Performance-Based Assessment

Performance-based assessment describes an approach to testing using tasks, which differs considerably from traditional assessment formats. [Page 1235]Although wide variation exists among the range of tasks that fall under this approach, performance-based testing tasks are characterized by at least one (or more typically, two or more) of the following three elements. First, performance-based assessment often involves high levels of interactivity or engagement with the testing task/item. Second, the result of performance-based assessment is usually the generation of a unique product or performance. The third and perhaps most defining element of performance-based assessment is the extent to which the testing task is contextualized in highly realistic scenarios. For tests composing one or more performance-based tasks, the measurement expectation is that the test takers will demonstrate their ...