not on the process. It is more concern to the outcome or the performance of the learner.
It also focuses on achievement of the learner. - Product assessment focuses on evaluating
the result or outcome of a process.

LEARNING COMPETENCIES the learning competencies associated with products or

outputs are linked with an assessment with three levels of performance manifested by the
product, namely: novice or beginner’s level, Skilled level, Expert level.

There are other ways to state product-oriented learning competencies. For instance, we
can define learning competencies for products or outputs in the following way: Level 1 :
Does the finished product or project illustrates the minimum expected parts or functions?
( Beginner) Level 2 : Does the finished product or project contains additional parts and
functions on top of the minimum requirements which tend to enhance the final product?
(skilled level) Level 3: Does the finished product contains the basic minimum parts and
functions, have the additional features on top of the minimum, and is aesthetically
pleasing? (Expert level)

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 MODULE 5
ASSESSMENT IN THE AFFECTIVE DOMAINS

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Demonstrate familiarity with a range of strategies for
communicating learner’s needs, progress and achievements
using assessment in the affective domains.

INTRODUCTION
After you have accomplished the task in designing varied process and
product - oriented authentic tasks and activities with the corresponding
assessment tools , you are now ready to design assessment tools for affective
domains.

MODULE OBJECTIVES
1. Compile varied authentic assessment tools for affective
domains.
2. Construct samples of authentic assessments for affective
domains

MODULE TASKS
After reading the recommended learning materials below , you are
expected to do and accomplish the following:
1. Make a Retrieval Chart for the varied Assessment tools for affective
domains
2. Make an authentic assessment plan for values education in any grade
level and construct at least two (2) assessment tools to assess affective
domains activities

REFLECTIONS (Follow the reflection template)

Assessment (Construct your own rubrics to assess your outputs)

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 RECOMMENDED LEARNING MATERIALS

Assessment in the Affective Domain

Assessment in the Affective Domain
Affective Domain The affective domain is one of three domains in Bloom's Taxonomy, with the other
two being the cognitive and psychomotor(Bloom, et al., 1956).

The affective domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, Masia, 1973) includes the manner in which we deal with
things emotionally such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes.
• Affective learning is demonstrated by behaviors indicating attitudes of awareness, interest,
attention, concern, and responsibility, ability to listen and respond in interactions with others,
• and ability to demonstrate those attitudinal characteristics or values which are appropriate to
the test situation and the field of study
The affective domain is a part of a system that was published in 1965 for :  Identifying 
Understanding  Addressing on how people learn.
• We shall concern with the second of these domains which is the affective domain.
The Affective domain describes learning objectives that emphasize a feeling tone, an emotion,
or a degree of acceptance or rejection.

The Taxonomy in the Affective Domain

1. Receiving It is being aware of or sensitive to the existence of certain ideas, material, or
phenomena and being willing to tolerate them. (To differentiate, To accept, To listen(for), To
respond to)
2. Responding Is committed in some small measure to the ideas, materials, or phenomena
involved by actively responding to them. (To comply with, To follow, To commend, To
volunteer, To spend leisure time in, To acclaim)
3. Valuing Is willing to be perceived by others as attaching importance to certain ideas,
materials, or phenomenon. (To increased measured proficiency, To relinquished, To subsidize,
To support, To debate)
4. Organization Is relating the value to those already held and bring it into a harmonious and
internally consistent philosophy. (To discuss, To theorize, To formulate, To balance, To
examine)
5. Characterization By value or value set is to act consistently in accordance with the values he
or she has internalized. (To resist, To manage, To resolve)

It is, admittedly, a far more difficult domain to objectively analyze and assess since affective
objectives vary from simple attention to selected phenomena to complex but internally consistent qualities
of character and conscience.
Noticed that it is far more difficult to state an objective in the affective domain because they often
refer to the feelings and internal processes of the mind and body that cannot be tested and measured using
traditional methods.
• As teachers, we are also interested in students’ attitudes towards learning topics such as science,
math and etc.
We want to find teaching methods that encourage students and draw them in. Affective topics in
educational literature include attitudes, motivation, communication styles, learning styles, use of
technology in the classroom and non verbal communications.
As teachers, we need to be careful about our actions that may negatively impact on students’
attitudes which go straight into the affective domain.
For instance, facial expression that reveal sarcasm(Harsh) , body movements that betray distrust
and dislike, should all be avoided.
Affective Learning Competencies Instructional objectives are specific, measurable, observable
student behaviors.

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 Objectives are the foundation upon which you can build lessons and assessments that you can
prove meet your overall lesson goals.
Think of objectives as tools you use to make sure you reach your goals. They are the arrows you
shoot towards your target.
The purpose of the objectives is to ensure that learning is focused clearly enough that both
students and teacher know what is going on, and so learning can be objectively measured.

Behavioral Verbs Appropriate for the Affective Domain 

Receiving :
• Accept • Attend • Develop • Recognize
Responding :
• Complete • Comply • Cooperate • Obey • Respond
Valuing :
• Accept • Defend • Devote • Pursue • Seek
Organization:
• Codify • Display • Order • Organize • Systematize
Characterization :
• Internalize • Verify

Attitudes Are defined as a mental predisposition to act that is expressed by evaluating a particular
entity with some degree of favor and disfavor.

Attitudes are also attached to mental categories. Mental orientations towards concepts are generally
referred to as values.

Attitudes are compromised of 4 components:

Cognitions Are our beliefs, Theories, Expectancies, Cause and Effect beliefs, and Perceptions
relative to the focal object.

This concept is not the same as “Feelings” but just a statement of beliefs and expectations which vary
from one individual context to the next.

Affect The affective component refers to our feeling with respect to the focal object such as fear, liking,
or anger.
For instance, the color “Blue” evokes different feelings for different individuals: some like the color blue
but others not. Some associate the color blue with “loneliness” while others associate it with “calm and
peace”.

Behavioral Intentions Behavioral intentions are our goals, aspirations, and our expected response to
the attitude object.

Evaluation Are often considered the central component of attitudes. Evaluations consist of the
imputations of some degree of goodness and badness to an attitude toward an object.

Why study attitudes? Because it can influence the way we act and think in the social communities we
belong.

For example: When your mathematics classes are recited, students with negative attitude towards
mathematics tend to play less attention and occupy their minds with something else.

Motivation Is a reason or set of reasons for engaging in a particular behavior intrinsically or
extrinsically.
1. Intrinsic motivation Occurs when a people are internally motivated to do something because
it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important.

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 2. Extrinsic motivation Comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act a
certain a way because of factors external to him or her.

Self-efficacy Is an impression that one is capable of performing in a manner or attaining goals. It is a
belief that one has the capabilities to execute the courses of actions required to manage prospective
situations.

It is important to understand the distinction between self esteem and self efficacy.  Self esteem relates
to a one person’s sense of self worth, whereas self efficacy relate’s to a person’s sense of

Development of Assessment Tools

Assessment tools in the affective domain, in particular, those which are used to assess attitudes,
interests, motivations, and self-efficacy.

Self report It is the most common measurement tool in the affective domain. It essentially requires an
individual to provide an account of his/her attitude or feelings toward a concept or idea or people.

Rating Scales Is a set of categories designed to elicit information about a quantitative attribute in
social science Common examples are the likert scale and 1-10 scales for which a person selects the
number which is considered to reflect the perceived quality of a product.

Semantic Differential Scales The Semantic Differential (SD) tries to assess an individual’s reaction to
specific words, ideas or concepts in terms of ratings on bipolar scales defined with contrasting
adjectives at each end.

The SD has been used as a measure in a wide variety of projects. Osgood., et al., (1957) report
exploratory studies in which the SD was used to assess attitude.

Thurstone Scale Louis Thurstone is considered the “The father of attitude measurement”.  He address
the issue on how favorable an individual is with regard to a given issue.  He developed an attitude
continuum to determine the position of favorability on the issue.

In 1944, Guttman suggested that the attitude should be measured by multidimensional scales, as
opposed to unidimensional scales such as those developed by thurstone and likert.

Guttman pointed out that there should be a mulitdimentional view of the attitude construct. He
developed the Guttman scaling

Checklists The most common and perhaps the easiest instrument in the affective domain is to
construct the checklist.

Steps in the construction of checklist Enumerate all the attributes and characteristics you wish to
observe. Arrange these attributes as a “shopping list” of characteristics Ask the students to mark
those attributes which are present and leave blank those which are not

Additional Reading Materials

Assessment Tools in the Affective Domain
The assessment tools in the affective domain are those that are used to assess attitudes, interests, motivations,
and self-efficacy. We consider a few of the standard assessment tools in the affective domain.

Self-Report. This is the most common measurement tool in the affective domain. It essentially requires
an individual to provide an account of his attitude or feelings toward a concept or idea or people. Self-
reports are also sometimes called "written reflections". In using this measurement tool, the teacher

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 requires the student to write his/her thoughts on a subject matter, like, "Why I like or dislike
Mathematics". The teacher ensures that the students write something which would demonstrate the
various levels of the taxonomy (from receiving up to characterization)

Rating Scale. This is a set of categories designed to elicit information about a quantitative attribute in
social science. Common examples are the Likert scale and 1-10 rating scales for which a person selects
the number which is considered to reflect the perceived quality of a product. The basic feature of any
rating scale is that it consists of a number of categories. These are usually assigned integers. According
to Nitko (2001), rating scales can be used for teaching purposes and assessment.
1. rating scales help students understand the learning target/outcomes and to focus
students' attention on performance.
2. completed rating scale gives specified feedback to students as far as their strengths and
weaknesses with respect to the targets to which they are measured
3. students not only learn the standards but also may internalize the set of standards
4. ratings help to show each students' growth and progress

Example: Rating Scale (Attitude towards Mathematics)

Directions: Put the score on the column for each of the statement as it applies to you. Use 1 to 5, 1 being the
lowest and 5 the highest possible score.

Indicators Score
1. I am happy during Math class
2. I get tired doing board work and
drills
3. I enjoy solving word problems

Types of Rating Scales

The most common type of rating scales is numerical rating scales and a descriptive graphic rating scale.
The numerical rating scale translate the judgment of quality or degree into numbers. To increase the objectivity
and consistency of results from numerical rating scales, a short verbal description of the quality level of each
number may be provided.

Example:
Directions: Indicate the degree to which the student contributes to team activity by encircling the appropriate
number. The numbers represent the following values: 4 - constantly appropriate and effective; 3 - generally
appropriate and effective; 2 - needs improvement, may do other unrelated tasks; and 1 - unsatisfactory, disruptive
and do other tasks not related to the activity.

To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions? 1 2 3 4

Descriptive Graphic Rating Scales. A better format for the rating is this descriptive graphic rating scale that
replaces the ambiguous single word with short behavioral descriptions of the various points along the scale.
Describing the points of the scale by behavior descriptions leads to increased consistency of ratings across
raters and students.
Example:
Directions: Make your ratings on each of the following by placing X anywhere along the horizontal line under
each item. In the space for comments(s), include anything that helps clarify your rating.

To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions?

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Common Rating Scale Errors
The table below contains the common rating scale errors that teachers and students must be familiar with in
order to avoid committing such kind of errors during the assessment.

3. Semantic Differential Scales - tries to assess an individual's reaction to specific words, ideas or concepts in
terms of ratings on bipolar scales defined with contrasting adjectives at each end. An example is shown below:

4. Likert Scale - is a simple and widely used self-report method in assessing affect. It requires that individuals
tick on a box to report whether they "strongly agree", "agree", "undecided", "disagree", or "strongly disagree", in
response to a large number of items concerning attitude object or stimulus. An example is shown below:

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 Constructing the Likert Scale Instrument
1. Write a series of statements expressing positive and negative opinions toward attitude objects.
2. Select the best statements (at least 10), with a balance of positive and negative opinions and
edit as necessary.
3. List the statements combining the positive and negative and put the letters of the five-point scale
to the left of each statement for easy marking
4. Add the directions, indicating how to mark the answer and include a key at the top of the page if
letters are used for each statement.
5. Some prefer to drop the undecided category so that respondents will be forced to indicate
agreement or disagreement

Checklists - are the most common and perhaps the easiest instrument to construct in the affective domain. A
checklist consists of simple items that the student or teacher marks as "absent" or "present". Here are steps in
constructing a checklist:
• Enumerate all the attributes and characteristics you wish to observe relative to the concept being
measured. For instance, if the concept is "interpersonal relation", then you might want to identify those
indicators or attributes which constitute evidence of good interpersonal relation
• Arrange these attributes as a shopping list of characteristics
• Ask the students to mark those attributes or characteristics which are present and to leave blank those
which are not.

Example of a checklist is shown below:

Checklists for Teachers
By: Sandra F. Rief (1997)
Getting students' attention
 Ask an interesting, speculative question, show a picture, tell a little story, or read a
related poem to generate discussion and interest in the upcoming lesson
 Try "'playfulness," silliness, a bit of theatrics (props and storytelling) to get attention
and peak interest.
 Use storytelling. Students of all ages love to hear stories, especially personal stories. It
is very effective in getting attention.
 Add a bit of mystery. Bring in an object relevant to the upcoming lesson in a box, bag,
or pillowcase. This is a wonderful way to generate predictions and can lead to excellent
discussions or writing activities.
 Signal students auditorily: ring a bell, use a beeper or timer, play a bar of music on the
piano or guitar, etc.
 Vary your tone of voice: loud, soft, whispering. Try making a louder command "Listen!
Freeze! Ready!" followed by a few seconds of silence before proceeding in a normal
voice to give directions.
 Use visual signals: flash the lights or raise your hand which signals the students to raise
their hands and close their mouths until everyone is silent.
 Frame the visual material you want students to be focused on with your hands or with a
colored box around it.
 If using an overhead, place an object (e.g., little toy car or plastic figure) to be projected
on the screen to get attention.
 Clearly signal: "Everybody…Ready…"
 Color is very effective in getting attention. Make use of colored dry-erase pens on white
boards, colored overhead pens for transparencies and overhead projectors, and colored
paper to highlight keywords, phrases, steps to computation problems, spelling patterns,
etc.
 Model excitement and enthusiasm about the upcoming lesson.
 Use eye contact. Students should be facing you when you are speaking, especially while
instructions are being given. If students are seated in clusters, have those students not
directly facing you turn their chairs and bodies around to face you when signaled to do
so.

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 MODULE 6
PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT METHODS

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Demonstrate knowledge of monitoring and evaluation of learner’s
progress and achievement using portfolio methods.

INTRODUCTION
After you have accomplished all the authentic tasks and activities in this
module, this is now the time to collect all your concrete outputs as
manifestations of lifelong learning through the use of portfolio assessment.

MODULE OBJECTIVES
1. define and describe the importance of portfolio assessment
2. create a portfolio for assessment of learning 2
3. design an appropriate assessment tool to assess the
personalized portfolio

MODULE TASKS
After reading the attached inputs on portfolio, you are expected to do
and accomplish the following:
1. Make a graphic organizer for the different types of portfolio
2. Design and create your own portfolio for assessment of learning 2

REFLECTIONS ( Follow the reflection template )

Assessment ( Construct your own rubrics to assess your portfolio)

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 RECOMMENDED LEARNING MATERIALS

What is a Portfolio?

Note: My focus will be on portfolios of student work rather than teacher portfolios or other types.

Student portfolios take many forms, as discussed below, so it is not easy to describe them. A portfolio
is not the pile of student work that accumulates over a semester or year. Rather, a portfolio contains
a purposefully selected subset of student work. "Purposefully" selecting student work means deciding
what type of story you want the portfolio to tell. For example, do you want it to highlight or celebrate
the progress a student has made? Then, the portfolio might contain samples of earlier and later work,
often with the student commenting upon or assessing the growth. Do you want the portfolio to capture
the process of learning and growth? Then, the student and/or teacher might select items that illustrate
the development of one or more skills with reflection upon the process that led to that development.
Or, do you want the portfolio to showcase the final products or best work of a student? In that case,
the portfolio would likely contain samples that best exemplify the student's current ability to apply
relevant knowledge and skills. All decisions about a portfolio assignment begin with the type of story
or purpose for the portfolio. The particular purpose(s) served, the number and type of items included,
the process for selecting the items to be included, how and whether students respond to the items
selected, and other decisions vary from portfolio to portfolio and serve to define what each portfolio
looks like. I will describe many of the purposes and characteristics in the sections below.

Are Portfolios Authentic Assessments?

Some suggest that portfolios are not really assessments at all because they are just collections of
previously completed assessments. But, if we consider assessing as gathering of information about
someone or something for a purpose, then a portfolio is a type of assessment. Sometimes the portfolio
is also evaluated or graded, but that is not necessary to be considered an assessment.

Are portfolios authentic assessments? Student portfolios have most commonly been associated with
collections of artwork and, to a lesser extent, collections of writing. Students in these disciplines are
performing authentic tasks which capture meaningful application of knowledge and skills. Their portfolios
often tell compelling stories of the growth of the students' talents and showcase their skills through a
collection of authentic performances. Educators are expanding this story-telling to other disciplines such
as physical education, mathematics and the social sciences to capture the variety of demonstrations of
meaningful application from students within these disciplines.

Furthermore, in the more thoughtful portfolio assignments, students are asked to reflect on their work,
to engage in self-assessment and goal-setting. Those are two of the most authentic skills students need
to develop to successfully manage in the real world. Research has found that students in classes that
emphasize improvement, progress, effort and the process of learning rather than grades and normative
performance are more likely to use a variety of learning strategies and have a more positive attitude
toward learning. Yet in education we have shortchanged the process of learning in favor of
the products of learning. Students are not regularly asked to examine how they succeeded or failed or
improved on a task or to set goals for future work; the final product and evaluation of it receives the
bulk of the attention in many classrooms. Consequently, students are not developing the metacognitive
skills that will enable them to reflect upon and make adjustments in their learning in school and beyond.

Portfolios provide an excellent vehicle for consideration of process and the development of related skills.
So, portfolios are frequently included with other types of authentic assessments because they move
away from telling a student's story though test scores and, instead, focus on a meaningful collection of
student performance and meaningful reflection and evaluation of that work.

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Why use Portfolios?

The previous section identifies several valuable goals that make portfolios attractive in education. The
sections that follow emphasize that identifying specific goals or purposes for assigning a portfolio is the first
and most critical step in creating such an assignment. Just as identifying a standard guides the rest of the
steps of developing an authentic assessment, identifying the purpose(s) for a portfolio influences all the other
decisions involved in producing a portfolio assignment. I will list several of the most common purposes here,
and then I will elaborate on how each purpose affects the other decisions in the section below.

Purposes

Why might you use a portfolio assignment? Portfolios typically are created for one of the following three
purposes: to show growth, to showcase current abilities, and to evaluate cumulative achievement. Some
examples of such purposes include

1. Growth Portfolios

a. to show growth or change over time

b. to help develop process skills such as self-evaluation and goal-setting

c. to identify strengths and weaknesses

d. to track the development of one more products/performances

2. Showcase Portfolios

a. to showcase end-of-year/semester accomplishments

b. to prepare a sample of best work for employment or college admission

c. to showcase student perceptions of favorite, best or most important work

d. to communicate a student's current aptitudes to future teachers

3. Evaluation Portfolios

a. to document achievement for grading purposes

b. to document progress towards standards

c. to place students appropriately

The growth portfolio emphasizes the process of learning whereas the showcase portfolio emphasizes the
products of learning. Of course, a portfolio may tell more than one story, including more than one category
above. For example, a showcase portfolio might also be used for evaluation purposes, and a growth portfolio
might also showcase "final" performances or products. What is critical is that the purpose(s) is clear
throughout the process to student, teacher and any other pertinent audience. To elaborate on how the
purpose affects the portfolio assignment let me answer the question...

How do you Create a Portfolio Assignment?

I think of most tasks as problems to be solved, or questions to be answered. So, I find it useful to approach
how to do something by thinking of it as a series of questions to be answered. Thus, I will attempt to offer a

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possible answer to the question above by answering a series of questions that need to be addressed when
considering the design of a portfolio assignment. Those questions are:

1. Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?

2. Audience: For what audience(s) will the portfolio be created?

3. Content: What samples of student work will be included?

4. Process: What processes (e.g., selection of work to be included, reflection on work, conferencing) will be
engaged in during the development of the portfolio?

5. Management: How will time and materials be managed in the development of the portfolio?

6. Communication: How and when will the portfolio be shared with pertinent audiences?

7. Evaluation: If the portfolio is to be used for evaluation, when and how should it be evaluated?

Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?

As mentioned above, before you can design the portfolio assignment and before your students
can begin constructing their portfolios you and your students need to be clear about the story the
portfolio will be telling. Certainly, you should not assign a portfolio unless you have a compelling reason
to do so. Portfolios take work to create, manage and assess. They can easily feel like busywork and a
burden to you and your students if they just become folders filled with student papers. You and your
students need to believe that the selection of and reflection upon their work serves one or more
meaningful purposes.

Audience: For what audience(s) will the portfolio be created?

Selecting relevant audiences for a portfolio goes hand-in-hand with identifying your purposes.
Who should see the evidence of a student's growth? The student, teacher and parents are good
audiences to follow the story of a student's progress on a certain project or in the development of certain
skills. Who should see a student's best or final work? Again, the student, teacher and parents might be
good audiences for such a collection, but other natural audiences come to mind such as class or
schoolmates, external audiences such as employers or colleges, the local community or school board.
As the teacher, you can dictate what audiences will be considered or you can let students have some
choice in the decision.

Just as the purposes for the portfolio should guide the development of it, the selection of
audiences should shape its construction. For example, for audiences outside the classroom it is helpful
to include a cover page or table of contents that helps someone unfamiliar with the assignment to
navigate through the portfolio and provide context for what is found inside. Students need to keep their
audiences in mind as they proceed through each step of developing their portfolios. A good method for
checking whether a portfolio serves the anticipated audiences is to imagine different members of those
audiences viewing the portfolio. Can each of them tell why you created the portfolio? Are they able to
make sense of the story you wanted to tell them? Can they navigate around and through the portfolio?
Do they know why you included what you did? Have you used language suitable for those audiences?

Content: What samples of student work will be included?

As you can imagine, the answer to the question of content is dependent on the answers to the
questions of purpose and audience. What should be included? Well, what story do you want to tell?
Before I consider what types of items might be appropriate for different purposes, let me make a more
general point. First, hypothetically, there is no limit as to what can be included in a portfolio. Paper
products such as essays, homework, letters, projects, etc. are most common. But more and more other
types of media are being included in portfolios. Audio and videotapes, cd-roms, two- and three-

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 dimensional pieces of art, posters and anything else that can reflect the purposes identified can be
included. Some schools are putting all the artifacts onto a cd-rom by videotaping performances, scanning
paper products, and digitizing audio. All of those files are then copied onto a student's cd-rom for a
semester or a year or to follow the student across grades as a cumulative record. Realistically, you have
to decide what is manageable. But if the most meaningful evidence of the portfolio's goals cannot be
captured on paper, then you may consider including other types of media.

Obviously, there are a considerable number and variety of types of student work that can be
selected as samples for a portfolio. Using the purposes given above for each type of portfolio, I have
listed just a few such possible samples of work in the following tables that could be included in each
type of portfolio.

Growth Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

a. to show growth or
change over time
• early and later pieces of work
• early and later tests/scores
• rough drafts and final drafts
• reflections on growth
• goal-setting sheets
• reflections on progress toward goal(s)

• samples which reflect growth of process skills

b. to help develop
process skills
• self-reflection sheets accompanying samples of
work
• reflection sheets from teacher or peer
• identification of strengths/weaknesses
• goal-setting sheets
• reflections on progress towards goal(s)
• see more detail below under Process below

• samples of work reflecting specifically

c. to identify
strengths/weaknesses
identified strengths and weaknesses
• reflections on strengths and weaknesses of
samples
• goal-setting sheets
• reflection on progress towards goal(s)

d. to track • obviously, drafts of the specific product or

performance to be tracked
development of one • self-reflections on drafts
or more products or • reflection sheets from teacher or peer
performances

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 Evaluation Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

• samples of representative work in each subject/unit/topic to be graded
• samples of work documenting level of achievement on course/grade-level
goals/standards/objectives
a. to • tests/scores
document • rubrics/criteria used for evaluation of work (when applied)
achievement • self-reflection on how well samples indicate attainment of course/grade-level
goals/standards/objectives
for grading
• teacher reflection of attainment of goals/standards
• identification of strengths/weaknesses

• list of applicable goals and standards

• representative samples of work aligned with respective goals/standards
b. to • rubrics/criteria used for evaluation of work
document • self-reflection on how well samples indicate attainment of course/grade-level
progress goals/standards/objectives
towards • teacher reflection of attainment of goals/standards
standards • analysis or evidence of progress made toward standards over course of
semester/year

• representative samples of current work

• representative samples of earlier work to indicate rate of progress
• classroom tests/scores
• external tests/evaluations
c. to place
• match of work with standards accomplished
students • self-reflection on current aptitudes
appropriately • teacher reflection on student's aptitudes
• parent reflection on student's aptitudes
• other professionals' reflections on student's aptitudes

Other Content

In addition to samples of student work and reflection upon that work, a portfolio might also include a table
of contents or a cover letter (both typically composed by the student) to aid a reader in making sense of the
purposes, processes and contents of the portfolio. This can be particularly useful if the portfolio is to be
shared with external audiences unfamiliar with the coursework such as parents, other educators and
community members.

Process: What processes will be engaged in during the development of the portfolio?

One of the greatest attributes of the portfolio is its potential for focusing on the processes of
learning. Too often in education we emphasize the products students create or the outcomes they
achieve. But we do not give sufficient attention to the processes required to create those products or
outcomes, the processes involved in self-diagnosis and self-improvement, or the metacognitive
processes of thinking. As a result, the products or outcomes are not as good as we or the students would
like because they are often unsure how to get started, how to self-diagnose or self-correct or how to
determine when a piece of work is "finished."

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Although a variety of processes can be developed or explored through portfolios, I will focus on three of the
most common:

• selection of contents of the portfolio;

• reflection on the samples of work and processes;
• conferencing about the contents and processes.

Selection of Contents

Once again, identifying the purpose(s) for the portfolio should drive the selection
process. As listed in the tables above, different samples of student work will likely be selected
for different purposes. Additionally, how samples are selected might also differ depending on
the purpose. For example, for an evaluation portfolio, the teacher might decide which samples
need to be included to evaluate student progress. On the other hand, including the student
in the decision-making process of determining appropriate types of samples for inclusion
might be more critical for a growth portfolio to promote meaningful reflection. Finally, a
showcase portfolio might be designed to include significant input from the student on which
samples best highlight achievement and progress, or the teacher might primarily make those
decisions.

Furthermore, audiences beyond the teacher and student might have input into the
content of the portfolio, from team or department members, principals and district
committees to external agencies to parents and community members. External audiences are
most likely to play a role for evaluation portfolios. However, it is important to remember
there are no hard rules about portfolios. Anything can be included in a portfolio.
Anyone can be involved in the processes of selection, reflection and evaluation of a
portfolio. Flexibility applies to portfolios as it does to any authentic assessment. That is, you
should be true to your purpose(s), but you should feel no constraints on how you meet them
with a portfolio assignment.

How might the selection take place?

What I will describe below are just a few of the many possible avenues for selecting which samples will be
included in a portfolio. But these examples should give you a good sense of some of the choices and some
of the decisions involved.

When?

• when a sample of work is completed -- at the point a piece of work is ready to be turned in (or
once the work has been returned by the teacher) the student or teacher identifies that work for
inclusion in the portfolio;
• at periodic intervals -- instead of selecting samples when they are completed, the samples can be
stored so that selection might occur every two (three, six or nine) weeks or once (twice or three
times) every quarter (trimester or semester);
• at the end of the ... unit, quarter, semester, year, etc.

By whom?

• by the student -- students are the most common selectors, particularly for portfolios that ask them
to reflect on the work selected. Which work students select depends on the criteria used to choose
each piece (see below).
• by the teacher -- teachers may be the selector, particularly when identifying best pieces of work to
showcase a student's strengths or accomplishments.
• by the student and teacher -- sometimes portfolio selection is a joint process involving
conversation and collaboration.

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 • by peers -- a student might be assigned a "portfolio partner" or "portfolio buddy" who assists the
student in selecting appropriate pieces of work often as part of a joint process involving conversation
and collaboration. A peer might also provide some reflection on a piece of work to be included in the
portfolio.
• by parents -- parents might also be asked to select a piece or two for inclusion that they particularly
found impressive, surprising, reflective of improvement, etc.

Based on what criteria?

• best work -- selection for showcase portfolios will typically focus on samples of work that illustrate
students' best performance in designated areas or the culmination of progress made
• evidence of growth -- selection for growth portfolios will focus on identifying samples of work and
work processes (e.g., drafts, notes) that best capture progress shown on designated tasks, processes
or acquisition of knowledge and skills. For example, students might be asked to choose
o samples of earlier and later work highlighting some skill or content area
o samples of rough drafts and final drafts
o work that traces the development of a particular product or performance
o samples of work reflecting specifically identified strengths and weaknesses
• evidence of achievement -- particularly for showcase and evaluation portfolios, selection might
focus on samples of work that illustrate current levels of competence in designated areas or particular
exemplars of quality work
• evidence of standards met -- similarly, selection could focus on samples of work that illustrate how
successfully students have met certain standards
• favorite/most important piece -- to help develop recognition of the value of the work completed
and to foster pride in that work, selection might focus on samples to which students or parents or
others find a connection or with which they are particularly enamored
• one or more of the above -- a portfolio can include samples of work for multiple reasons and, thus,
more than one of the above criteria (or others) could be used for selecting samples to be included

Reflection on Samples of Work

Many educators who work with portfolios consider the reflection component the most critical element of a
good portfolio. Simply selecting samples of work as described above can produce meaningful stories about
students, and others can benefit from "reading" these stories. But the students themselves are missing
significant benefits of the portfolio process if they are not asked to reflect upon the quality and growth of
their work. As Paulson, Paulson and Meyer (1991) stated, "The portfolio is something that is done by the
student, not to the student." Most importantly, it is something done for the student. The student needs to be
directly involved in each phase of the portfolio development to learn the most from it, and the reflection
phase holds the most promise for promoting student growth.

In the reflection phase students are typically asked to

• comment on why specific samples were selected or

• comment on what they liked and did not like in the samples or
• comment on or identify the processes involved in developing specific products or performances or
• describe and point to examples of how specific skills or knowledge improved (or did not) or
• identify strengths and weaknesses in samples of work or
• set goals for themselves corresponding to the strengths and weaknesses or
• identify strategies for reaching those goals or
• assess their past and current self-efficacy for a task or skill or
• complete a checklist or survey about their work or
• some combination of the above

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 Reflection sheets

Probably the most common portfolio reflection task is the completion of a sheet to be attached
to the sample (or samples) of work which the reflection is addressing. The possibilities for reflection
questions or prompts are endless, but some examples I have seen include

Selection questions/prompts

• Why did you select this piece?

• Why should this sample be included in your portfolio?
• How does this sample meet the criteria for selection for your portfolio?
• I chose this piece because ....

Growth questions/prompts

• What are the strengths of this work? Weaknesses?

• What would you work on more if you had additional time?
• How has your ______ (e.g., writing) changed since last year?
• What do you know about ______ (e.g., the scientific method) that you did not know at the beginning
of the year (or semester, etc.)?
• Looking at (or thinking about) an earlier piece of similar work, how does this new piece of work
compare? How is it better or worse? Where can you see progress or improvement?
• How did you get "stuck" working on this task? How did you get "unstuck"?
• One skill I could not perform very well but now I can is ....
• From reviewing this piece I learned ....

Goal-setting questions/prompts

• What is one thing you can improve upon in this piece?

• What is a realistic goal for the end of the quarter (semester, year)?
• What is one way you will try to improve your ____ (e.g., writing)?
• One thing I still need to work on is ....
• I will work toward my goal by ....

Evaluation questions/prompts

• If you were a teacher and grading your work, what grade would you give it and why?
• Using the appropriate rubric, give yourself a score and justify it with specific traits from the rubric.
• What do you like or not like about this piece of work?
• I like this piece of work because ....

Effort questions/prompts

• How much time did you spend on this product/performance?

• The work would have been better if I had spent more time on ....
• I am pleased that I put significant effort into ....

Overall portfolio questions/prompts

• What would you like your _____ (e.g., parents) to know about or see in your portfolio?
• What does the portfolio as a whole reveal about you as a learner (writer, thinker, etc.)?
• A feature of this portfolio I particularly like is ....
• In this portfolio I see evidence of ....

As mentioned above, students (or others) can respond to such questions or prompts when a piece of work is
completed, while a work is in progress or at periodic intervals after the work has been collected. Furthermore,

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these questions or prompts can be answered by the student, the teacher, parents, peers or anyone else in
any combination that best serves the purposes of the portfolio.

Other reflection methods

In addition to reflection sheets, teachers have devised a myriad of means of inducing reflection from students
and others about the collection of work included in the portfolio. For example, those engaging in reflection
can

• write a letter to a specific audience about the story the portfolio communicates
• write a "biography" of a piece of work tracing its development and the learning that resulted
• write periodic journal entries about the progress of the portfolio
• compose an imaginary new "chapter" that picks up where the story of the portfolio leaves off
• orally share reflections on any of the above questions/prompts

Reflection as a process skill

Good skill development requires four steps:

• Instruction and modeling of the skill;

• Practice of the skill;
• Feedback on one's practice;
• Reflection on the practice and feedback.

Reflection itself is a skill that enhances the process of skill development and virtually all learning in
innumerable settings. Those of us who are educators, for example, need to continually reflect upon what is
working or not working in our teaching, how we can improve what we are doing, how we can help our students
make connections to what they are learning, and much, much more. Thus, it is critical for students to learn
to effectively reflect upon their learning and growth.

As a skill, reflection is not something that can be mastered in one or two attempts. Developing good reflective
skills requires instruction and modeling, lots of practice, feedback and reflection. As many of you have
probably encountered, when students are first asked to respond to prompts such as "I selected this piece
because..." they may respond with "I think it is nice." Okay, that's a start. But we would like them to elaborate
on that response. The fact that they did not initially elaborate is probably not just a result of resistance or
reluctance. Students need to learn how to respond to such prompts. They need to learn how to effectively
identify strengths and weaknesses, to set realistic goals for themselves and their work, and to develop
meaningful strategies to address those goals. Students often have become dependent upon adults,
particularly teachers, to evaluate their work. They need to learn self-assessment.

So, the reflection phase of the portfolio process should be ongoing throughout the portfolio development.
Students need to engage in multiple reflective activities. Those instances of reflection become particularly
focused if goal-setting is part of their reflection. Just as instruction and assessment are more appropriately
targeted if they are tied to specific standards or goals, student identification of and reflection upon strengths
and weaknesses, examples of progress, and strategies for improvement will be more meaningful and
purposeful if they are directed toward specific goals, particularly self-chosen goals.

Once opportunities for reflection (practice) take place, feedback to and further reflection upon student
observations can be provided by conversations with others. Conferencing is one tool to promote such
feedback and reflection.

Conferencing on Student Work and Processes

With 20 or 30 or more students in a classroom, one-on-one conversations between the teacher and student
are difficult to regularly arrange. That is unfortunate because the give and take of face-to-face interaction

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can provide the teacher with valuable information about the student's thinking and progress and provide the
student with meaningful feedback. Such feedback is also more likely to be processed by the student than
comments written on paper.

Conferencing typically takes several forms:

• teacher/student -- sometimes teachers are able to informally meet with a few students, one at a
time, as the other students work on some task in class. Other times, teachers use class time to
schedule one-on-one conferences during "conference days." Some teachers are able to schedule
conferences outside of class time. Typically such conferences take only a few minutes, but they give
the teacher and the student time to recap progress, ask questions, and consider suggestions or
strategies for improvement.
• teacher/small group -- other teachers, often in composition classes, meet with a few students at a
time to discuss issues and questions that are raised, sharing common problems and reflections across
students.
• student/student -- to conserve time as well as to give students the opportunity to learn how to
provide feedback along with receiving it, teachers sometimes structure peer-to-peer conferencing.
The focus might be teacher-directed (e.g., "share with each other a sample of work you recently
selected for your portfolio") or student-directed (e.g., students use the time to get feedback on some
work for a purpose they determine).

Management: How will time and materials be managed in the development of the portfolio?

As appealing as the process of students developing a portfolio can be, the physical and time constraints of
such a process can be daunting. Where do you keep all the stuff? How do you keep track of it? Who gets
access to it and when? Should you manage paper or create an electronic portfolio? Does some work get sent
home before it is put in the portfolio? Will it come back? When will you find the time for students to participate,
to reflect, to conference? What about students who join your class in the middle of the semester or year?

There is one answer to all these questions that can make the task less daunting: start small! That is good
advice for many endeavors, but particularly for portfolios because there are so many factors to consider,
develop and manage over a long period of time. In the final section of this chapter (Can I do portfolios without
all the fuss?) I will elaborate on how you can get your feet wet with portfolios and avoid drowning in the
many decisions described below.

How you answer the many management questions below depends, in part, on how you answered earlier
questions about your purpose, audience, content and process. Return to those answers to help you address
the following decisions:

Management Decisions Possible Solutions

• The easiest solution is to collect work samples along the way but save the
selection and reflection until the end, keeping selection simple and limiting
the amount of reflection.
Should the portfolio building
• The more involved (and more common) approach is for participants to
process wait until the end or periodically make selections and to engage in reflection throughout the
should it occur as you go? process. This gives the student time to respond to identified weaknesses
and to address goals set.

• Paper Portfolio: As you know, the most common form of portfolios is a

Will the portfolios be composed
of paper or stored electronically
(or both)?
collection of paper products such as essays, problem sets, journal entries,
posters, etc. Most products produced in classrooms are still in paper form,
so it makes sense to find ways to collect, select from and reflect upon
these items.
• Hybrid Portfolio: Other forms of products are increasingly available,
however, so teachers are adding videotapes, audiotapes, 3-D models,
artwork and more to the containers holding the paper products.

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Obviously, the answer to this question depends on your answer to the previous
question about storage format. The possible solutions I describe below will assume
that you have chosen an option that includes at least some paper products.
Where will the work samples
and reflections be kept?
Who will be responsible for
saving/storing them?
Who? Again, that depends on the purposes for the portfolio.
Who will have access to it, and
when?
When?
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• Electronic Portfolio: Since many of the paper products are now first
created in an electronic format, it makes sense to consider keeping some
samples of work in that format. Storage is much easier and portability is
significantly increased. Additionally, as it becomes easier to digitize almost
any media it is possible to add audio and video examples of student work
to the electronic portfolio. A considerable amount of work can be burned
to a CD or DVD or displayed on a website. An electronic compilation can
be shared with a larger audience and more easily follow a student to other
grades, teachers and schools. Copies can be made and kept.
• A common model for portfolio maintenance is to have two folders for each
student -- a working folder and a portfolio folder. As work samples are
produced they are stored in the working folder. Students (or other
selectors) would periodically review the working folder to select certain
pieces to be included in the portfolio folder. Usually reflection
accompanies the selection process. For example, a reflection sheet may
be attached to each piece before it is placed in the portfolio.
• In addition to manilla or hanging folders, portfolio contents have also
been stored in pizza or laundry detergent boxes, cabinets, binders and
accordian folders (Rolheiser, Bower & Stevahn, 2000).
• For older students, some teachers have the students keep the work
samples. Then they are periodically asked to select from and reflect upon
the work. Students might only keep the working folders while the teacher
manages the portfolio folders.
• As a parent, I know I also would like to look at my child's work before the
end of the semester or year. So, some teachers send work home in
carefully structured folders. One side of a two-pocket folder might be
labeled "keep at home" while the other side might be labeled "return to
school." The work likely to end up in the portfolio would be sent home in
the "return to school" pocket.
• Typically the teacher keep the contents of the portfolio as they are usually
stored in the classroom.
• Older students (and sometimes younger ones) are also given the
responsibility of managing their portfolios in the classroom, making sure
all samples make it into the appropriate folders/containers, remain there,
are put back when removed, and are kept neatly organized.
• As mentioned above, older students sometimes are required to keep track
of their work outside the classroom, bringing it to class on certain days for
reflection and other tasks.
• For electronic portfolios, it usually depends on teacher preference and
whether or not students have access to storage space on the network or
can save samples locally, or burn them to CDs or DVD, or add them to
websites.
• Usually the teacher and student will have access to the working folder or
the final samples.
• But, for some types of showcase portfolios, only the teacher might have
access because she is constructing the portfolio about the student.
• For older students, the teacher might only have limited access as the
student controls the portfolio's development.
• Parents might have access and input as samples of work are sent home.
• Other educators might also have access to final portfolios for larger
evaluative purposes.
• Typically, students and teachers contribute samples to a working folder as
they are created. Access to a portfolio folder is gained on a more regular
schedule as times for selection and reflection are scheduled.
 • Parents or other educators might have access at certain intervals
depending on the purpose of the portfolio and the process that has been
chosen.

• A checklist sheet is sometimes attached to the front of a folder so that the

teacher or the student can keep track of when and which samples have
been added, which have been removed (temporarily or permanently),
when reflections have been completed, when conferences have taken
How will portfolio progress be place, and whether or not any other requirements have been completed.

tracked? • The teacher might just keep a schedule of when selections, reflections or
conferences are to take place.
• Older students might be required to keep track of the process to make
sure all requirements are met.

Once again, this depends on the purposes and audiences for the portfolio, as well
as the type of contents to be included.

• Showcase portfolios will typically have a more formal and polished

presentation. A cover letter or introduction along with a table of contents
might be included to provide context for a potentially wide range of
What will the final product look readers, and to give the student or teacher a chance to more fully flesh
like? out the student's story.
• Growth or evaluation portfolios might have a less formal presentation,
unless the evaluation is part of a high stakes assessment. If the student
and teacher are the primary readers, less context is needed. However, if
parents are the primary or a significant intended audience, more
explanation or context will be needed.

• Obviously, one advantage of choosing to build the portfolio at the end of a

period of time rather than build it along the way (see the first question) is
that transient students can still easily participate. They have less work to
consider, but they can still engage in the selection and reflection process.
• If selection and reflection occur as work is being produced, the new
What if students join your class student can simply join the process in progress. Some adaptation will
in the middle of the process? likely be necessary, but the student can still demonstrate growth or
competence over a shorter period of time.
• If the portfolio is also to be evaluated, further adjustment will need to be
made.

Communication: How and when will the portfolio be shared with pertinent audiences?

Why share the portfolio?

By the nature of the purposes of portfolios -- to show growth, to showcase excellence -- portfolios are meant
to be shared. The samples, reflections and other contents allow or invite others to observe and celebrate
students' progress and accomplishments. A portfolio should tell a story, and that story should be told.

Students should primarily be the ones telling their stories. As students reflect on the balance of their work
over some period of time, there is often a great sense of pride at the growth and the accomplishment. By
telling their own stories students can take ownership of the process that led to the growth and achievement.
Assessment is no longer something done to them; the students are playing an active role through self-
assessment.

Furthermore, others will be able to recognize and celebrate in the growth and accomplishment of the students
if their work is communicated beyond the borders of the classroom. A portfolio provides a unique vehicle for
capturing and communicating student learning. Parents tend to learn more about their children's abilities and
propensities through a portfolio than they do through the odd assignment that makes it home and into the
parents' hands. Moreover, other interested members of the school and local community can recognize and
celebrate the accomplishment.

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Finally, the portfolio can provide an excellent tool for accountability. Parents, educators and community
members can learn a great deal about what is happening in a classroom or school or district by viewing and
hearing about the contents of these stories. Perhaps more importantly, the student and teacher can uncover
a vivid picture of where the student was, where she has traveled to, how she got there and what she
accomplished along the way -- a fascinating and enlightening story.

Considering the audience

Of course, deciding how to tell the story will be influenced by the intended audience. For example, presenting
a collection of work to a teacher who is already familiar with much of the content will likely require a different
approach than presenting that work as part of a college application.

Audiences within the classroom

In some classrooms, a portfolio is used much like other assignments as evidence of progress towards or
completion of course or grade level goals and standards. In such cases, the only audience might be the
teacher who evaluates all the student work. To effectively communicate with the teacher about a body of
work, the student may be asked to write a brief introduction or overview capturing her perceptions of the
progress (for a growth portfolio) or accomplishments (for a showcase portfolio) reflected in the collection of
work. Teachers who assign portfolios not only want to see student work but want to see students reflect upon
it.

As a classroom assessor, the teacher also has the benefit of communicating face-to-face with each student.
Such conferences take a variety of forms and vary in their frequency. For example,

• A teacher might review a portfolio at one or more intervals, and then prepare questions for the face-
to-face conversation with each student;
• A student might run the conference by taking the teacher through her portfolio, highlighting elements
consistent with the purpose of the portfolio;
• A "pre-conference" might occur in which teacher and student discuss how the portfolio should be
constructed to best showcase it or best prepare it for evaluation.

Additionally, classmates can serve as an audience for a portfolio. Particulary for older students, some teachers
require or encourage students to present their portfolios to each other for feedback, dialogue and modeling.
For example,

• Pairs of students can review each other's work to provide feedback, identify strengths and
weaknesses, and suggest future goals;
• Sharing with each other also provides an opportunity to tell a story or just brag;
• Students can always benefit from seeing good (or poor) models of work as well as models of
meaningful reflection and goal-setting.

As students hear themselves tell each other about the value and meaning of their work it will become more
valuable and meaningful to them.

Audiences within the family and school community

As many of us have experienced with our own children, parents sometimes only receive a small, fragmented
picture of their children's school work. Some work never makes it home, some is lost, some is hidden, etc.
It can be even harder for parents to construct a coherent picture out of that work to get a real sense of
student growth or accomplishment or progress toward a set of standards.

Portfolios provide an opportunity to give parents a fuller glimpse of the processes and products and progress
of their children's learning. Many teachers intentionally involve the parents in the development of the portfolio
or make parents an audience or both.

For example, to involve parents in the process,

• teachers make sure parents view most student work on a consistent basis; for example,

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 some teachers require students to get much of their work signed by parents to be returned to
o
school;
o some teachers send work home in a two-pocket folder in which one pocket contains work that
can stay home and the other pocket contains work that can be viewed by parents but should
be returned to school, each pocket carefully labeled as such;
o some teachers use a three-pocket folder in which the third pocket is a place parents can pass
along notes or comments or questions;
• teachers also invite parents to provide feedback or ask questions about student work; for example,
o a reflection sheet, perhaps similar to the ones students complete, can be attached to some of
the pieces of work sent home inviting parents to make comments, ask questions or provide
evaluation;
o parents might be invited to provide a summary reflection of work they have seen so far;
o or simply identify one or two pieces of work or aspects of their children's work that they most
like or are most surprised about.

To share the portfolio with parents,

• many schools host Portfolio Nights, at which students often guide their parent or parents through the
story of their work. Having the Night at school allows the student to more easily share the variety of
two- and three-dimensional work they have created.
• after teacher evaluation of the portfolio (if that is done), the complete portfolio might be sent home
for the parents to view and possibly respond to. This might occur once at the end of the process or
periodically along the way.

A Portfolio Night also provides an opportunity for other members of the school or larger community to view
student portfolios. The portfolios may simply be on display to be sampled, or students might guide other
audiences through their work.

Similarly, during the school day students can share their portfolios with students from other classes or with
school personnel.

Audiences beyond the classroom, school and family

An external audience for student work can serve to motivate students to give more attention to and take
more seriously their performance. First, it may give more legitimacy to assigned work. If the work is to be
externally reviewed, it suggests that it is not simply "busy work" that provides a grade but that it is something
authentic valued outside the walls of the classroom. Second, some students may take more care in their
work when they believe a new, different, and perhaps expert audience will be viewing it.

To extend the audience beyond the classroom, school and family, teachers have adopted a variety of
approaches, including

• expanding the audience at Portfolio Nights to include a larger community, perhaps even authors, or
scientists or other professionals relevant to the work in the portfolio;
• inviting professionals or experts in a particular field to come listen to presentations of the portfolios;
• inviting professionals or experts to serve as one of the reviewers or evaluators of the portfolios;
• encourage or require students to share their work with a larger audience through the Web or other
media. Publishing on the Web also allows students to solicit comments or questions.

Preparing the student to share

Just as we do not expect children to write or speak well without considerable instruction and practice, it is
not reasonable to expect students to effortlessly and effectively share their stories without some help.
Teachers have devised a number of strategies to prepare students to communicate with the target audience.
Some such strategies include

• pairing up students in class ("portfolio partners") to practice presenting their work to each other;

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 • pairing up the author of the portfolio with an older student a few grades above. The younger student
would practice presenting her work as if she is presenting it to the intended audience (e.g., parents at
a Portfolio Night). Both students can benefit as the older student provides feedback and
encouragement and may increase her own self-efficacy for the task through modeling and tutoring
the younger student.
• providing models. Teachers provide models of good portfolios that illustrate how the product itself can
effectively communicate with an audience through the way it is constructed. Teachers can also model
the process of communication by walking through how he or she would share a portfolio with a
specific audience.

Evaluation: If the portfolio is to be used for evaluation, how and when should it be evaluated?

As with all of the elements of portfolios described above, how and when evaluation is addressed varies widely
across teachers, schools and districts. Take, for example, …

Evaluation vs. Grading

Evaluation refers to the act of making a judgment about something. Grading takes that process one step
further by assigning a grade to that judgment. Evaluation may be sufficient for a portfolio assignment. What
is (are) the purpose(s) of the portfolio? If the purpose is to demonstrate growth, the teacher could make
judgments about the evidence of progress and provide those judgments as feedback to the student or make
note of them for her own records. Similarly, the student could self-assess progress shown or not shown,
goals met or not met. No grade needs to be assigned. On a larger scale, an evaluation of the contents within
the portfolio or of the entire package may be conducted by external bodies (e.g., community members, other
educators, state boards) for the purpose of judging completion of certain standards or requirements. Although
the evaluation is serious, and graduation might even hinge on it, no classroom grade may be assigned.

On the other hand, the work within the portfolio and the process of assembling and reflecting upon the
portfolio may comprise such a significant portion of a student's work in a grade or class that the teacher
deems it appropriate to assign a value to it and incorporate it into the student's final grade. Alternatively,
some teachers assign grades because they believe without grades there would not be sufficient incentive for
some students to complete the portfolio. Ahh, but …

What to Grade

Nothing. Some teachers choose not to grade the portfolio because they have already assigned grades to the
contents selected for inclusion.

The metacognitive and organizational elements. But the portfolio is more than just a collection of
student work. Depending on its purpose, students might have also included reflections on growth, on
strengths and weaknesses, on goals that were or are to be set, on why certain samples tell a certain story
about them, or on why the contents reflect sufficient progress to indicate completion of designated standards.
Some of the process skills may also be part of the teacher's or school's or district's standards. So, the portfolio
provides some evidence of attainment of those standards. Any or all of these elements can be evaluated
and/or graded.

Completion. Some portfolios are graded simply on whether or not the portfolio was completed.

Everything. Other teachers evaluate the entire package: the selected samples of student work as well as
the reflection, organization and presentation of the portfolio.

How to Grade/Evaluate

Most of the portfolio assignments I have seen have been evaluated or graded with a rubric. A great deal of
personal judgment goes into evaluating a complex product such as a portfolio. Thus, applying a rubric, a tool
which can provide some clarity and consistency to the evaluation of such products, to the judgment of quality
of the story being told and the elements making up that story makes sense. Moreover, if the portfolio is to

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be evaluated my multiple judges, application of a rubric increases the likelihood of consistency among the
judges.

Examples of Portfolio Rubrics

What might a portfolio rubric look like? If the focus of the grading is primarily on whether the samples of
student work within the portfolio demonstrate certain competencies, the criteria within the rubric will target
those competencies. For example,

Evaluating competencies

• Electrical and computer engineering portfolio rubric

Or, Completing requirements

Meeting standards

Evaluating the portfolio as a whole

• Electronic portfolio rubric - very detailed criteria

Who evaluates

The more we can involve students in the assessment process, the more likely they will take ownership of it,
be engaged in it, and find it worthwhile. So, it makes sense to involve students in the evaluation process of
their portfolios as well. They have likely engaged in some self-assessment in the reflection or goal-setting
components of the portfolio. Additionally, students are capable of evaluating how well their portfolio elements
meet standards, requirements, or competencies, for their own portfolios or those of their peers. Furthermore,
older peers could make excellent judges of the work of younger students. Cross-grade peer tutoring has
demonstrated how well the older and younger students respond to such interactions.

Obviously, the classroom teacher, other educators, review board members, community members, etc. can
all serve as judges of student work. If multiple judges are used, particularly if they are not directly familiar
with the student work or assignments, training on a rubric should be provided before evaluation proceeds.
The evaluators should be familiar with and clear on the criteria and the levels of performance within the
rubric. A calibration session, in which the judges evaluate some sample portfolios and then share ratings to
reach some consensus on what each criteria and level of performance within the rubric means, can provide
a good opportunity for judges to achieve some competence and consistency in applying a rubric.

Can I do Portfolios Without all the Fuss?

Oh, what fun would that be! Actually, the answer is a qualified "yes." Portfolios do typically require
considerable work, particularly if conferencing is involved. But with most anything, including assessment, I
recommend that you start small.

Here's a quick, easy way to get started if any of the above thoughts has either encouraged you or not
discouraged you from considering assigning portfolios in your little world. The following describes just one
possible way to get started.

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Step 1. Depending on the age of your students and other considerations, have students select two pieces of
their work over the course of a quarter (or three or four over a semester). Decide (with your students or
without) upon one or more criteria by which the selection will be guided (e.g., their best work). To limit
management time, don't wait for the end of the quarter for students to make those selections. Otherwise, all
their work will have to be collected along the way. Instead, if you want to keep it simple, tell your students
ahead of time that they will be selecting two or more pieces matching certain criteria, and that you will ask
them to do it at the point each sample is completed.

Step 2. At the time a student selects a sample to be included in his portfolio, require the student to complete
a brief reflection sheet and attach it to the sample.

Step 3. Depending on the age of your students, ask your student to save that sample and the attached
reflection sheet until the end of the quarter or semester, or collect it and store it yourself at that point.

Step 4. At the end of the quarter or semester, ask your students to reflect upon the samples one additional
time by describing what they liked best about their work, or by identifying strengths and weaknesses, or by
setting one or two goals for the future.

There, that wasn't too painful. Okay, you ask, that was relatively simple, but did it really accomplish anything?
Good question. If you don't think so, don't do it. On the other hand, it could possibly have a few benefits
worth the effort. First, if nothing else it gave you some experience working with portfolios. If you want to
pursue portfolios in a more elaborate manner, at least you are now more familiar with some of the issues
involved. Second, if you think developing self-assessment skills in your students is a worthwhile goal, you
have also begun that process. Even a little reflection on your students' part may be more than some of them
typically give to their work. Finally, you may have opened, even if it is just a little bit, a new avenue for you
and your students to communicate with their parents about their performance, their strengths and
weaknesses, and their habits. Any of those reasons may be sufficient to try your hand at portfolios. Good
luck!

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About Course
Facilitators
WARRELEN D. CASPILLO obtained her Bachelor in
Elementary Education major in Math at Ateneo de
Zamboanga University. She also earned an academic
requirements for Master of Arts in Basic Education at
Ateneo de Manila University last 2005.
She has been teaching Assessment of Student
Learning I and II in Zamboanga City State Polytechnic
College since 2013. Also she teaches math and other
professional subjects.
Currently, she is completing her academic requirements
in PhD in Science Education major in Math at Ateneo de
Zamboanga University.

Dr. EDGARDO H. ROSALES obtained his Bachelor

in Elementary Education major in General
Education at Western Mindanao State University.
He also earned his Master of Arts Education major
in Social Studies, Doctor of Education major in
Educational Administration and Bachelor of Laws in
the same institution.

He has been teaching Assessment of Student

Learning I and II in Zamboanga City State
Polytechnic College since 2018. He teaches also in
the Graduate Programs.

Currently, he is the ZCSPC Director for External

Linkages and International Relations.
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