Performance-Based Assessment

Performance-Based Assessment Methods: Processes and Tasks

Many kinds of activities are commonly considered to be performance-based tasks. A (nonexhaustive) list of performance-based assessment activities includes presentations, research projects, role-plays, Web pages, experiments, portfolios, extended written responses, performance demonstrations, exhibitions, and working through case studies. Although the precise nature of the activity and the format of a performance-based assessment will vary widely by testing program and testing purpose, it is clear that the listed assortment of performance tasks gives test takers the opportunity—within whatever parameters might be defined by the assessment's developer—to produce rather than select. This range can reflect the individuality of test takers and their unique engagement with the specific nature of the assessment task.

Of course, the actual evaluation products could take any of a variety of actual forms, such as something written (here, think of formats such as short or extended-length essays and also reports, brochures, articles, transcripts of conversations, or letters); a live presentation (that may or may not be recorded for multimedia storage and later re-viewing); or the creation of other objects to be assessed according to specific criteria. For example, the creation of a Web site, the production of a working computer program, and the fabrication of a model or prototype object are items to be evaluated that likewise might be generated in response to a performance task. Furthermore, in addition to this range of products that may be generated, some applications of performance-based testing consider the process by which the intended product or answer is created to be on equal footing with the product or answer itself.

Indeed, in some cases, performance-based assessment might be described more accurately as performance-and-product assessment. Recognizing that process sometimes is and sometimes is not part of what is evaluated through performance-based assessments, Messick identified three kinds of performance tasks: (a) those in which the performance and product are essentially the same thing (i.e., a dance recital), (b) those where the end product is what mainly counts (i.e., an essay), and (c) those in which the performance and the product are distinctly separate but equally important elements to be evaluated (i.e., a science experiment).

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