Performance assessment was introduced in school in the late 1990s in response to the transition to the society of knowledge and information, the emergence of the constructivist view of learning, and reflection of the existing standardized tests. Since...
Performance assessment was introduced in school in the late 1990s in response to the transition to the society of knowledge and information, the emergence of the constructivist view of learning, and reflection of the existing standardized tests. Since then, performance assessment has been accepted as a matter of course and localized through compromise and transformation in the education field of Korea.
Nevertheless, it is not responded favorably by all involved parties including teachers, students and parents, and in some cases it is executed superficially apart from the original purposes of performance assessment. In this situation, we need to have structural in depth understanding of the current state of performance assessment that has gone through transformation and compromise. Furthermore, the understanding of performance assessment is required of teachers, who are the main actors in performance assessment as an educational reform. Even if performance assessment is introduced earnestly as an educational reform, it cannot achieve its fundamental goals without individual teachers’ understanding and practice.
The objectives of this study were to identify the patterns of social studies performance assessment executed in Korean high school classroom and to find the reason for difference in the pattern among teachers from the perception and practice of teachers, who are the primary actors of performance assessment. For these purposes, we sampled two high school teachers showing different characteristics in the execution of performance assessment and conducted in depth interviews with them. The in depth interviews were performed in a semi structured form. The contents of interview were tape recorded and transcribed, and the researchers’ interview diary written after the interview and the case teachers’ performance assessment plans, evaluation criteria, and minutes of meeting were also used as research data. Major results from this study are summarized as follows.
First, the two case teachers showed quite different patterns of performance assessment throughout the entire process of performance assessment.
At the planning stage, the two teachers were different from each other in the principle of performance assessment. Teacher A made plans under the principle that performance assessment should be made according to the goal of the politics subject. Concluding that performance assessment should aim at the goal of the politics subject, which is the development of decision making ability and the attitude of a participatory democratic citizen, Teacher A allocated a reflection ratio as high as 40%. In choosing four items of performance assessment as well, he focused on the point that, through various types of performance assessment, students can experience participation, another goal pursued by the politics subject, and cultivate advanced thinking abilities like critical thinking and decision making. On the contrary, Teacher B planned performance assessment under the principle that there should not be students’ objection to the results of performance assessment. He allocated a reflection ratio of 20% on the grounds that disputes with the administrator can be avoided by adopting the ratio that had been used at his school. In choosing two items of performance assessment as well, he focused on preventing the total score of performance assessment from being zero, contributing to preparation for the entrance examination, and facilitating the evaluation and rating.
At the stage of executing performance assessment as well, the two teachers showed difference from each other. Teacher A was dynamic and active, making continuous revisions and supplementations through trials and errors in active interaction with students. Through the attempt to get away from a rigid frame, he provided various meanings to students’ learning and development. On the contrary, Teacher B repeated the plans made at the beginning of the semester without trials and errors, and he prevented students’ objections and removed obstacles to the objectivity of evaluation. However, these efforts did not have any significant effect on the students’ learning and development.
Also at the stage of processing performance assessment results, two teachers showed difference from each other. Teacher A perceived that objections to the results of performance assessment are natural, and was confident that such objections can be resolved properly through an interview with the student if the objectivity of rating is guaranteed. In comparison, Teacher B perceived that an objection to the results of performance assessment is a consequence of students’ challenge to the teacher’s evaluation right and their distrust of evaluation results, and thus, he was reluctant to interact with students and tried to eliminate any possibility of objections.
Second, the reason for these differences in the process of performance assessment between the two teachers came from various causes including the teachers’ perception of objectivity, external context, and internal context.
The two teachers perceived the objectivity of evaluation differently. Teacher A regarded objectivity as ‘the evaluator’s reliability’ and made efforts to enhance the objective of evaluation through switching from holistic rating to analytical rating. However, Teacher B misunderstood that objectivity is ‘the absence of objections from students’ in the climate of his school. Therefore, deviating from the essential goal of performance assessment, he evaluated the students defensively by giving a high base score or distributing a problem bank in advance in order to prevent students’ objections.
The external context surrounding the two teachers also showed a significant difference. Because Teacher A took charge of familiar administrative works and an 11th grade class, he was pressed less by administrative and teaching workload, and had sufficient time for performance assessment. Furthermore, the process of communication with the school administrator was democratic and students’ support to and interest in the teacher’s educational experiment were also high, so the teacher was able to conduct various types of performance assessment actively. However, Teacher B was in charge of heavy administrative works and a 12th grade class and, therefore, he was pressed by excessive workload and could not secure enough time to conduct performance assessment. Moreover, the process of communication with the school administrator was of authoritarian top down command structure, and students also disapproved the teacher’s educational experiment. As a result, under the pressure to do indisputable performance assessment, Teacher B conducted performance assessment superficially with losing the fundamental purposes of performance assessment.
Notable differences were observed also in the internal context created by the two teachers. Teacher A had a belief agreeing upon the necessity of performance assessment, and the will to practice performance assessment through continuous self adjustment. Furthermore, perceiving learners to be the partners of open communication based on trust, he recognized students’ progress in the process of performance assessment and was motivated by it positively. On the contrary, Teacher B agreed upon the necessity of performance assessment but lacked material struggles and efforts to carry out his thought. In addition, assuming that it was hard to communicate with learners, he blocked interaction with students passively in the process of performance assessment.
Through this study, we found that, even in the same background of learning the ‘politics’ subject in the classroom of academic high school in Korea, quite different patterns of performance assessment appeared, and the difference was explained by various factors including the teachers’ perception of objectivity, external context, and internal context. From these results, we could get some clues to the meaningful implementation of social studies performance assessment in the field despite various practical constraints.
First, efforts should be made to enhance the validity of performance assessment. In conducting evaluation that is directly linked to student selection under the current education system focused on the entrance examination, the objectivity of evaluation has been overemphasized. Overemphasis on objectivity led to insufficient deliberation on “What are evaluated,” which in turn resulted in lack of reflection on the “validity” of social studies performance assessment. That is, we need to consider what goals social studies pursues, and to focus on the validity of performance assessment in terms of how to measure the achievement of the goals. With efforts to enhance the validity of performance assessment, we can attain the original purpose of performance assessment, which is not for superficial evaluation but for the right assessment of learning process and students’ development.
Second, we need to set teachers free from bindings and constraints such as authoritarian atmosphere emphasizing law and order and pessimistic views of learners’ abilities and motives. The authenticity of performance assessment can be attained when teachers’ specialty and autonomy are acknowledged, teachers’ educational experiments are encouraged openly, and students are perceived to be highly potential and communicable.
As this study was conducted with two case teachers, its results have a limitation in being generalized. Accordingly, there should be more extensive research on teachers’ perception and practice of performance assessment. What is more, this study was based on the opinions of teachers who are performance evaluators, but students’ responses to performance assessment are expected to give a broader understanding of social studies performance assessment.