Chapter 3 . Process-Oriented Performance-Based Assessment
Teachers tend to assess students’ learning through their outputs or products or through
some kind of traditional testing. However, it is important to assess not only these competencies
but also the processes which the students underwent in order to arrive at these products or
outputs. Assessment can help us understand which students learn best under what conditions;
with such knowledge comes the capacity to improve the whole of their learning. Processoriented performance-based assessment is concerned with the actual task performance rather
than the output or product of the activity.
Learning Competencies. The learning objectives in process-oriented performancebased assessment are stated in directly observable behaviors of the students. Competencies are
defined as groups or clusters of skills and abilities for needed for a particular task. The
objectives generally focus on those behaviors which exemplify a “best practice” for the
particular task. Such behaviors range from a “beginner” or novice level up to the level of an
“expert”. An example of learning competencies for a process-oriented performance-based
assessment is given below:
Task: Recite a Poem by Jose Garcia Villa, “Have Come”
Objectives: The activity aims to enable the students to recite a poem entitled “Have
Come”
1.
2.
3.
4.
Recite the poem from memory without
referring to notes;
ae
Use appropriate hand and body gestures in delivering the piece;
Maintain eye contact with the audience while reciting the poem;
Create the ambiance of the poem through appropriate rising and falling
intonation; and
5. Pronounce the words clearly and with proper diction.
Notice that the objectives starts with a general statement of what is expected of the
student from the task and then breaks down the general objective into easily observable
behaviors when reciting a poem. The specific objectives identified constitute the learning
competencies for this particular task. As in the statement of objectives using Bloom’s taxonomy,
the specific objectives also range from simple observable processes to more complex observable
processes e.g. creating an ambiance of the poem through appropriate rising and falling
intonation. A competency is said to be more complex when it consists of two or more skills.
Task Designing. Learning tasks need to be carefully planned. In particular, the teacher
must ensure that the particular learning process to be observed contributes to the overall
understanding of the subject or course. Some generally accepted standards for designing a task
include:
a. Identifying an activity that would highlight the competencies to be evaluated.
Example: reciting a poem, writing an essay, manipulating the microscope
b. Identifying an activity that would entail more or less the same sets of
competencies. If an activity would result in too many possible competencies, then
the teacher would have difficulty assessing the student’s competency on the task.
c. Finding a task that would be interesting and enjoyable for the students. Tasks such
as writing an essay are often boring and cumbersome for the students.
Example. The topic is on understanding biological diversity. The possible task design is
to bring the students to a pond or creek. Ask them to find all living organisms as
they can find living near the pond or creek. You can also bring the students to the
school playground to find as many living organisms as they can. Observe how the
students will develop a system for finding such organisms, classifying the
organisms and concluding the differences in biological diversity of the two sites.
Scoring Rubrics. Rubric is a scoring scale used to assess student performance along a
task-specific set of criteria. Authentic assessment typically are criterion-referenced measures,
that is, a student’s aptitude on a task is determined by matching the student’s performance
against a set of criteria to determine the degree to which the student’s performance meets the
criteria for the task. To measure student performance against a pre-determined set of criteria, a
rubric, or scoring scale which contains the essential criteria for the task and appropriate levels of
performance for each criterion is typically created. For example, the following rubric covers the
recitation portion of a task in English.
Recitation Rubric (Analytic Rubric)
Criteria
Weight
Number of appropriate
x1
hand gestures
Appropriate facial
expression
x1
Voice inflection
x2
Incorporate proper
ambiance through
feelings in the voice
x3
3
10-12 appropriate
hand gestures
No apparent
inappropriate
facial expression
Can easily vary
voice inflection
Recitation fully
captures ambiance
through feelings in
the voice
2
5 -9 appropriate
hand gestures
Few
inappropriate
facial
expression
Can vary voice
inflection with
difficulty
Recitation has
some feelings
1
1-4 appropriate
hand gestures
Lots of
inappropriate
facial
expression
Monotone voice
used
Recitation
contains very
little feelings
The above rubric is comprised of two components: criteria and levels of performance.
The criteria, characteristics of good performance on a task, are listed in the left-hand column in
the rubric (number of hand gestures, appropriate facial features, voice inflection and ambiance).
The full criteria are statements of performance such as “include a sufficient number of hand
gestures” and “recitation captures the ambiance through appropriate feelings and tone in the
voice.”
For each criterion, the evaluator applying the rubric can determine to what degree the
student has met the criterion, i.e., the level of performance. The rubric above has three levels of
performance for each criterion. For example, the recitation can contain lots of inappropriate, few
inappropriate or no inappropriate hand gestures.
Lastly, the rubric above contains a mechanism for assigning a score to each project. In
the second-to-left column, a weight is assigned each criterion. Students can receive 1, 2 or 3
points for “number of sources.” But appropriate ambiance, more important in this teacher’s
mind, is weighted three times (x 3) as heavily. So, students can receive 3, 6 or 9 points for the
level of appropriateness in this task. Note that assessments and their accompanying rubrics can
be used for purposes other than evaluation and, thus, do not have to have points or grades
attached to them.)
The above rubric includes another common, but not a necessary component or rubrics –
descriptors. Descriptors spell out what is expected of students at each level of performance for
each criterion. In the above example, “lots of inappropriate hand gestures,” “monotone voice
used” are descriptors. A descriptor tells students more precisely what performance looks like at
each level and how their work may be distinguished from the work of others for each criterion.
The descriptors also help the teacher more precisely and consistently distinguish between student
work.
The analytic rubric above can be turned into a holistic rubric:
3 – Excellent speaker
 Include 10-12 changes in hand gestures
 No apparent inappropriate facial expressions
 Utilizes proper voice inflection
 Can create proper ambiance for the poem
2 – Good speaker
 Include 5 – 9 changes in hand gestures
 Few inappropriate facial expressions
 Have some inappropriate voice inflection changes
 Almost creating proper ambiance
1 – Poor speaker
 Included 1 – 4 changes in hand gestures
 Lots of inappropriate facial expressions
 Uses monotone voice

Cannot create proper ambiance
NAME: ______________________________________ DATE: __________________
COURSE & MAJOR: ___________________________ SCORE: _________________
Task 1
For each of the following tasks, identify at least three process-oriented learning
competencies. The first item was done for you.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Conducting a debate on the effect of Corona Virus Disease to the educational system.
 Express ideas with logical consistency;
 Cite factual issues and defenses; and
 Display emotional appeal to the audience.
Role playing to illustrate the concept of Filipino resiliency in times of pandemic.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Constructing three-dimensional models of solids from cardboards.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Performing a skit on the importance of the Filipino language.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Conducting an experiment concerning the effects of global warming.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Sewing an apron.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
NAME: ______________________________________ DATE: __________________
COURSE & MAJOR: ___________________________ SCORE: _________________
Task 2
Choose two activities, one for your major/specialization and one for other specialization. For
each activity, construct your own holistic and analytic rubrics. Paste or write your four rubrics
below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Explaining a poster
Sewing a pillow case
Computing an algebraic expression
Singing the national anthem
Pagtula ng Huling Paalam
Dancing a fold dance
Conducting an experiment
NAME: ______________________________________ DATE: __________________
COURSE & MAJOR: ___________________________ SCORE: _________________
Task 3
Reflection Log
I learned that having rubrics in teaching and studying is very useful and helpful. It can give us a
structure to provide more effective to our student. In that sense a rubric can also provide with
valuable information about which aspects if our course is working well and which are not.
As a future educator, using rubrics is very important because it helps us to justify what
grade our going to give our students outputs and performances, it is also show or measure the
abilities of students with concreate feedback that displays areas of strength and areas in need of
improvement. This set of guidelines used to promote the consistent application of learning
expectation, learning objectives, or learning standards in classroom, or to measure their
attainment against a consistent of criteria.
For this reason, rubrics help teachers teach, they help coordinate instruction and
assessment, agreed upon, objective and they help student learn. In general rubrics described
expectations for skill that can be generalized across performance, assignments and so on.
I got new learning for this activity.