sks likely to have personal meaning and value to my students; and do some of my tasks provide problems that are situated in real-world contexts and are they appropriate for the age group solving them? EFFECTIVE SCORING AND RECORDING The basis of the effective application of performance assessment methodology is thoroughly trained raters relying on sound performance criteria to observe and evaluate student responses to quality exercises (Stiggins, 1994). It is rarely the case that raters can automatically judge student performance merely as a matter of their prior professional development. Training--or at least a systematic verification of qualifications to rate performance--is essential in all contexts in which quality assessment results are the goal. One test of the quality of ratings is interrater agreement. A high level of degree of agreement is indicative of objectivity of ratings. Another test of quality is consistency in a particular rater's judgments over time. Ratings should not drift but rather should remain anchored to carefully defined points on the scoring scale. A third index of performance rating quality is consistency in ratings across exercises intended to be reflective of the same performance--an index of internal consistency. When these standards are met, it becomes possible to take advantage of the immense power of this kind of assessment to muster concrete evidence of improvement in student performance over time. There are three design decisions to be made by the performance assessment developer with respect to scoring schemes: the level of specificity of scoring, the selection of the record keeping method, and the identification of the rater. Scores can be holistic or analytical, considering criteria together as a whole or separately. The choice is a function of the assessment purpose. Purposes like diagnosing weaknesses in student performance that require a high resolution microscope require analytical scoring. ...
