Page 73 - International Journal of Process Educaiton (Special Issue)

Performance Criteria (1997) A

Performance criteria are the expectations given before a performance that define the characteristics
that make up a high quality performance so that performers know their target and can meet or
exceed expectations.

The 1995 Teaching institute handbook presented the These performance criteria were then used for the
discipline of Process Education (PE) in terms of its key development of the measure. The relationship between
concepts, context, processes, and tools. Among the list performance criteria and performance measures is
of key concepts, “performance-based learning” was illustrated in a learning object available at www.pcrest.com/
rated even more highly than “knowledge vs. process,” LO/criteria and shown in Figure 2 (Pacific Crest, 2009).
“rate of learning,” or “mentor” (Apple, 1995). Because a
performance is by nature a process rather than a product, According to Dan Apple, “Participants at faculty
the concept of performance criteria is distinct from the development events generally found the use of performance
concept of student learning outcomes which tend to criteria to be helpful as descriptions of the performances
focus on products rather than processes. For this reason, they wanted to see from their students. As illuminating as
performance criteria differ from the types of criteria often the proffered performance criteria were, it seemed that the
set for product assessments or evaluations; performance actual creation of performance criteria was a challenging
criteria set expectations for how the performance itself is task for many faculty.” The Curriculum Design Handbook
carried out rather than for its outcome. (Apple 1998) offered a methodology to help faculty write
performance criteria for their courses.
Over the next few years the definition and implications
of performance criteria within the context of Process The targeted performances of students in a course should
Education expanded, especially with the conception support the larger goals of a program; to meet that need,
and development of performance measures. The first the Program Assessment Institute Handbook (Apple
PE performance measure, a rubric for active listening, & Krumsieg, 2001) offered an outline of how to write
emerged as a result of a set of performance criteria performance criteria for a program. This scholarship was
developed at Kirkwood Community College. As part of advanced and formalized for the Faculty Guidebook which
the process of developing this measure, a description of contains the modules Writing Performance Criteria for a
the performance itself was created (Figure 1) and can be Course (Hinton 2007) and Writing Performance Criteria
found in the Kirkwood Community College Teaching for a Program (Nibert 2007). An important complement
Institute Journal (1997). to this work is the module Writing Performance Criteria
for Individuals and Teams (Utschig, 2007; see Figure

Figure 1 Description of Listening (Performance)

Listening is the receiving and decoding of messages from others. Listening includes hearing words and sounds and
noticing nonverbal signals to ascertain the meaning that others are trying to convey. It also includes the ability to recall
what has been presented. The listener identifies their purpose and tries to understand the sender’s purpose. Good
listening results in effective feedback to the sender.

Ranked Performance Criteria List

1. Concentration: focusing on the message
2. Comprehension: interpreting meaning accurately
3. Perceptive: understanding sender's nonverbals and hidden meaning
4. Motivation: wanting to learn this new material
5. Background knowledge: relating prior information/theories to this context
6. Classifying: organizing current information into existing framework
7. Targeting: sampling key words and phrases
8. Empathy: willingness to understand underlying issues and others’ values
9. Paying attention to details: inventorying important specifics
10. Compare and contrast: using prior knowledge to evaluate and differentiate ideas

International Journal of Process Education (February 2016, Volume 8 Issue 1) 71