Assessing Students' Performance

Students' performance in some of the activities of this module can clearly be assessed through traditional tests and exams while many others do not lend themselves easily to such evaluation. At the same time, you might find yourself confronted with state-wide prescripts on how to assess student achievements, e.g., in performance assessments. Consequently, no single evaluation key -- just another rule to go by -- is provided here. Instead, we describe a number of basic options below. You may choose the option your prefer most or combine several in one course, e.g., student self-evaluation and a scoring scheme or traditional tests and a portfolio.

Generally, assessment calls for an answer to two important questions:

"Performance according to whose standards?" -- by your standards, by the student's own standards, or by an external authority's standards; and
"Who is the assessment really for?"

In the guidelines which follow, we can only begin to address these fundamental questions.

Goals of Education

The overall goal of education is to prepare young people to be active participants in society and the world beyond "school." This includes but is not restricted to competence in the work situation that they will encounter once they leave the classroom. According to the SCANS Report (Department of Labor 1991) the following competencies are necessary for the modern workplace:

creative learning
decision making
problem solving
learning how to learn
collaboration
self-management

These basic competencies underlie any individual skill students acquire. In Lori Shephard's words (1989), "Current models of learning based on cognitive psychology contend that learners gain understanding when they construct their own knowledge and develop their own cognitive maps of the interconnections among facts and concepts. ... Real learning cannot be spoon-fed one skill at a time."

Assessment and learning are interconnected. Assessment should mirror the learning process. There are many ways to assess what a student has learned from the activities you asked them to complete. You can use a scoring rubric, ask questions on a mid-term or final exam, ask students to assess their own learning, or put together a portfolio. The idea is to be creative, to match the assessment to the task/learning, to make students' "performing" their knowledge worth their while, and to be efficient with YOUR time.

Student Self-Assessment

Students can write answers to questions like the following to assess what they have learned:

Describe the extent to which you understand the information about ... that we have covered. What are you confused about? What are you confident about?
Describe how effective you have been so far in your task. Are you stuck? Do you feel you have finished the task? What do you need to be more effective?
Describe how effective you have been in acquiring information for your project. What were the problems you encountered? How did you manage them?
Describe how effective you have been in communicating your conclusions. Do you think they are interesting conclusions? Clear? Logical?
Describe how well you have used the competencies of assessing the quality of data throughout the learning module. What causes problems still?
Describe how well you have worked with your group throughout the project. What was the most difficult challenge for you? What do you feel you succeeded in doing well? What could you do better next time?
If you think back to the beginning of this course/module -- what were the most significant things you learned from this? What was most surprising? What was worthwhile? What does what you learned mean to you personally?

Make sure students understand that they should focus on their own work, problems, and accomplishments rather than write a course or module evaluation. If you find students describing similar problems in their self-evaluations, however, you might have received useful feedback for yourself on what to emphasize more or go over again with the class.

Traditional Tests

Multiple choice, matching, fill-in the blank, and essay tests can be very effective, focused, and powerful ways to assess content. Make sure, however, that the test accurately reflects the nature of the learning in the module. Don't assess a "feeling" with a true/false question. Match the assessment to the content and skills emphasized in the module.

Building a Portfolio

This idea comes from Sallie M. Ives (University of North Carolina, Charlotte), 1992 Nations Bank teaching award winner.

Student assessment can be more than a grade that will go down in some soon-to-dust-over record. And it can be for others besides the instructor and the student: student assessment at best reflects where a student is at and what skills and experience s/he has. One person who wants to know exactly that kind of information is a future employer.

Building a portfolio means putting together -- in an clear and attractive way -- a student's completed projects, papers, drawings, maps, charts, posters etc. which reflect the range of skills (writing, various types of manual and computer-based analyses, critical reflection, presentation and so on), and the student's familiarity with particular problems, subject matters, and real-world questions. Such a portfolio has several positive aspects:

it is a real "self-esteem booster" as the student literally sees her/his knowledge and abilities accumulate and as the student self-reflects on her/his skills, the problem-solving process, and the role s/he played in a task's completion;
understanding that class projects have an important "after-life" once the class is over is an additional motivation for students to put more effort into each object that will enter the portfolio;
as students get feedback from the instructor on their work, they can incorporate suggested changes before they put a piece into their portfolio, thus allowing the student's learning to continue after the assessment by the instructor, and making the instructor an interested partner in a student's success rather than an outsider or even a perceived adversary;
a portfolio can continuously be built on -- over time, and from a variety of courses and extra-curricular activities;
the feedback effect of a "public" portfolio to the instructor is that s/he will more likely gear the assignments toward real-world problems;
a portfolio is much more informative, appealing, and "real" to a potential employer than an impersonal and sometimes outdated transcript of grades.

Scoring Rubrics

You can use a rubric to assess students' answers to an entire module. For example, have students hand in their activity sheets or module projects. Grade only five or six key components of the entire module using a scoring rubric:

Activity 1: map completed accurately (20 pts.) Activity 2: graphs accurately show the relationship among wealth, well-being, and environmental degradation (21 pts., 7 pts. each) and so on ...

The following ideas are adapted from Marzano, R.J., D. Pickering, and J. McTighe. 1994. Assessing student outcomes. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. To obtain a copy of this publication, call the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development at (703) 549-9110 or fax them at (703) 549-3891.

Content Rubric

The first rubric is a general rubric to assess how well students have learned content. You need to fill in the specific content as suggested in the first item. Adjust the points/grade according to the specific needs. Note the emphasis on performance (demonstrate, display). Active learning is best assessed by performance.

Grade/points	Description of achievement
A/100	Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the generalizations, concepts, and facts specific to the task or situation [e.g., how human driving forces affect global change] and provides new insights into some aspects of the information.
B/75	Displays a complete and accurate understanding of the generalizations, concepts, and facts specific to the task or situation.
C/50	Displays an incomplete understanding of the generalizations, concepts, and facts specific to the task or situation and has some notable misconceptions.
D/25	Demonstrates severe misconceptions about the generalizations, concepts, and facts specific to the task or situation.

Skills/Process Rubric

The next general rubric is for assessing skills/process. Again, rewrite it to include the specific of the skill, e.g., construct and interpret histograms.

Grade	Description of achievement
A	Demonstrates mastery over the strategy or skill specific to the task or situation. Can perform the strategy or skill without error and with little or not conscious effort.
B	Carries out the strategy or skill specific to the task or situation without significant error.
C	Makes a number of errors when performing the strategy or skill specific to the task or situation but can complete a rough approximation of it.
D	Makes many critical errors when performing the strategy or skill specific to the task or situation.

Finally, here are some goal statements to help you develop your own rubrics:
Thinking	Effectively translates issues and situations into meaningful tasks that have a clear purpose Effectively uses a variety of complex reasoning strategies Is aware of own thinking Makes effective plans Is aware of and makes use of necessary resources Is sensitive to feedback Evaluates the effectiveness of own actions Is accurate and seeks accuracy Is clear and seeks clarity Is open-minded Takes a position when the situation warrants it · Is sensitive to the feelings and levels of knowledge of others Engages intensely in tasks when answers or solutions are not immediately apparent Pushes the limits of own knowledge and ability Generates new ways of viewing a situation outside the boundaries of standard conventions
Information Processing	Effectively interprets and synthesizes information Effectively uses a variety of information gathering techniques and information resources Accurately assesses the value of information Recognizes where and how projects would benefit from more information
Communication	Expresses ideas clearly Effectively communicates in a variety of ways (incl. oral reports, written reports, panel discussion, dramatic enactments, outlines, debates, flow diagrams/models, graphic representations such as maps, newscasts, discussions, audiotapes, slide shows, multimedia presentations, collages, collages, and other creative means) Effectively communicates with diverse audiences Effectively communicates for a variety of purposes Creates quality products
Creativity	Effectively uses a variety of means and resources Provocatively employs information and other resources to make a point Produces original and imaginative pieces of work Goes beyond the minimal or standard ways of completing an assignment
Participation and Involvement	Is present for every (or almost every) class session Demonstrates attentiveness and mental presence Asks questions that show interest, processing, thinking through and ahead of problems Makes insightful, stimulating and helpful comments in class Participates readily in pair or group work Asks for help and helps other students understand the material Brings interesting material to class Produces engaged work Demonstrates self-motivation in a variety of ways

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