THEORETICAL PAPER ON PEDAGOGICAL CHALLENGES IN USING PERFORMANCE

TASK-GRASPS AS A TOOL TO ASSESS STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY

MUSIC EDUCATION

I. PEDAGOGICAL CHALLENGES IN USING PERFORMANCE TASK-GRASPS AS A TOOL

TO ASSESS STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY MUSIC EDUCATION

Innovative educators understand that there is more to learning than processed

worksheets and tests. That's why real-world tasks and assessments are finally making it out of
just the elite schools and are becoming more prevalent in mainstream education. 
Teachers create realistic performance tasks that mimic real-life goals, roles, audiences,
situations, products, performances, and standards. These assessments can be effective tools
for accomplishing the greatest educational goal, which is to achieve higher-order level learning,
thinking abilities, and key competencies in order to meet the needs of the 21st century world of
higher education and industries.
Students should not only be knowledge consumers or collectors, but also producers of
knowledge. The question is, how can this be accomplished? Allowing students to face obstacles
and solve problems in real-life settings allows them to find solutions, manage situations, and
develop diverse views. These methods combine information and abilities in a variety of ways.
As a result, approaches for assessing well-being from the perspective of children and young
people must be established to provide usable, relevant, and trustworthy data, which can then be
used to inform policy design, implementation, and assessment (O'Toole, & Kropf, 2012).
Authentic assessment acknowledges human rights, because this type of assessment is
suitable in evaluating inner diversity, intelligences, capacities, and learning styles of the
students. Assessment is a rich source of feedback for students. Authentic assessment is
effective, because it allows an educator to provide positive feedback in a more motivational form
than the usual numerical grade in a test (Litchfield, Mata, & Gray 2007). For most teachers,
authentic assessment is a radical paradigm shift from teacher-centered to student-centered
teaching and learning. The majority of teachers continue to teach the way they were taught,
namely, via lectures and objective tests. Any one form of teaching or assessment is insufficient
to adequately teach a subject or measure learning progress and student performance. Wiggins
and McTighe (1998) said, “evaluation, assessment, performance tasks, and other acceptable
evidence” are used for evaluative purposes, and their linear model goes directly from desired
results to determine acceptable evidence. Determining acceptable evidence involves completing
sets of assessment methods, such as (a) performance tasks or projects, (b) quizzes, tests,
academic prompts, (c) informal observations, discussions, and (d) student self-assessments.
Performance task is aligned with one or more desired results, which will yield
appropriate evidence of the identified understanding. Involving complex and real-world (i.e.,
“authentic”) applications of the identified knowledge, skills, and understanding written in the
goal, role, audience, situation, and product (GRASPS) form allows students to demonstrate
understanding with some options in the performances and/or products. The performance task is
meant to assess and requires one or more of the six facets of understandings. The scoring
rubrics includes distinct traits of understanding and successful performance. The scoring rubric
highlight what is appropriate, given the evidence needs suggested by the desired results.
Performance tasks using GRASPS are outlined below. The culminating activities that the
student produce are the products that are based on the goal of a performance task. Each task
contains between five and eight products that represent cross curricular topics.
Performance task-GRASPS is a design tool to develop a performance task with an
emphasis on context and role playing. The acronym stands for the steps in the process, which
include goals, roles, audience, situation, product-performance-purpose, and standards, which
are the criteria developed for success. The GRASPS design tool includes a stem statement that
a teacher can construct in a scenario for a performance task (Mayes, & Myers, 2015).
McTighe said that through the defined STEM performance task editor a teacher can edit a task,
remove or add products, or up-load other pertinent information to the task. Rubrics are designed
for each task for each type of product. The GRASPS frame includes real-world goals,
meaningful roles of students, authentic or simulated real-world audience, and a contextualized
situation that involves real-world applications. Students generated culminating products and
performance, and consensus- driven performance standards (criteria) are used to determine
success. Performance tasks with these features provide meaningful learning targets for
learners, worthy performance goals for teaching, and the kind of evidence needed to assess
true understanding (Tomlinson, & McTighe, 2006), Biggs and Tang are presented standards
model of assessment “that designed to assess changes in performance as a result of learning,
for the purpose of seeing what, and how well, something has been learned.
A performance task rates a student’s learning process, and assessing both product and
process provides an accurate profile of a student’s ability and makes them value their work
processes and products. This paradigm of assessment gives them an opportunity to apply self-
monitoring, self-reflection, and self- evaluation using rubrics and reflection journals. Similarly,
Frey et al. have a review for significant studies of assessment indicates the following
characteristics that promote learning- oriented assessment and employability:
1. Tasks should be challenging, demanding higher order learning and integration of learning and
integration of learning from both the university and other contexts such as work-based settings; 
2. Learning and assessment should be integrated, assessment should not come at the end of
learning but should be part of the learning process 
3. Assessment should encourage metacognition, promoting thinking about the learning process
not just the learning outcome. 
4. Tasks should be involve the active engagement of students developing the capacity to find
things out for themselves and learn independently.
5. Tasks should be authentic, worthwhile, relevant and offering students some level of control
over their work; 
6. Tasks are fit for purpose and align with important learning outcomes.

II. Researching the issue by:

A. Using your own observations and/or those of others
MY OWN OBSERVATIONS:
I have been in the academe for more than four years and I was once a private school
teacher and now teaching in a public school. I have noticed the big difference in these two
institutions in giving authentic assessments to the students. When I was teaching in St. Louise
de Marillac College of Sorsogon, we were trained to adopt the GRASPS model in formulating
the performance tasks of our students. This model helped us engaged our students through a
contextualized learning; provided simulations of real-world situations or challenges that adults
might encounter; created opportunities for students to practice transfer of learning; fostered
curiosity and built meaningful experiences; and developed students’ project management skills.
Teachers’ creativity were challenged and developed. Last 2019, I was hired to teach in a public
school. I have observed a huge gap in designing and creating performance tasks between the
two institution in terms of quality and authenticity. Teachers in the public schools specially in the
area of Music, tend to limit student’s creativity in performing their performance tasks. Music
teachers usually let the students perform a certain learning competency without giving them a
situation where they can apply it in the real-world scenario. Some teachers do not always set-up
a clear situation for the assessment task. I do believed that public teachers should be given a
training about the GRASPS model because it is what the students need. We should produce
quality and globally competitive learners. Teachers and students can both benefit from the use
of GRASPS assessment model.

OBSERVATION OF ALISON YANG (IB Educator; Workshop Leader and Presenter; and an
Educational Graphic Designer)

“In my humble opinion, through the use of the GRASPS assessment model we cal also
create opportunities for students to develop their metacognition. In order to create a product or
solve a problem effectively and efficiently, students first need to clarify the task, identify their
strength and weakness, set appropriate challenging goals, analyze the context, chunk the big
task into small sub tasks with the timeline, seek feedback for improvement, and self-evaluate
their work against the success criteria before the final submission. During the product creation,
teachers provide both explicit and implicit feedback and guide students to monitor their
progress. Frequent chech-ins are essential. It should never be the case that teachers give
students a big project and only find out that students have not addressed a requirement one or
two days before the due date.”

B. Reading both Local or Foreign Articles which will provide underpinnings

FROM THE ARTICLE TITLED “ CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING THE GOAL, ROLE,

AUDIENCE, SITUATION, PERFORMANCE/ PRODUCT, AND STANDARDS (GRASPS)
MODEL IN SEECTED SCHOOLS IN CAVITE BY CLARK DOMINIC L. ALIPASA”

According to the article, Educational reforms are continuously crafted to improve many
aspects of teaching and learning including the development of authentic performance tasks
engineered through the Goal, Role, Audience, Situation, Product/Performance, and Standards
(GRASPS) Model. These real-world problems provide opportunities enabling students to
produce solutions, manage situations, and develop different perspectives while also enabling
teachers to transform their students to be knowledge producers and not merely knowledge
consumers or keepers. With the rapid growth of studies about the effectiveness of performance
assessments, the implementation of GRASPS creates its own space in the world of educational
research. Against this backdrop, the study sought to determine the impediments experienced by
teachers and students in selected schools through an expert-validated instrument. Based on the
responses of 65 teachers and 367 participating students, findings revealed that in using
GRASPS, the problems of teachers were as follows: administering group tasks, the insufficient
time to meet all the target outputs, and the inadequate facilities for the fulfilment of complex
tasks. On the students' part, the problems were: lack of guidance in doing the performance
assessments, ways to collaborate with others during group tasks, and the limited time to
complete them. Further research could be done on the teachers' and students' time
management and planning, scaffolding for transfer techniques, and cooperative learning to
further the implementation of authentic learning and to enhance the existing faculty
development programs in different schools.
 FROM THE ARTICLE TITLED “ USING PERFORMANCE TASK-GRASPS TO ASSESS
STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION COURSES BY NUHA ITER
(PALESTINE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY- KADOORIE)

Nuha Iter’s qualitative study explores student ability to integrate the use of knowledge
and skills and demonstrates how students utilize skills in real-world situations through
performance tasks using the performance task—GRASPS (Goals, Rules, Audience, Situation,
Product/Performance, Standards) model. This study was carried out in the Introduction for
Education course for 44 students in a teacher qualification program. Interviews, performance
task-GRASPS reports, student focus group conversations, student reflections, and student
products were used. Grounded theory was employed to analyze qualitative data. Findings show
that students explained many educative features, including their views and beliefs toward
performance tasks and authentic assessment. Students also understood their abilities through
their products and reports about their roles in real-life situations. In addition, students
demonstrated what they achieved and developed by themselves, and they felt happy and
enjoyed their roles in real-life situations. The students reported that the evaluation method
improved their self-confidence. Diversity was observed among the products and performances;
students addressed the same challenges differently. This method develops the performance of
university professors in authentic assessment by establishing performance tasks and using
various rubrics to assess various products. These findings indicate that teacher educators must
use authentic assessments and performance tasks to make students interactive in courses and
utilize rubrics in evaluation that provide students real description of their performances.

FROM JAY MCTIGHE’S BLOG TITLED “HOW CAN EDUCATORS DESIGN AUTHENTIC
PERFORMANCE TASKS” (VETERAN EDUCATOR, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MARYLAND
ASSESSMENT CONSORTIUM)

According to MCTIGHE’S blog, Grant Wiggins and him created a task design frame
based on the acronym, G.R.A.S.P.S. Here are the G.R.A.S.P.S. elements that are used to frame
a performance task: (1) a real-world Goal; (2) a meaningful Role for the student; (3) authentic (or
simulated) Audience(s); (4) a contextualized Situation that involves real-world application; (5)
student-generated Products and Performances; and (6) performance Standards (criteria) by
which successful performance would be judged. Figure 3 presents this practical task design tool
containing associated prompts for each of the G.R.A.S.P.S. elements. The design of authentic
performance tasks, like any writing or composing process, is iterative in nature. It is very
common for task developers to revise task directions, add options for students or modify the
evaluative criteria as the task design evolves. Additionally, feedback from self-assessment, peer
review and classroom implementation invariably suggests further refinements to the task and
associated rubric(s). Remember to always keep the “end in mind” when designing performance
tasks. The goal of the task is to address and assess targeted learning outcomes, not to simply
offer “cool” products, entertaining technology or interesting scenarios. The main goal is to
design rich tasks that will promote meaningful learning while gathering evidence of students’
abilities to apply their learning in authentic contexts.

FROM WIGGENS AND MCTIGHE’S ARTICLE TITLED “ ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE”

With the desired learning outcomes in mind, the second stage of Backward Design
requires us to determine acceptable evidence of students having developed the sought after
understandings. Without sufficient evidence, there is no way to know whether learning has
taken place. Therefore, assessment takes a central role in the design process since; if
performance task are developed which require the knowledge, skills, and understandings that
comprise the unit goals, then those tasks can also be used to determine what scaffolding will be
needed to accomplish them. This will lead us naturally to the lesson activities and materials that
will e used in Stage Three.
There are many methods of gathering evidence of meeting content and performance
standards. While standardized testing has its place in modern education (see the note on
standardized tests below), Stage Two of the Backward Design plan is focused on what’s known
as “Alternative Assessment”; often called “authentic, comprehensive, or performance
assessments” (Edutopia Staff, 2013), theses assessments are “usually designed by the teacher
to gauge students understanding of material. Examples of these measurements are open-ended
questions, written compositions, oral presentations, projects, experiments, and assessment
matches the content of the instructions.”
Effective assessments should embody aspects of complexity, relevance and application,
collaboration and original creation; as well as align with the standards of rigor and relevance as
presented by the International Center for Leadership in Education. Authetic assessment is
further explained with a plethora of resources given by Jon Mueller (2016) in his Authentic
Assessment Toolbox.

FROM THE ARTICLE OF EDITORIAL TEAM OF RESILIENT EDUCATOR.COM TITLED

“ADVICE ON USING AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT IN TEACHING”

Educators define authentic assessment as an approach to measure student

performance in a direct, relevant way to see if the learning objectives were met. Educators
might use projects such as reports, journals, speeches, videos and interviews with the students
to measure their understanding of the subject material. For example, an authentic assessment
on the expedition of Lewis and Clark would grade students on journals they wrote imagining
themselves as the explorers, or have them draw a map showing the route which Lewis and
Clark traveled. The goal of authentic assessment is to enhance the learning process and help
students gain knowledge while completing tasks that are beneficial to their “real-world”
experiences. Unlike taking an exam, students work on the authentic assessment over a period
of time and they are not limited to filling in bubbles on scannable test papers to demonstrate
what they know. Authentic assessments let students show what they are really capable of
without the pressure of having to perform well on a traditional test, so they are great options for
students who suffer from test anxiety.

C. Interviewing Experts

A virtual interview with Eden Ernacio Robles, Master Teacher/MAPEH, about her views
and opinions of GRASPS Model in designing performance tasks for Grade 10 students. Below
is the rewritten minutes of the short interview.
Interviewer: What are the challenges in designing an authentic assessments?

Interviewee: Students may have difficulty taking the assessments seriously and putting forth
best efforts. Some parents may question assessment validity and whether it truly demonstrates
understanding. Lack of resources is also a challenge in designing an authentic assessment.

Interviewer: GRASPS Model is a tool widely practiced all around the world in designing
performance tasks. Can you cite your observations/ experience/ opinions about this?

Interviewee: As a Master Teacher, I have observed some teachers on how they design their
performance tasks. Only few teachers know how to design performance task using GRASPS
model that’s why I think it’s a need to capacitate them about it.

Interviewer: What are the challenges does your teacher experience in using GRASPS Model as
an Assessment tool?

Interviewee: Lack of trainings about the model is one of the challenges . Some teachers are
also complaining about their extra academic and extra curricular loads that’s why they have no
more time in designing the task.

A virtual interview of Aeman Llantada, a Technical Assistant to the Office of the Director
of the National Educators Academy of the Philippines, the provider of professional development
to around 800,000 teachers and school leaders under the Department of Education.

Interviewer: What are the challenges in designing an authentic assessments?

Interviewee: A. Limitations on time and material resources have always been a challenge,
especially if the output to be prepared by the learners require materials or rehearsals.
B.Feedbacking is also a challenge, especially if the teacher is managing many learners at once,
it is sometimes difficult to provide comprehensive feedback for each output at once.

Interviewer: GRASPS Model is a tool widely practiced all around the world in designing
performance tasks. Can you cite your observations/ experience/ opinions about this?

Interviewee: A. GRASPS Model helps both the learner and the teacher because it clearly shells
out all expectations/ parameters for the output. It defines the scope and manner as to what and
how the output can be performed. With this, it saves time and effort as it prevents unnecessary
questions/back-and-forth. B. GRASPS was introduced to me as a beginning teacher and it has
been helpful or designing assessments and communicating instructions to the learners. It is.
Suitable for activities/ requirements that are more complex and detailed. I have used it to design
assessments for a life-skills module, where I targeted social-emotional competencies. C.
GRASPS is helpful not just for providing clear instructions up more importantly for the designing
phase. Oftentimes, when a teacher uses GRASPS, they will be aware of parameters and of high
part of the activity/ output targets the competencies. Teachers can also calibrate appropriate
rigor or difficulty level of the assessment through GRASPS.
Interviewer: What are the challenges does your teacher experience in using GRASPS Model as
an Assessment tool?
Interviewee: A. Grasps requires time and effort to use. It also takes constant practice for the
teachers to get comfortable using GRASPS. Sometimes, when activities are simple and
straightforward, GRASPS ay complicate assessment activities. B. Sometimes, GRASPS can
also overwhelm learners when used as a communication tool for instructions. Briefly to learners
using GRASPS or to devise a creative way to communicate instructions, especially for distance
learning.

3. Explore Your Own Views

A. Based on what have you observed and read, do you consider the issue a
significant concern?

High-stakes testing today adds stress and worry to educators who are already overworked.
Authentic assessment provides teachers and students with useful information, which is then
used to develop an appropriate learning path. The purpose of our classroom is to teach real-
world application skills, and authentic assessment helps us achieve that goal.

GRASPS is a model advocated for by Grant Wiggens and Jay McTighe to guide teachers in
designing an authentic performance-based assessment. It’s a for of assessment that engages
learners to employ their thinking skills and demonstrate application of essential knowledge,
conceptual understanding, and skills acquired throughout a unit of learning.

Both teachers and students can benefit from the use of GRASPS assessment model. From
Alison Yang’s article, she created a poster design which refocused the use of GRASPS
assessment model and she created essential questions respectively to guide teachers in
designing GRASPS authentic assessment, and students in developing their metacognition
through conducting the GRASPS assessment.
 B. Do you feel specific measures should be taken in the schools, in the community?
Why or why not? Explain your answer.

Yes. I strongly believe that the schools and the community should take specific
measures to address the issue in giving authentic assesments to students by applying the
GRASPS Model as an assessment tool. Authentic assessments help students analyze
what they’ve learned and apply it their own experience. They don’t have to memorize
facts for a test, so they can use their creativity to show what they’ve learned. For older
students who can use a combination of song writing and singing, authentic assessment
helps them refine their artistry. Authentic assessment works great for groups, so
students can get experience collaborating on projects with their peers.
Practices on authentic assessments that the teachers acquired from their experiences in
college and pre-service teacher trainings can be contextualized and adopted to improve the
implementation in Basic Education. This is because improving the aspect on how teachers
facilitate, monitor, and conduct collaborative performance assessments, and their techniques to
guide and scaffold students before and, most importantly, during the completion of tasks will be
beneficial for both teachers and students in order to attain the positive effects and impacts of
cooperative learning.Furthermore, the time provided for the tasks, as well as the learning
resources needed to complete, may be re-assessed, planned thoroughly, and adequately
provided by the school administrators, leaders, and teachers to achieve the maximum potential
of GRASPS in assessing students’ learning and developing 21st century skills.

C. What can schools and individual teachers (including parents) do to

address the issue of concern?(Your Recommendation)

Based on the articles and interviews, it is conclusive that the teachers perceive
collaborative performance assessments, time allotment, and available school resources for
authentic assessments as the problems in the implementation of the GRASPS model. The need
for group assessments, longer time, and adequate learning resources are perceived to be the
main challenges experienced by the teachers in the implementation of GRASPS in the selected
schools. On the other hand, the students also perceive the provided guidance and instructions,
group performance tasks, and allotted completion time as the problems in the implementation of
the GRASPS model. They are significantly challenged to work independently and with no or
minimal guidance of the teachers, work with others in groups, and finish the tasks in different
subjects within a very limited time. In view thereof, strategies and techniques in assigning group
assessments, providing preparatory information, allotting sufficient time, and utilizing facilities
must be included in training teachers in using GRASPS. It is vital to enrich the trainings,
seminars, and workshops for teachers based on the noticeable challenges to ease and
strengthen the implementation of GRASPS. Also, to further investigate, strengthen, and
enhance the observance and implementation in different educational institutions, which may
also include tertiary and technical-vocational schools, a parallel study on the effects of
collaborative tasks, student preparation, time, and available resources to authentic assessments
may be conducted.Surveying school administrators, policy makers, and representatives in the
Department of Education for future research endeavors will greatly contribute to the discussion
and elaboration of the data gathered, as well. Future research undertakings exploring or
developing other models for designing assessment tasks may be equally helpful.
 Theoritical Paradigm

The Pedagogical challenges of Using GRASPS as an Assessment tool for

Student’s Performance

AUTHENTIC INSTRUCTION AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT

PERCEPTION OF AUTHENCITICY

INTERNAL PROCESSES AUTHENTIC LEARNING TRANSFER SUCCESS

WITHIN STUDENTS

AUTHENTIC ACHIEVEMENT