Name: Princess Jean G.

Delos Reyes
Course Title: EDUC 107- Assessment of Learning 2
Course Code: 7614
Time: 6:30-7:30 P.M.
Course Teacher: Pedrito M. Castillo II
In a Nutshell

Activity 1A. There is a great shift of utilizing performance-based assessment in the 21st Century.
What do you think are the reasons for this change? Explain your answer. (Give 3 reasons and
explain each.

The 21st century has marked several reforms in the educational system. One of these
shifts is the integration of performance-based assessments into the curriculum. In a performance-
based assessment, students must develop a response, generate a product, or perform an action
instead of selecting between pre-determined options (Darling-Hammond & Adamson, 2010). I
believe that these changes in the assessment process in the 21st century emerged as a response to
the implementation of Outcomes-Based Education, integration of instruction promoting higher-
order thinking skills, and incorporation of ICT into the educative process to acquire 21st-century
skills.

First, the performance-based assessment is more aligned to the philosophical

underpinnings of Outcomes-Based Education (OBE), which is widely integrated into the
21st-century curriculum development. OBE refers to the process of precisely organizing
everything in an educational system into what is relevant for all students to achieve well after
their educational experiences. These outcomes include actual actions and performances that
represent and demonstrate learners' ability to effectively use content, knowledge, ideas, and
resources (Spady, 1994). The wide use of OBE entails the need for an assessment process that
validates students' attainment of these learning outcomes, hence the need for a performance-
based assessment. For instance, if the learning outcome requires students to deliver a stage act,
teachers cannot utilize traditional assessments like multiple-choice, true or false, or fill in the
blank because there is no alignment between the method of assessment and the learning
outcome. Therefore, performance-based assessment is one of the most utilized methods of
assessing students' learning because it is consistent with the modern educational objectives and
theories of schools that adopt OBE.

Second, the performance-based assessment helps attain higher-order thinking skills

essential in the 21st-century work settings. The industrial demands in the 21st century require
educational institutions to produce work-ready graduates. As a response, teachers should not just
incorporate learning experiences that will assess students' ability to remember facts and
understand concepts but also the ability to analyze, evaluate, and create using this knowledge and
concepts pertinent in the real-world work setting. The top half of Bloom's Taxonomy represents
the higher-order skills: analyzing, evaluating, and creating. These cognitive processes are best
assessed using performance-based assessment where students can make inferences, evaluate
ideas, and produce products/performance. For example, students under the College of Teacher
Education at the University of Mindanao have field study, practicum, and lesson plan making,
among others, so that these aspiring educators will be trained and be equipped with skills for the
actual teaching practice.

Third, the performance-based assessment provides an avenue to incorporate ICT

into the assessment process, which is essential in acquiring 21st-century skills. According to
Stauffer (2020), 21st-century skills refer to students' abilities to excel in their career during the
Information Age. These are divided into three categories: Learning skills (critical thinking,
creativity, collaboration, and communication), Literacy skills (information, media, and
technology), and the Life skills (flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity, and social skills).
In the information age, technological advancements and developments are integrated into almost
every aspect of humans' way of living, including education. Every stakeholder of schools needs
to adapt and embrace this change. The best method to address this is by conducting a
performance-based assessment to utilize technology, such as audio-visual reporting, creating e-
portfolios, web pages, blogs, and video demonstrations. In this way, students will be adept at
using technology accurately, legally, and meaningfully in their future field of profession.

The performance-based assessment is comprehensive in its approach; thus, it is widely

used in educational institutions. The shift to performance-based assessment in the 21st century is
caused by integrating Outcomes-Based Education into developing and implementing the
curriculum among schools, assessing students' attainment of higher-order thinking skills, and
equipping students with 21st-century skills. These reasons are complementary in terms of their
goal in delivering an assessment process that is student-centered, relevant, and adaptable to the
constantly changing global demands.

Activity 1B. Give at least five advantages and five disadvantages of utilizing performance-based
assessments inside the classroom.

Performance assessment utilizes activities that enable learners to demonstrate their

knowledge, abilities, and approaches by generating a response or a product. It allows students to
demonstrate a task or produce their responses, unlike the traditional assessment where students
only choose from options (Rudner & Boston, 1994). In the contemporary teaching and learning
process, this type of assessment is widely utilized among educational institutions because of its
advantages; however, its use also poses disadvantages to teachers, students, and parents. The
following discusses these advantages and disadvantages.

ADVANTAGES

First, performance-based assessment taps on higher-order thinking skills. Analyzing,

evaluating, and creating comprises the higher-order thinking skills of Bloom's Taxonomy. These
cognitive processes are primarily practiced through performance-based tasks and activities,
which discourage rote learning and promote active learning. This assessment requires students to
exhibit their knowledge through performing; therefore, it is beneficial for students' overall
learning experiences. For example, teachers assigning students to demonstrate learning in an Art
Appreciation course by creating an artwork promotes higher-order thinking skills than the
multiple-choice type of exam, which only measures the lower-order thinking skills.

Second, performance-based assessment offers a variety of learning activities. This

assessment involves various tasks from product-oriented (e.g., portfolios, research papers, web
pages, and audio-visual clips) to process-oriented (e.g., oral reports, demonstrations, oral
recitations, and role-plays). These tasks allow students to achieve the learning outcomes in
numerous ways. It is also beneficial in engaging and capturing students' interest, for they can
convey their knowledge in the most creative and novel way. Students are not limited to one
single answer, for they may come up with many responses and explain their reasons. Notably,
the employment of numerous performance-based activities recognizes and caters to students'
strengths and weaknesses.

Third, performance-based assessment is student-centered. This assessment type

includes students' active participation in setting goals for their learning and development,
tracking their progress towards those goals, and deciding if any deficiencies can be addressed.
For instance, the portfolio that teachers assign to students collects information that shows how
they have understood the lesson to monitor their learning. With this, students are profoundly
involved in the process of teaching and learning by developing a sense of responsibility,
adopting learning strategies, and reflecting on their progress.

Fourth, performance-based assessment is highly contextualized. Mainly, the approach

used in this type of assessment is anchored to authentic situations. This is important in providing
an educational environment congruent to the real-world-work environment where students can
know how their future job operates and acquire skills in performing their job. For example,
students taking the Teacher Education program have an internship to immerse them in the actual
teaching practice. This will give them experiences that will prepare them physically and
psychologically.

Fifth, performance-based assessment procures more valid assessment results. In this

assessment, teachers observe and assess students' learning as manifested from their performance
or products. Traditional assessments do not entirely assess students' development of knowledge
and skills. For example, students' scores from paper and pencil test about the parts of speech,
although measures their knowledge of grammar rules, do not wholly measure their ability to
transfer knowledge into communicative contexts. Therefore, performance-based assessment is
advantageous since it gives more valid results.

DISADVANTAGES
First, performance-based assessment is costly. Unlike traditional assessments, which
only require pencil/pen and paper, products and performance activities need resources. These
resources are fundamental for the accomplishment of the assessment tasks. Students need to buy
materials and pay for fees that are needed for the tasks or activities. These are financially
challenging to students and parents. For example, a cheerleading performance needs finances for
the costume, props, instructor's fee, travel, and food allowance for practices, among others.

Second, performance-based assessment is time-consuming. This type of assessment

needs time to plan, develop, and furnish the products or performances. This may be unfavorable,
especially if students are simultaneously bombarded with performance assessments for every
subject they enrolled in. The quality of the output or activity may be compromised since each
task requires an enormous amount of time to be produced.

Third, performance-based assessment requires additional trainings of assessors.

Another disadvantage of this assessment is that teachers or assessors should have to gain
competencies pertinent in reliably evaluating students' performance. There is a wide range of
performance-based assessment activities employed in the instruction, which entails the need for
teachers to be skillful in administering, scoring, and interpreting every assessment method. This
process requires further effort, time, and resources for teachers.

Fourth, performance-based assessment is highly subjective. In this type of assessment,

the scoring depends on the assessor; thus, the process is subjective. Although this assessment
utilizes criteria for scoring, the assessment may be unreliable since there is no single and
objective answer for an activity/output. Each student has his individual approach to completing
the task, which means that teachers should perceive each output differently.

Fifth, performance-based assessment is work-intensive. This type of assessment

requires sustained work lasting for days or weeks and students' enormous effort. For instance,
group performances like role-plays, stage acts, and dances need teamwork for the presentation.
Each team member has a part to play and effort to impart to achieve the set of standards or
criteria pre-determined for the activity. The labor needed for this assessment poses challenges to
students' schedules for the class, work, or home.

The utilization of performance-based assessment in the education system has its strengths
and weaknesses. This assessment promotes higher-order thinking skills, comes in several forms
of tasks, focuses more on students, links tasks to authentic situations, and generates valid
assessment results. However, this assessment is also financially challenging, time-consuming,
needs trained assessors, subjective, and laborious. This assessment’s advantages and
disadvantages implies the constant re-evaluation and shifts in the assessment process.

References:
 Darling-Hammond, L. & Adamson, F. (2010). Beyond basic skills: The role of
performance assessment in achieving 21st century standards of learning. Retrieved February 3,
2021 from https://globaled.gse.harvard.edu/files/geii/files/beyond-basic-skills-role-performance-
assessment-achieving-21st-century-standards-learning-report_0.pdf
Spady, W. (1994). Outcome-based education: Critical issues and answers.Arlington,
Va.: American Association of School Administrators. Retrieved February 4, 2021 from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED380910.pdf
Stauffer, B. (2020). What are 21st century skills?. Retrieved February 4, 2021 from
https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-are-21st-century-skills.
Rudner, L. M., & Boston, C. (1994). Performance assessment. ERIC Review, 3(1), 2–12.
Retrieved February 4, 2021 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED369389.pdf.