SAROPAS: A COMPETENCY-BASED PERFORMANCE TASK DESIGN MODEL

"The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published the learning framework 2030 which depicts students’ competency for future demands as three intertwined currents of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and values. Student’s knowledge can be observed when it is mobilized as skills in solving problems, and the use of knowledge and skills is mediated by attitudes and values. In other words, a student’s competency can better be observed and assessed when they respond to real situations and exercise their knowledge and skills to resolve problems. In educational practices, performance tasks are designed to mimic complex demands and challenges in real life that require students to apply their knowledge, skills, and attitudes and values in actions. For K-12 educators, the call for clear guidance of designing competency-based performance tasks is urgent. Wiggins & McTighe (2005) in their seminal work Understanding by Design suggested framing performance tasks using elements of authentic assessments — GRASPS (Goal, Role, Audience, Situation, Performance, Standards). GRASPS provides well-organized facets in designing assessments. However, considering the other side of the coin, curriculum design, GRASPS may be short for laying out the details of the design process. We refined GRASPS into SAROPAS (Setting/Scenario, Aim, Role, Observer, Products, Actions, Standards), a model with finer granularity in designing the curriculum and assessment which made the design process applicable and easier. A survey was conducted to verify the strengths of SAROPAS in designing performance tasks. One hundred and seventy-one in-service teachers participated in the survey. Three tasks were given to the participants asking for their review on what skills can possibly be assessed in resolving the tasks. The result showed that the task designed by the SAROPAS model obtained the highest ratings and agreement in mobilizing six types of skills which could really demonstrate students’ competency. Implications and suggestions about designing competency-based performance tasks were provided in this study."