have gone unheard. Now that we are a decade into the performance assessment movement, however, some of those quality control lessons have begun to take hold. Assessment specialists have begun to articulate in terms that practitioners can understand the rules of evidence for the development and use of high quality performance assessments (e.g. Messick, 1994). As a result, we are well into a national program of research and development that builds upon an ever clearer vision of the critical elements of sound assessments to produce ever better assessments (Wiggins, 1993). The purpose of this digest is to provide a summary of those attributes of sound assessments and the rules of evidence for using them well. The various ways the reader might take advantage of this information also are detailed. THE BASIC METHODOLOGY The basic ingredients of a performance assessment may be described in three parts (Stiggins, 1984): (1) the specification of a performance to be evaluated, (2) the development of exercises or tasks used to elicit that performance and (3) the design of a scoring and recording scheme for results. Each contains sub- elements within it. For example, in defining the performance to be evaluated, assessment developers must decide where or how evidence of academic proficiency will manifest itself. Is the examinee to demonstrate the ability to reason effectively, carry out other skills proficiently or create a tangible product? Next, the developer must analyze skills or products to identify performance criteria upon which to judge achievement. This requires the identification of the critical elements of performance that come together to make it sound or effective. In addition, performance assessors must define each criterion and articulate the range of achievement that any particular examinee's work might reflect, from outstanding to very poor performance. And finally, users can contribute immensely to student academic development b...
