Assessment of Project Work

Assessing student performance on project work is quite different from assessing traditional classwork. Because students are working on different projects with different timelines, the teacher’s task of assessing student progress is more complex than for typical classroom instruction where everyone is evaluated together.

Purpose of the Assessment

Before determining what assessment strategies would work best, the teacher needs to determine what the purpose of the assessment is. Most purposes fall into two general categories (Bonthron & Gordon, 1999):

• Achievement: Focus on outcomes of student learning to monitor progress and determine grades.
• Diagnosis and Improvement: Focus on process and look at student strengths and weaknesses to identify appropriate programs and students’ learning strategies

Identify Instructional Goals and Outcomes To Develop Appropriate Assessments

Assessments measure how well the students have met the instructional goals. If the instructional goals are identified before starting the project, both the teacher and student will better understand what needs to be learned and how the learning will be assessed.

Here is an example. A project is entitled: "How do phosphates affect the water quality of a lake? Identify the causes of increased phosphate levels, and find out how to decrease phosphates to improve water quality." The identified instructional goal is to understand the effects of waste on the environment; specifically, to determine how phosphate levels increase in lakes over time. Students are assessed on the pre-sentation of statistical information using graphs and ratios, written explanations of what the data mean, and the communication of what they have learned through educational brochures, posters, videos, or Web sites.

Selecting Assessment Tasks

Select tasks that require students to demonstrate specific skills and knowledge.

Here are some questions to answer when specifying tasks (Bonthron & Gordon, 1999; Bottoms & Webb, 1998; Jobs for the Future, n.d.; Moursund, Bielefeldt, & Underwood, 1997). Do they:

• Match specific instructional intentions? (use models, graphs to solve problems, analyze relationships)
• Represent skills students are expected to attain?
• Enable students to demonstrate progress and capabilities?
• Match real-world activities?
• Cut across disciplines?
• Provide measures of several goals?

For example, an assessment task can be using graphs to compare phosphate levels in various lakes. The graphs are a visual representation of the student’s attaining the instructional intentions: analyzing relationships among variables and mathematical analysis. The graphs match real-world activities by measuring real-world data from the community. Explanation of what the graph shows (whether verbal or written) not only demonstrates mathematical ability, but also reasoning and interpretive skills, and the ability of students to use the graphs to analyze social implications of the data.

Ongoing assessment on the part of the teacher and students is important so that the students can adjust projects to meet expectations and keep on track with timelines and goals. Teachers should determine if there are checkpoints at various stages, if students are expected to meet certain milestones while working, and if students are receiving timely feedback on work-in-progress from teachers, mentors, and peers (Jobs for the Future, n.d.).

Student Self-Assessment

Because project learning is student driven, assessment should be student driven as well. Students can keep journals and logs to continually assess their progress. A final reflective essay or log can allow students and teachers to understand thinking processes, reasoning behind decisions, ability to arrive at conclusions and communicate what they have learned.

Some questions the student can answer in a reflection piece are (Edwards, 2000):

• What were the project’s successes?
• What might I do to improve the project?
• How well did I meet my learning goals? What was most difficult about meeting the goals?
• What surprised me most about working on the project?
• What was my group’s best team effort? Worst team effort?
• How do I think other people involved with the project felt it went?
• What were the skills I used during this project? How can I practice these skills in the future?
• What was my final project evaluation rating? Horrible, OK, pretty good, great? Why?

How Are You Doing?

The Six A’s of Project-Based Learning Checklist (adapted from Steinberg’s Six A’s of Successful Projects in Steinberg, 1998) can be used throughout the process to help both teacher and student plan and develop a project, as well to assess whether the project was successful in meeting the instructional goals.

Authenticity

• Does the project stem from a problem or question that is meaningful to the student?
• Is the project similar to one undertaken by an adult in the community or workplace?
• Does the project give the student the opportunity to produce something that has value or meaning to the student beyond the school setting?

Academic Rigor

• Does the project enable the student to acquire and apply knowledge central to one or more discipline areas?
• Does the project challenge the student to use methods of inquiry from one or more disciplines (e.g., to think like a scientist)?
• Does the student develop higher order thinking skills (e.g., searching for evidence, using different perspectives)?

Applied Learning

• Does the student solve a problem that is grounded in real life and/or work (e.g., design a project, organize an event)
• Does the student need to acquire and use skills expected in high-performance work environments (e.g., teamwork, problem solving, communication, or technology)?
• Does the project require the student to develop organizational and self-management skills?

Active Exploration

• Does the student spend significant amounts of time doing work in the field, outside school?
• Does the project require the student to engage in real investigative work, using a variety of methods, media, and sources?
• Is the student expected to explain what he/she learned through a presentation or performance?

Adult Relationships

• Does the student meet and observe adults with relevant experience and expertise?
• Is the student able to work closely with at least one adult?
• Do adults and the student collaborate on the design and assessment of the project?

Assessment Practices

• Does the student reflect regularly on his/her learning, using clear project criteria that he/she has helped to set?
• Do adults from outside the community help the student develop a sense of the real world standards from this type of work?
• Is the student’s work regularly assessed through a variety of methods, including portfolios and exhibitions?