ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the identification, formulation, and classification of performance objectives, and their use for developing assessment instruments. Learning tasks as specified in the previous chapter already give a good impression of what learners will do during and after the training. But performance objectives give more detailed descriptions of the desired ‘exit behaviors,’ including the conditions under which the complex skill needs to be performed (e.g., fully clothed), the tools and objects that can or should be used during performance (e.g., through a hoop), and, last but not least, the standards for acceptable performance (e.g., 25 meters, turning along their body axis). According to Ten Steps, students learn from and practice almost exclusively on whole tasks intended to help them acquire an integrated set of performance objectives representing many different aspects of the complex skill. What performance objectives do is help designers differentiate the many different aspects of whole-task performance and to connect the front end of training design (i.e., what do learners need to learn?) to its back end (i.e., did they learn what they were supposed to learn?). Assessment instruments make it possible to determine whether standards have been met and to provide informative feedback to learners. The structure of this chapter is as follows. First, skill decomposition is described as a process for identifying relevant constituent skills and their interrelationships. The result of this decomposition is a skill hierarchy. Second, the formulation of a performance objective for each constituent skill is discussed. The whole set of objectives provides a concise description of the contents of the training program and sets the standards for acceptable performance. Third, performance objectives for particular constituent skills are classified as being either non-recurrent or recurrent. Non-recurrent constituent skills always involve problem solving, reasoning, or decision making and require presenting supportive information, while recurrent constituent skills involve the application of rules or procedures and require presenting procedural information. Further classifications concern *to-beautomated recurrent constituent skills* (which often require part-task practice), *double-classified constituent skills*, and constituent skills that will not be taught because they have already been mastered by the learners. The performance objectives of the skills that are to be acquired provide the basis for discussing the content of the training program with different stakeholders, give input to further analysis and design activities, and, last but not least, provide the standards to be used in assessment instruments. Fourth, guidelines are presented for the development of these assessment instruments and, especially, of *development portfolios*. The fifth and final section briefly discusses the assessment of self-directed learning skills. The chapter concludes with a brief summary.
