Complex, Performance-Based Assessment: Expectations and Validation Criteria

1991/11/01 by ROBERT L. LINN, Robert L. Linn, EVA L. BAKER +3 · 915 citations
Engineering · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Computer science #Educational Assessment and Pedagogy #Educational and Psychological Assessments #Educational assessment #Engineering #Epistemology #Evaluation methods #Management science #Mathematics education #Psychology #Quality (philosophy) #Quality assessment #Reliability engineering #Set (abstract data type) #Student Assessment and Feedback

paper · doi:10.3102/0013189x020008015

published in Educational Researcher 20(8), 15-21 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 1991/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on assessment results, as well as increasing concern about the nature of the most widely used forms of student assessment and uses that are made of the results. These conflicting forces have helped create a burgeoning interest in alternative forms of assessments, particularly complex, performance-based assessments. It is argued that there is a need to rethink the criteria by which the quality of educational assessments are judged, and a set of criteria that are sensitive to some of the expectations for performance-based assessments is proposed.

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