What are the characteristics of a good performance assessment?
With so many different types of performance assessment tasks or tools that can be used to measure
students’ learning outcomes, deciding which one to use can be confusing and challenging, In choosing
and designing the best performance assessment, it is good to evaluate its suitability against the following
criteria:
1. It is authentic, that is, it includes performance tasks that are meaningful and realistic.
Performance assessmentshould present or requiretasks 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. For example, in an Entrepreneur class wherein one of the
learning outcomes is the ability to develop a business plan, instead of giving final exams to test students’
knowledge of concepts, principles, and processes of developing a business plan, the students will be
required to submit a proposed business plan for a putting up a new investment. This performance task
entails students to identify the market needs and gaps, plan out the marketing mix (7Ps) and the 4Ms of
operations, and forecast the costs and revenues of the business. This task allows students to have hands-
on experience in performing a task that is done in the actual world.
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. For example, in, a Practical Research 2
class, the teacher may require research output at the end of the course, since this performance task will
not only inform the teacher whether the students learned the different parts of a research, paper but
also. Whether the students can conceptualize a good research paper, conduct review of related
literature, apply appropriate data gathering procedure and analysis, and make valid interpretations and
implications of the results. The main challenge is for the teachers to choose performance tasks that can
measure both the competencies of “knowing” and “applying” and at most “creating”.
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 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. Peer assessment, on the other hand, allows students to give
constructive feedback about the performance of their classmates or groupmates, which the latter can
With so many different types of performance assessment tasks or tools that can be used to measure
students’ learning outcomes, deciding which one to use can be confusing and challenging, In choosing
and designing the best performance assessment, it is good to evaluate its suitability against the following
criteria:
1. It is authentic, that is, it includes performance tasks that are meaningful and realistic.
Performance assessmentshould present or requiretasks 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. For example, in an Entrepreneur class wherein one of the
learning outcomes is the ability to develop a business plan, instead of giving final exams to test students’
knowledge of concepts, principles, and processes of developing a business plan, the students will be
required to submit a proposed business plan for a putting up a new investment. This performance task
entails students to identify the market needs and gaps, plan out the marketing mix (7Ps) and the 4Ms of
operations, and forecast the costs and revenues of the business. This task allows students to have hands-
on experience in performing a task that is done in the actual world.
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. For example, in, a Practical Research 2
class, the teacher may require research output at the end of the course, since this performance task will
not only inform the teacher whether the students learned the different parts of a research, paper but
also. Whether the students can conceptualize a good research paper, conduct review of related
literature, apply appropriate data gathering procedure and analysis, and make valid interpretations and
implications of the results. The main challenge is for the teachers to choose performance tasks that can
measure both the competencies of “knowing” and “applying” and at most “creating”.
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 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. Peer assessment, on the other hand, allows students to give
constructive feedback about the performance of their classmates or groupmates, which the latter can
