INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 8, ISSUE 12, DECEMBER 2019 ISSN 2277-8616 3004 IJSTR©2019 www.ijstr.org Developing Hots Through Performance Assessment I Wayan Eka Mahendra, Ni Nyoman Parmithi, I Wayan Suana, I Wayan Sumandya Abstract: This study aims at determining the effect of mathematic performance assessment towards students' higher-order thinking skills. This research is classified as an experimental research with non-equivalent control group design involving a sample of 140 high school students in Denpasar, Bali, which was taken by simple random sampling technique. The instrument used to capture data is the HOTs test which has previously been tested for logical validity, empirical validity, and reliability coefficient. The collected data were tested with parametric statistics in the form of t-test after passing the prerequisite test, such as the normality test of data distribution and the variance homogeneity test. The results of this study indicate that there are differences in HOTs result between the students who were given a performance assessment with the students who were given conventional assessments. It is hoped that teachers will reduce the dominance of the use of conventional assessment and gradually move to a more authentic performance assessment. Index Terms: Mathematic performance assessment, high order thinking skills. ——————————  —————————— 1. INTRODUCTION Assessment of student learning outcomes is still dominated by traditional tests (paper and pencil test) in the form of multiple choice, match, right and wrong, and short answers. The multiple choice test with several alternative answers becomes the teacher's primary choice to access students' abilities because it is easy to be prepared, used, and scored. Accessing student learning outcomes with these tests tends to measure low-order thinking skills (LOTs). Therefore, it is necessary to use alternative assessments that are able to trigger high-order thinking skills (HOTs) of students. The term HOTs is used to describe the student’s cognitive activities out of the stages of remembering, understanding, and applying, such as at the stage of analyzing, evaluating, and creating [1]. Once students are able to analyze, evaluate a problem, including create another or new work steps, it means that students have applied HOTs, and vice versa. HOTs questions are not difficult, but it requires higher thinking skills in answering them. Not all students have HOTs abilities, so it needs to be learned and taught [2]. Performance assessment is one alternative that can be used to overcome the shortcomings of traditional assessments that are expected to increase student’s HOTs. The special feature of performance assessment is "assignments" not "tests". Performance assessments are often referred to authentic assessments, because the performance assignments contain field facts about students' social lives. The changing of conventional assessment with objective tests to be performance assessments has been described as a change from "knowing" to "showing". Performance is different from products or results, because performance presents something can be seen. Performance assessments require the students to present their work performance in solving a problem, not just choose the most fixed answer from the alternatives provided. This assessment can be in the form of project assignments, presentations, solving mathematical problems, conducting research, or playing roles. Research on performance assessments has been carried out and shows positive results for student learning outcomes [3], [4], [5]. Performance assessment is an appropriate instrument to determine student’s ability compared to multiple choice tests, because it requires students to use a higher cognitive level (analyze, evaluate, create) and show real performance. In this study, what is meant by assessment of mathematic performance is mathematic performance tasks that require students to demonstrate their performance in completing assignments. The application of performance assessment in learning process give opportunities for students to show their abilities or skills [6], attitudes toward the subject matter [7], and motivate themselves to learn better [8]. Performance assessment is the best understanding that can be in the form of student responses, from the simplest to the most complex. This indicates that the performance assessment requires students to show their performance to know their knowledge. In performance assessment, the student performance, behavior, or interactions in the classroom are assessed. These interactions can be in the form of student interactions with other student, student with teacher, or student interactions with teaching material. Thus, the performance assessment is an assessment that is more concerned with the process without leaving the results. Performance tasks focus on process, products, or a combination of the two [9]. Performance assessment often includes an emphasis on open activities, and there are no correct and objective answers and these assessments assess student’s HOTs. For example: there are no right answers when students present in front of the class, or when they make a math project. The open-answer essay test is one of the most common examples of a performance-based assessment of mathematics, and there are many other examples, including artistic production, experiment in science, oral presentation, and using mathematics to solve real-world problems. 2 METHODOLOGY This research is a quasi-experimental research with non- equivalent control group design that aims at developing students' higher-order thinking skills through the application of mathematics performance assessment. Group Pee -test Independent Variable Post-test Experiment Y 0 X Y 1 Control Y 0 - Y 1 Figure 1 Non-Equivalent Control Group Design This research was conducted towards high school students in class XI in Denpasar, Bali, involving 140 students as samples which was taken by simple random sampling technique, in the randomized class. The instrument used to capture data is a