Performance Assessment Assignments
Posted on: 22 December 2014
Most students have different learning styles and different developmental levels. This fact adds an additional challenge to the role of teachers. Recognizing each student's ability and meeting them at their level is where the challenge lies.
Traditional testing is generally the method used to help teachers identify both the strengths and weakness of their students. However, this is not the only method. Performance assessments are an alternative that can offer better insight on this matter.
What's Included
Written assignments – This form of the assessment generally provides the student with an open-ended question that they are required to answer in essay form. This type of assessment is important because it doesn't offer the luxury of using the process of elimination or memorizing information that often occurs with traditional multiple choice questions. An example of this might be requiring the student to read a passage and answer a series of questions based on what they have read. This type of assignment works well for exams on English or social studies.
Group assignments – Group assignments help you gauge a student's level and teach them the value of teamwork. With this type of assignment you give the group a complex task and give the students the responsibility of delegating each task of the project on their own. How well the students complete the assignment can highlight areas of improvement for each student and determine how well each student is able to assume responsibility on their own. Group assignments are a great choice for assessments on social studies and history.
Demonstration – One of the most effective types of performance assessment tasks are demonstrations. Demonstrations put the student and their ability out front. This type of assessment is particularly helpful when it comes to assessing a student's ability in scientific theory. For example, give the student the responsibility of creating a hypothesis and testing it. This will provide you with insight on how well the student not just understands the scientific process, but also their application skills. Based on all the demonstrations you can gauge the skill level of each student and the class as a whole.
The feedback you get from assessments will offer you the most insight on the progress of your students. This will not only assist you in measuring the abilities of your students, but it can also offer you assistance with developing your teaching structure for the future.
For more ideas on performance assesments, check out companies such as GEMS of Florida for help.
Share