Performance assessment introduced at school lately is an alternative assessment to improve school education and prepare new grounds for student assessment. However, it is also true that performance assessment has created a lot of issues in reality, no...
Performance assessment introduced at school lately is an alternative assessment to improve school education and prepare new grounds for student assessment. However, it is also true that performance assessment has created a lot of issues in reality, not functioning well as expected this research attempts to find a new way to make up such problems.
Although there are diverse attempts to overcome limits of performance assessment, this study intends to find a way which enables performance assessment to be strengthened theoretically and embodied methodologically. For this intention, research grafts dynamic assessment similar to performance assessment. The reason to take dynamic assessment for making up limits in performance assessment is due to that dynamic assessment is very similar to performance assessment at large. Comparing with those two assessment methods, we will be able to choose a better assessment method between them. Otherwise, this study is expected to suggest a more developed assessment method through extraction of merits out of those two assessment methods.
Firstly, the research takes a look at the problems and characteristics of performance assessment. Three parts including definition and usage of performance assessment, characteristics of performance assessment, differences of performance assessment and traditional assessment are described in a chapter to cover the performance assessment attributes. And psychometrical and actual problems for the performance assessment are reviewed separately.
Next, the content regarding dynamic assessment is developed, which consists of four parts; the relationship with ZPD theory, the ideological background of ZPD, the direction of dynamic assessment, and the relationship between dynamic assessment and performance assessment. ZPD(Zone of the Proximal Development) theory, here, is the theoretical background for dynamic assessment. Basically the dynamic assessment has been developed via the very ZPD theory. Accordingly, a purpose and method of dynamic assessment are much closely related to ZPD theory. Eventually the purpose for successful dynamic assessment is in promotion to children's development by assessment. Explanations in regard to dynamic assessment are mostly involved with ZPD theory.
These two assessment methods must have not-a-few similarities and dissimilarities both altogether by investigation on the relationship between dynamic assessment and performance assessment. The similarities and dissimilarities between dynamic assessment and performance assessment suggest the possibilities of dynamic assessment application to performance assessment. A newly adopted assessment method is named as dynamic performance assessment. And this study develops the possibility of successful dynamic performance assessment in earnest.
The chapter to describe the direction of dynamic performance assessment as well as the practical condition illustrates classroom principles for the dynamic performance assessment. Based on this discussion, the direction of dynamic performance assessment is suggested and the practical option is enumerated.
Lastly, this thesis makes a conclusion about the practical possibility of dynamic performance assessment through a questionnaire whose subject is current elementary school teachers. The reason why I choose elementary school teachers as the questionnaire subject is that dynamic assessment is mainly done children centered and elementary school teachers are believed to have ample opportunities to observe children's development. In terms of the questionnaire structure, three parts; teacher's backgrounds, performance assessment in reality, and feasibility for successful dynamic performance assessment're included. According to the responses in the questionnaire, most teacher's opinion is very sarcastic on performance assessment. There are few extremely negative opinions and positive opinions about performance assessment. The feasibility of dynamic performance assessment also follows the same way. The questionnaire seems to reveal that such a sarcastic attitude toward those assessment is due to the poor situation of school system in Korea. Discussion and suggestions concerning this issue are also followed at the final chapter.
At any rates, one thing to be noticed is that a small number of teachers still answered positively to the possibility of dynamic performance assessment. I hope that the positive responses must be a significant seed to show the possibility of successful dynamic performance assessment for the future.