Chapter 9 – Performance-Based Summative Assessment
Is there any other way?
I was intrigued when Chapter 9 suggested introducing performance-based summative assessment into various content areas – but noticed that there is no alternative offered for those subjects that are ALREADY performance based, like drama or music. If the other subject areas are operating under the belief that the “advantage of non-test performance assessments is their adaptability to meet the needs of students with different learning styles” (231), how can the performing arts adapt to meet the same diverse set of needs? Should those subjects instead re-introduce test assessment for the sake of variety?
Obviously not, but that does beg the question what to do instead? Student-led lectures are always an option – but too much lecturing in a drama room can be tedious for kinesthetic learners, and often each group mimics the style of activities established by the first group of presenters. The production of written work such as an editorial letter, book/play review, a children’s book, poems, stories and How-to Manuals (234), seems anti-climatic if it is not accompanied with the opportunity to present the published works. But presenting these works orally leads us back to a performance-based assessment. You might note that my struggle has established a pattern…
However, there is ample opportunity for formative assessment along the way. Drama assessment in particular, often relies on participation activities that are designed to get students engaged in the process of drama – which lessens the emphasis on grading a final performance, or a product. Such participation activities are a good way to gage whether or not students are grasping the micro skills and basic concepts required to progress into more complex (summative) work. I also think that formative assessment activities allow for low risk check-ins for students to demonstrate new language skills. Overall, I applaud the idea of including performance-based assessment in a variety of subjects, but will strive to find ways to offer more frequent formative assessments in my classroom.