Reducing task-related variance in performance assessment using concept maps

Task-related variance causes scores from performance assessments not to be generalizable and thus inappropriate for high stakes use. It is possible that task-related variance is due, in part, to students ’ inability to transfer their knowledge consistently from one assessment task to another. Therefore, concept-mapping, a cognitive tool, might be useful to aid this transfer. This study examines the effects of concept maps on the task-related variance compo-nents of Political Science performance assessments. On three quizzes, some students used concept maps while writing two essays, while other students did not. The task variance components remained unchanged across groups, but the person main effect components increased and the task-by-person interaction components decreased for those using con-cept maps. Also, the scores from the concept mapping groups had higher generalizability coefficients than for those who did not use a concept map. A near consensus of opinion holds that reliable scores are difficult to obtain from performance assessments. Low reliability coefficients are seen as one of the major roadblocks, if not the pre-eminent roadblock, to the implementation of large-scale, high stakes performance assessments (Burg