THE PERFORMANCE OF PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT IN A LARGE-SCALE STUDY OF COMPUTER EDUCATION

A performance assessment of word processing competencies was implemented as part of the International Evaluation of Achievement (IEA) of computer education. A national sample of eighth and eleventh grade students was given a series of word processing tasks and analyses of their performance was examined to determine the useability, reliability, and validity of the process. The assessment met generally acceptable standards for scale reliability and persuasive evidence of validity was obtained, for example, success was related to opportunity to learn word processing and eleventh grade students outperformed eighth grade students. Other findings were that girls outperformed boys on the performance assessment and no relationships were found between scores on the measure and level of parent education or availability of computers in the home.