Relationships Between Students' Scores on Performance Assessment (PA) and Paper and Pencil Tests (PPT) in a Foods Preparation Course

Performance assessments have long been viewed as substitutes for or supplements to more traditional paper-pencil testing of students' knowledge. This study examined the relationships among student scores on performance assessments and paper and pencil tests administered over three terms in a college course on food preparation techniques. Overall, the relationships among the measures were weak with correlation coefficients between performance assessments and related paper and pencil tests ranging from -.084 (not statistically significant) to .251. The authors conclude that these two types of assessments measure different aspects of student performance and that both can be valuable tools in guiding student learning. Some possible reasons are the nature of lab assessment and the dimensions of performance being measured. The lab performance focused on soft skills, whereas the paper and pencil tests focused on cognitive skills.