Abstract

The study presented in this paper sought to revisit and assess the nitty-gritty of the implementation of Theme-Based Authentic Performance Assessment (TBAPA) in the Division of Surigao del Sur. Identifying the different challenges of teachers in giving authentic assessment to students entails important basic questions which are great relevance in order to enhance its implementation in the succeeding school year of modular distance learning modality. Variables being considered are Profile of the respondents, Identification of competencies, Selection of activities, Degree of difficulty, Assessment Rubrics, Quality and Recording. A digital questionnaire was sent to the teachers of Surigao del Sur Division. After performing statistical calculations, a novel finding is that, the major challenge in the implementation of the TBAPA is the quality of outputs submitted by the learners. The survey revealed a mean of 3.94 for the quality variable. It is crucial to note that under this area of concern, statement number 1 “The outputs submitted are obviously student-made” got the lowest mean which is equal to 3.67. It is also interesting to note that recording of the performance assessment results is also deemed as a challenge in the TBAPA implementation since it got a mean score of 4.20. Statement number 4 under recording which says “The outputs are submitted on time” has the lowest mean score of 3.62. These findings of the study point towards the idea that the learners need to be oriented on time management to expedite the recording of assessment results by the teachers using the validated rubrics.

1. Introduction & Rationale

An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students to perform and a rubric by which their performance on the task will be evaluated.

To fight the spread of coronavirus and maintain healthy social-distancing, schools across the country have temporarily closed and quickly transitioned from on-campus, face-to-face learning to distance learning.

The numbers are unprecedented, the implications enormous. As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the globe, a majority of countries have announced the temporary closure of schools, impacting more than 91 per cent of students worldwide – around 1.6 billion children and young people.

Distance learning is continuously complimented for its ability to mirror individual needs and reflect a conducive environment at a per-person level. This style creates high achievers, but the appropriate environment, especially for younger students, can set a stronger scenario for success.

Since learners are not under the supervision of their teachers due to the pandemic, the challenge now lie on how to assess their learning based on the competencies identified by the Department of Education as the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELC).

When considering how to assess student learning in a course, most instructors would agree that the ideal assessment would be one that not only assesses students’ learning; it also teaches students and improves their skills and understanding of course content. One fundamental aspect of such assessments is that they are authentic.

An authentic assignment is one that requires application of what students have learned to a new situation, and that demands judgment to determine what information and skills are relevant and how they should be used. Authentic assignments often focus on messy, complex real-world situations and their accompanying constraints; they can involve a real-world audience of stakeholders or “clients” as well. According to Grant Wiggins ¹, an assignment is authentic if it is realistic; requires judgment and innovation; asks the student to “do” the subject; replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are “tested” in the workplace or in civic or personal life; assesses the student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to negotiate a complex task; allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances and products.

Authentic assessments can be contrasted with conventional test questions, which are often indirect measures of a student’s ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained in a course. Conventional tests have an important place in college courses, but cannot take the place of authentic assessments.

Authentic assessments have several advantages over conventional tests. They are likely to be more valid than conventional tests, particularly for learning outcomes that require higher-order thinking skills. Because they involve real-world tasks, they are also likely to be more interesting for students, and thus more motivating. And finally, they can provide more specific and usable information about what students have succeeded in learning as well as what they have not learned.

However, authentic assessments may require more time and effort on an instructor’s part to develop, and may be more difficult to grade. To address the difficulty of grading authentic assessments, it is often useful to create a grading rubric that specifies the traits that will be evaluated and the criteria by which they will be judged.

Research suggests that learning how and where information can be applied should be a central part of all curricular areas. Also, students exhibit greater interest and levels of learning when they are required to organize facts around major concepts and actively construct their own understanding of the concepts in a rich variety of contexts. Performance assessment requires students to structure and apply information, and thereby helps to engage students in this type of learning.

Performance assessments should be based on the curriculum rather than constructed by someone unfamiliar with the particular state, district or school curriculum. This allows the curriculum to “drive” the test, rather than be encumbered by testing requirements that disrupt instruction, as is often the case. Research shows that most teachers shape their teaching in a variety of ways to meet the requirements of tests. Primarily because of this impact of testing on instruction, many practitioners favor test reform and the new performance assessments.

Performance tasks should be “worth teaching to”; that is, the tasks need to present interesting possibilities for applying an array of curriculum-related knowledge and skills. The best performance tasks are inherently instructional, actively engaging students in worthwhile learning activities. Students may be encouraged by them to search out additional information or try different approaches, and in some situations, to work in teams.

These positive features of performance assessment come at a price. Performance assessment requires a greater expense of time, planning and thought from students and teachers. One teacher reports, “We can't just march through the curriculum anymore. It's hard. I spend more time planning and more time coaching.

The Division of Surigao del Sur through the extension services of Philippine Normal University has developed a scheme of the theme-based authentic performance assessment (TBAPA) which allowed the students to be assessed through a product based on a thematic approach. The learners will create an output based on the learning packet with the competencies, activities, directions and info-graphics including the rubrics for him/her to follow. This modality of assessing the learners took place on the second quarter of S.Y. 2020-21.

With this, the researchers sought to find the challenges in the implementation of the Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment (TBAPA) in the Division of Surigao del Sur.

2. Literature Review

When teachers think in performance terms, they can't wait until the end of a unit to devise their assessment—and they can't expect students to perform if they haven't learned how. Jay McTighe ² (p. 6), director of the Maryland Assessment Consortium, says that performance assessment, developed initially as an alternative to overuse of standardized testing, leads to greater emphasis on performance in the classroom. McTighe's guidelines for performance-based assessment include setting clear performance targets as the basis for curriculum and instruction and publicizing criteria and performance standards. Some school districts have reconceptualized their entire program this way.

All this requires lots of extra work for educators. And at a time when members of the public want better schools but aren't sure what “better” is, it also requires courage. So why do it? In the short term, performance assessments yield useful information about what students can do. In the long run, we want students to be good citizens, productive workers, and all the other things our official goals proclaim. That means we need to go beyond test scores to assess performance ³.

Authentic assessment evaluates whether the student can successfully transfer the knowledge and skills gained in the classroom to various contexts, scenarios, and situations. Authentic Assessment is grounded in theoretical best practices for teaching and learning and serves as an effective measure for course learning outcomes. In many ways, it can be considered the difference between measuring what students know vs. how they can apply that knowledge.

An authentic assessment evaluates if the student can successfully transfer the knowledge and skills gained in the classroom to various contexts, scenarios, and situations beyond the classroom ¹¹.

The table below from Wiggins (1998) compares traditional assessments

Authentic assessments evaluate how students are learning the course material and subject matter over time. Traditional assessments such as quizzes and exams are useful in providing a snapshot of the students' mastery over the subject at a specific interval, but these assessments do not necessarily evaluate how the student can (or will) apply what was learned beyond the classroom (njit.edu).

Moreover, reliance on traditional assessments may prompt students to learn the material simply to pass the exam and then discard the material (or knowledge and skills) after the exam or course has been completed ⁴. Authentic assessments provide students a chance to apply what they’ve learned and allow students to construct meaning about what they've been taught ⁵.

Performance-based assessments have recently experienced a reemergence in education literature and curricula. In the 1990s, performance-based assessments became a valid alternative to traditional multiple-choice tests. In the years that followed, legislative requirements shifted the emphasis to standardized testing, which caused a decline in nontraditional testing methods ⁶. Currently, more school districts and universities are seeking authentic measures of student learning, and performance-based assessments have become increasingly relevant.

In general, a performance-based assessment measures students' ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit or units of study. Typically, the task challenges students to use their higher-order thinking skills to create a product or complete a process ⁷.

Division memo No. 031, s. 2021 in Surigao del Sur also known as Roll-out and Designing Theme-Based Authentic Performance and Assessment (TBPA) Materials to 35 Districts for Second Quarter instructs the field to allow the select teachers to be trained for TBAPA so that the schools will utilize the learning packets to be designed by the developers.

From January 4 to February 27, 2021, quarter 2 was conducted to all schools mandated by Memorandum OUCI-2020-307 of the Department of Education and the learners of Surigao del Sur division was given the theme-based authentic performance assessment on the last week of the aforementioned quarter.

3. Research Questions

This study is focused on the challenges in the implementation of the Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment (TBPA) in the Division of Surigao del Sur.

Considering the research problem, the following questions are posed:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of

a. Sex

b. Age

c. Grade Level Taught

d. Subjects Handled

e. Number of Years in Teaching

f. District They Belong

2. What are the challenges in the implementation of Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment (TBAPA) in the Division of Surigao del Sur as to:

a. Identification of competencies, b. selection of activities, c. degree of difficulty, d. assessment rubrics, e. quality, f. recording

3. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the challenges in the implementation of Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment (TBAPA) as to sub problem no. 2?

4. What measures are recommended to enhance the Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment (TBAPA) in the Division of Surigao del Sur?

HYPOTHESIS

This study was guided by the null hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the challenges in the implementation of Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment in the Division of Surigao del Sur.

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

4. Scope and Limitation

The study is limited to the challenges identified in the implementation of Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment in the Division of Surigao del Sur. The researchers sought to identify dominating challenges to design and provide necessary interventions in order to enhance the implementation of the Theme-based Authentic Performance and Assessment. Specifically, the study determined the challenges encountered on identification of competencies; selection of activities; degree of difficulty; assessment rubrics; quality; and recording.

Findings and conclusions were primarily based on the results from the digital survey questionnaire sent to the teachers in the Division of Surigao del Sur via online. Results were used to come up with solutions to enhance the implementation of the theme-based authentic performance assessment (TBAPA) during the distance learning modality of the schools in the entire division of Surigao del Sur.

5. Research Methodology

This study used a descriptive quantitative research design. The population of the study consisted teachers in the Surigao del Sur division. Complete enumeration was used in choosing the respondents. There were Two Thousand Five Hundred Forty-Six teachers who answered the online survey which ran for two weeks from August 1-13, 2021.

Data gathering is crucial in research, as the data is meant to contribute to a better understanding of a theoretical framework ⁸. It then becomes imperative that selecting the manner of obtaining data and from whom the data will be acquired be done with sound judgment, especially since no amount of analysis can make up for improperly collected data ⁹.

As part of the research data collection procedure, an online questionnaire written in English was designed to capture data on the following variables: Profile and The Challenges in the Implementation of Theme-Based Authentic Performance Assessment. These variables mainly comprised the validated questionnaire. A total of 30 questions were formulated to capture information on all the variables. Each statement on the questionnaire was based on the Likert scale, and each answer was assigned weights to establish normally distributed scores. The weights of the responses from the questionnaire were assigned as follows:

1. Refers to “Never”

2. Refers to “Seldom”

3. Refers to “Sometimes”

4. Refers to “Many Times”

5. Refers to “Always”

Prior to the floating of the questionnaire, the researchers asked for the approval of the Schools Division Superintendent and waited for the go signal for the release of the survey via online. To observe intellectual property right, all data gathered from all the respondents were subjected to utmost confidentiality. Maintaining confidentiality is a critical step in ensuring the security of personal information provided with consent by the chosen respondents.

6. Discussion of Results

This part deals with the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of the data.

1. What is the profile of the teacher respondents in terms of Sex, Age, Grade Level, Subject Taught and the District they belong to?

Table 1 reflects the demographic profile of the two thousand five hundred forty-six (2, 546) teachers who served as respondents. Based on the table, three hundred ninety two (392) or 15.4% of the them were male and two thousand one hundred fifty four (2, 154) or 84.6% were female of which one hundred thirty six (136) or 5.3% belonged to below 25 age bracket, one thousand sixty one (1,061) or 41.7% to the 25-35 age group, seven hundred fifteen (715) or 28.1% to the 36-45 age bracket, three hundred eighty two (382) or 15% to the age 46-55 and two hundred fifty two (252) or 9.9% to the 56-65 age bracket.

The table also shows that two hundred ninety-six (296) teachers or 11.6% were handling Grade 1 classes, two hundred sixty (260) or 10.2% were from Grade 2 and two hundred forty-five (245) or 9.5% were from Grade 3. There were also two hundred twenty-nine (229) which is equivalent to 9% who Grade 4 teachers, two hundred thirty-eight or 9.3% were Grade 5 teachers and two hundred sixty-six or 10.4% of the respondents were Grade 6 teachers. In addition, Grade 7 teachers comprised 8.8% of the total number of respondents or two hundred twenty-five (225), while Grade 8 had one hundred eighty-four teachers (184) or 7.2% who answered the survey. Grade 9 teachers had a sum of one hundred seventy-five (175) or 6.9% respondents and there were one hundred ninety-three (193) or 7.6% teachers who are from Grade 10 level. Furthermore, there were one hundred thirty-six or 5.3% respondents who are Grade 11 teachers and ninety-nine (99) respondents or 3.9% were Grade 12 teachers.

In terms of their subject being taught, for Junior High School table number 1 shows that four hundred sixty-two (462) or 18.1% of the respondents were English teachers, three hundred nine (309) or 12.1% were Science teachers, three hundred ninety-one (391) or 15.4% were Filipino teachers and three hundred ninety-four (394) or 15.5% were teaching Mathematics subjects. Moreover, a total of one hundred eighty-eight (188) or 7.4% respondents were handling Araling Panlipunan, one hundred fifty-eight (158) or 6.2% were teaching MAPEH and the same number of teachers handled TLE subject. There were also three hundred twenty-one (321) or 12.6% ESP teachers who took part of the survey.

For Senior High School respondents , twenty-five (25) teachers or 1% were handling Math related subjects, forty-eight (48) or 1.9% were handling Social Sciences subjects, forty-nine (49) or 1.9% were teaching TVL subjects and forty-three (43) or 1.7% were handling Communication and English related subjects.

The respondents’ number of years in teaching was also gathered and reflected in Table number 1 and it shows that five hundred fifty-nine (559) or 22% of the respondents were those with 0-3 years teaching experience, one thousand fourteen (1,014) or 39.8% were those with 4-10 years of teaching experience and nine hundred seventy-three (973) or 38.2% have more than 10 years of experience in teaching. Table number 1 also reveals the number of respondents in every municipality in the Division of Surigao del Sur who took part of the survey. They comprised the two thousand five hundred forty-six number of respondents.

2. What are the challenges in the implementation of theme-based authentic performance assessment (TBAPA) of the teacher respondents as to: Identification of Competencies, Selection of Activities, Degree of Difficulty, Assessment Rubrics, Equality and Recording?

Table 2 presents the different identified challenges in the implementation of TBAPA with mean score and description for each statement. Based on the table, the results demonstrated that identification of competencies and selection of activities have a mean score of 4.29 and 4.39 respectively which fall under “always” description.

In terms of the degree of difficulty, it has a mean score of 4.34 with the description “always” together with assessment rubrics with 4.35 mean score under “always description also. For the quality and recording, mean scores of 3.94 and 4.20 were computed. Both would fall under “Many Times “description.

From the results, it is clear that quality of submitted outputs is the number challenge in the implementation of TBAPA since it got the lowest mean score of 3.94. Under this area of concern, statement number 1 “The outputs submitted are obviously student-made” got the lowest mean which is equal to 3.67.

Teachers perceived that the outputs submitted by the learners were not student-made. Now that the entire Division of Surigao del Sur is into Modular Distance Learning, teachers cannot physically monitor the students while performing their required tasks. Home learning facilitators should understand that they could help their students in doing the task but should not perform the task for them since teachers would like to assess their students’ learning.

Meanwhile, recording of the performance assessment results is also revealed as a challenge in the TBAPA implementation since it got a mean score of 4.20. Statement number 4 under recording which says “The outputs are submitted on time” has the lowest mean score of 3.62. This could mean that the reason has something to do with the span of time the students submitted their outputs. This suggests that students will be given ample time to accomplish the task and required with easy or simplified performance task for each subject so that they can submit it on time.

And since performance tasks usually take time, learners must be taught about time management. Jackson ¹⁰ mentioned that there are two major time management stumbling blocks: procrastination and perfectionism. When learners put off tasks (usually difficult tasks), they often increase their anxiety level, further delaying their work on the task. Learners must understand that the performance assessment must be allocated with a lot of time so that they will utilize the allotted time for the TBAPA.

3. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the challenges in the implementation of Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment as to sub-problem No. 2

Upon performing correlational analysis, table number 3 reveals that Sex, Age, Subject Taught and the District respondents belonged to have no significant relationship when it comes to the Identification of the Competencies. However, the Grade Level assignment of the respondents and their Number of Years in teaching are correlated to Identification of Competencies.

Every grade level in the K-12 curriculum has different sets of competencies. Thus, identification of competencies is connected to the grade level the teachers are assigned to. It is assumed that teachers in a particular grade level will utilize the competencies set for the said level of learners in the development of assessment materials such as TBAPA. In addition, since the number of years in teaching is related to the identification of competencies, this implies that teaching experience is one factor in identifying appropriate competencies to be assessed in an authentic performance.

Mulholland and Berliner’s ¹² Teacher Experience and the Estimation of Student Achievement can support this. The study examines differences between pre-service and experienced teachers’ ability to predict students’ final marks based on what competencies to assess. Not surprisingly, experienced teachers who have a greater understanding of their students were better able to predict student achievement.

For the correlation study between the Profile variable and the Selection of Activities variable, it can be gauged that there is no relationship between the teachers’ Sex, Age, Subject Taught and the Number of Years in Teaching. But data suggests that Grade Level assignment and the district they are in are linked to the Selection of

Activities. This could imply that teachers in every grade level perceive those activities from the different levels should vary based on the capability of the learners and the grade level they are in. Districts in the division of Surigao del Sur can also have a different sets of required activities based on the availability of the materials in their locality. The localization of the curriculum can allow learning to become more meaningful and relevant. It supports policy formulation and standard setting for reform of the curriculum and the impact of this on teacher skills and knowledge. Localization will involve the use of local materials both as the subject and object of instruction. Localization will also involve making the local culture an integral part of the curriculum.

In terms of the Degree of Difficulty of the TBAPA materials, respondents’ Sex, Subject Taught and Number of Years in Teaching have no significant relationship to it. However, Age, Grade Level and the District they belong to are connected to their perception on the Level of Difficulty of the TBAPA Packets.

Moreover, Sex, Age, Subject Taught, Number of Years in Teaching and the District assignment have no correlation to the Assessment Rubrics except for the Grade Level they are handling which is directly connected to the Assessment Rubrics as shown in table number 3.

For the Quality variable versus the Profile variable, numbers reveal that Teachers’ profile specifically Sex, Age, Grade Level, Number of Years in Teaching and District are not connected to the Quality of TBAPA Outputs except for the Subjects handled by the teacher-respondents which is correlated to the quality of submitted outputs.

Assessing the learning that results from students’ participation in relevant, authentic activities in the classroom requires the use of different measurement techniques than those typically used to assess learning. Authentic tasks require authentic measurements. This is implies that the themed output might not be suited to the subject being measured.

In terms of correlating the recording of assessment results and the respondents’ profile, it can be established based on the data gathered that Sex, Subject Taught and their District assignment have no relationship with the Recording of assessment results. Furthermore, results appear that teachers’ Age, Grade Level and Number of Years in Teaching have correlation with the Recording of TBAPA results.

Since the theme-based assessment requires tedious checking through rubrics, and the prominent age of the respondents which are 25-35 years old (41.7%), this implies that the teachers are still new in service and they are still adjusting to the teaching and learning processes. Grade 1 teachers who responded comprise 11.6% of the total respondents and most of the pupils here are still non-readers and their numeracy skills are still starting to be honed. This implies that the quality of the outputs is not that good and it is difficult for these pupils to submit on time that recording will take longer. The majority of the respondents’ years in service are 4-10 years (39.8%). Teaching experience is positively associated with student achievement gains throughout a teacher’s career. Gains in teacher effectiveness associated with experience are most steep in teachers’ initial years, but continue to be significant as teachers reach the second, and often third, decades of their careers ¹³.

3. What measures are recommended to enhance the Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment implementation in the Division of Surigao del Sur?

In order to enhance the implementation of the theme-based authentic performance assessment (TBAPA) in the Division of Surigao del Sur, the following measures are recommended:

1. INSET/LAC Sessions of teachers on making the Theme-based Authentic Performance & Assessment more consistent to the capabilities of the learners and their diverse learning styles.

2. A recalibration of the packets to cluster subjects linked to each other and not just a one-output-for-all-subjects scheme.

3. An enhanced Weekly Routine focused on the conduct of performing the TBAPA is recommended to be distributed to all the learners to address time management issues.

4. TBAPA packets must be distributed ahead of time so to give ample time to students in creating the outputs needed. This will also expedite the recording of the teachers on the learners’ grades based on the rubrics.

5. It is recommended that future research on The Efficacy of Theme-Based Authentic Performance Assessment (TBAPA) in a Menu to be conducted.

Definition of Terms

The following are the terms used in the study:

AUTHENTIC PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. This is a system of learning and assessment that allows students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a learning environment that embraces their higher-order thinking skills, as well as relating it to real-world situations

COMPETENCIES. Inherent qualities an individual possesses – combining skills, knowledge and ability.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY. Is a concept used to indicate the technical difficulty of a skill, performance, or course, often as a factor in scoring.

ASSESSMENT RUBRICS. Tool that clearly indicates achievement criteria across all the components of any kind of student work, from written to oral to visual. It can be used for marking assignments, class participation, or overall grades.

QUALITY. The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.

CHALLENGES. To come upon or meet with, especially unexpectedly: to encounter a new situation. to meet with or contend against (difficulties, opposition, etc.).

RECORDING. A stage of the assessment and feedback cycle where ratings are recorded.

References