What are the

characteristics of a
good performance
assessment?
 1. It is authentic, that is, it includes performance
tasks that are meaningful and realistic.

Performance assessment should present or

require tasks that are realistic and related to
everyday life. As it involves an authentic task, it
should convey its purpose and reflect its relevance
to the students, their discipline, and the outside
world as a whole.
2. It provides opportunities for students to show both what they
know and how well they can do what they know.

Performance assessment should achieve a balanced approach

wherein it gives students opportunities to show their knowledge-
and-skill competencies. Since the main goal of teaching and
learning is for students' acquisition and application of knowledge
and skills, course assessments should therefore help answer the
questions "Do the students know it?" and
"How well can they use what they know?" to determine whether
the students have actually achieved this goal.
3. It allows students to be involved in the process of evaluating
their own and their peers' performance and output.

Performance assessment should allow students to be involved

in the process of evaluating themselves and their peers. It
should give students the opportunity for self-reflection or
self-assessment, as well as to be involved in evaluat evaluating
their classmates' performance. Self-assessment allows
students to make judgment about their learning process and
products of learning, track their progress, and identify the
areas where to focus or improve on.
 4. It assesses more complex skills.

Unlike traditional tests that usually assess a single skill and

require simple tasks such as remembering or recalling of
concepts, performance assessment usually taps higher-order
cognitive skills to apply knowledge to solve realistic and
meaningful problems. As such, performance assessment allows
students to engage in more challenging activities that require
various skills, such as planning and decision-making, problem-
solving, critical thinking. communication, and creative skills,
among others.
 5. It explains the task, required elements, and scoring criteria to the students before
the start of the activity and the assessment.

At the start of the class, it is important that the requirements of the subject are
presented and explained to the students. These include the required tasks, activities or
projects, the expected quality and level performance or output, the criteria to be
included for assessment, and the rubric to be used. Ideally, students should be
involved in the whole assessment process from the very onset, by providing them
assessment options, getting them involved in discussions and decision-making on
performance standards and criteria, allowing them opportunity to give feedback on
teacher-made rubrics and to revise them, and training them on how to apply rubric for
self- and peer- assessment.