what is performance task in education

What is a Performance Task? (Part 1)

Defined Learning

Performance Task PD with Jay McTighe — Blog

A performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to perform to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance tasks yield a tangible product and/or performance that serve as evidence of learning. Unlike a selected-response item (e.g., multiple-choice or matching) that asks students to select from given alternatives, a performance task presents a situation that calls for learners to apply their learning in context.

Performance tasks are routinely used in certain disciplines, such as visual and performing arts, physical education, and career-technology where performance is the natural focus of instruction. However, such tasks can (and should) be used in every subject area and at all grade levels.

Characteristics of Performance Tasks

While any performance by a learner might be considered a performance task (e.g., tying a shoe or drawing a picture), it is useful to distinguish between the application of specific and discrete skills (e.g., dribbling a basketball) from genuine performance in context (e.g., playing the game of basketball in which dribbling is one of many applied skills). Thus, when I use the term performance tasks, I am referring to more complex and authentic performances.

Here are seven general characteristics of performance tasks:

• Performance tasks call for the application of knowledge and skills, not just recall or recognition.

In other words, the learner must actually use their learning to perform . These tasks typically yield a tangible product (e.g., graphic display, blog post) or performance (e.g., oral presentation, debate) that serve as evidence of their understanding and proficiency.

2. Performance tasks are open-ended and typically do not yield a single, correct answer.

Unlike selected- or brief constructed- response items that seek a “right” answer, performance tasks are open-ended. Thus, there can be different responses to the task that still meet success criteria. These tasks are also open in terms of process; i.e., there is typically not a single way of accomplishing the task.

3. Performance tasks establish novel and authentic contexts for performance.

These tasks present realistic conditions and constraints for students to navigate. For example, a mathematics task would present students with a never-before-seen problem that cannot be solved by simply “plugging in” numbers into a memorized algorithm. In an authentic task, students need to consider goals, audience, obstacles, and options to achieve a successful product or performance. Authentic tasks have a side benefit — they convey purpose and relevance to students, helping learners see a reason for putting forth effort in preparing for them.

4. Performance tasks provide evidence of understanding via transfer.

Understanding is revealed when students can transfer their learning to new and “messy” situations. Note that not all performances require transfer. For example, playing a musical instrument by following the notes or conducting a step-by-step science lab require minimal transfer. In contrast, rich performance tasks are open-ended and call “higher-order thinking” and the thoughtful application of knowledge and skills in context, rather than a scripted or formulaic performance.

5. Performance tasks are multi-faceted.

Unlike traditional test “items” that typically assess a single skill or fact, performance tasks are more complex. They involve multiple steps and thus can be used to assess several standards or outcomes.

6. Performance tasks can integrate two or more subjects as well as 21st century skills.

In the wider world beyond the school, most issues and problems do not present themselves neatly within subject area “silos.” While performance tasks can certainly be content-specific (e.g., mathematics, science, social studies), they also provide a vehicle for integrating two or more subjects and/or weaving in 21st century skills and Habits of Mind. One natural way of integrating subjects is to include a reading, research, and/or communication component (e.g., writing, graphics, oral or technology presentation) to tasks in content areas like social studies, science, health, business, health/physical education. Such tasks encourage students to see meaningful learning as integrated, rather than something that occurs in isolated subjects and segments.

7. Performances on open-ended tasks are evaluated with established criteria and rubrics.

Since these tasks do not yield a single answer, student products and performances should be judged against appropriate criteria aligned to the goals being assessed. Clearly defined and aligned criteria enable defensible, judgment-based evaluation. More detailed scoring rubrics, based on criteria, are used to profile varying levels of understanding and proficiency.

Let’s look at a few examples of performance tasks that reflect these characteristics:

Botanical Design (upper elementary)

Your landscape architectural firm is competing for a grant to redesign a public space in your community and to improve its appearance and utility. The goal of the grant is to create a community area where people can gather to enjoy themselves and the native plants of the region. The grant also aspires to educate people as to the types of trees, shrubs, and flowers that are native to the region. Your team will be responsible for selecting a public place in your area that you can improve for visitors and members of the community. You will have to research the area selected, create a scale drawing of the layout of the area you plan to redesign, propose a new design to include native plants of your region, and prepare educational materials that you will incorporate into the design.

Check out the full performance task from Defined STEM , here: Botanical Design Performance Task . Defined STEM is an online resource where you can find hundreds of K-12 standards-aligned project based performance tasks.

Evaluate the Claim (upper elementary/ middle school)

The Pooper Scooper Kitty Litter Company claims that their litter is 40% more absorbent than other brands. You are a Consumer Advocates researcher who has been asked to evaluate their claim. Develop a plan for conducting the investigation. Your plan should be specific enough so that the lab investigators could follow it to evaluate the claim.

Moving to South America (middle school)

Since they know that you have just completed a unit on South America, your aunt and uncle have asked you to help them decide where they should live when your aunt starts her new job as a consultant to a computer company operating throughout the region. They can choose to live anywhere in the continent.

Your task is to research potential home locations by examining relevant geographic, climatic, political, economic, historic, and cultural considerations. Then, write a letter to your aunt and uncle with your recommendation about a place for them to move. Be sure to explain your decision with reasons and evidence from your research.

Accident Scene Investigation (high school)

You are a law enforcement officer who has been hired by the District Attorney’s Office to set-up an accident scene investigation unit. Your first assignment is to work with a reporter from the local newspaper to develop a series of information pieces to inform the community about the role and benefits of applying forensic science to accident investigations.

Your team will share this information with the public through the various media resources owned and operated by the newspaper.

Check out the full performance task from Defined STEM here: Accident Scene Investigation Performance Task

In sum, performance tasks like these can be used to engage students in meaningful learning. Since rich performance tasks establish authentic contexts that reflect genuine applications of knowledge, students are often motivated and engaged by such “real world” challenges.

When used as assessments, performance tasks enable teachers to gauge student understanding and proficiency with complex processes (e.g., research, problem solving, and writing), not just measure discrete knowledge. They are well suited to integrating subject areas and linking content knowledge with the 21st Century Skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and technology use. Moreover, performance-based assessment can also elicit Habits of Mind, such as precision and perseverance.

For a collection of authentic performance tasks and associated rubrics, see Defined STEM : https://www.definedstem.com

For a complete professional development course on performance tasks for your school or district, see Performance Task PD with Jay McTighe : http://www.performancetask.com

For more information about the design and use of performance tasks, see Core Learning: Assessing What Matters Most by Jay McTighe: http://www.schoolimprovement.com

Article originally posted: URL: http://performancetask.com/what-is-a-performance-task | Article Title: What is a Performance Task? | Website Title:PerformanceTask.com | Publication date: 2015–04–12

Written by Defined Learning

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What is a Performance Task?

By Jay McTighe,

A performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to perform to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance tasks yield a tangible product and/or performance that serve as evidence of learning. Unlike a selected-response item (e.g., multiple-choice or matching) that asks students to select from given alternatives, a performance task presents a situation that calls for learners to apply their learning in context.

Performance tasks are routinely used in certain disciplines, such as visual and performing arts, physical education, and career-technology where performance is the natural focus of instruction. However, such tasks can (and should) be used in every subject area and at all grade levels.

 Performance tasks can be used to engage students in meaningful learning. Since rich performance tasks establish authentic contexts that reflect genuine applications of knowledge, students are often motivated and engaged by such “real world” challenges.

When used as assessments, performance tasks enable teachers to gauge student understanding and proficiency with complex processes (e.g., research, problem-solving, and writing), not just measure discrete knowledge. They are well suited to integrating subject areas and linking content knowledge with the 21st Century Skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and technology use.   New research shows that such performance tasks lead to deeper understanding and can improve student achievement up +39%.

To learn how educators can create and implement effective performance tasks that drive student achievement, visit www.PerformanceTask.com .

  Jay McTighe is a nationally recognized educator and author of the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design series with Grant Wiggins.

Editors Note: This is an excerpt from the article " What is a Performance Task ( Part  1)" published on the PerformanceTask.com blog. 

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Performance-Based Assessment: Reviewing the Basics

Performance-based assessments share the key characteristic of accurately measuring one or more specific course standards. They are also complex, authentic, process/product-oriented, open-ended, and time-bound.

Recently, I attended a workshop on performance-based assessments. I walked into the workshop a complete skeptic thinking this was just another education fad, but by the end of the first day, I was hooked! I was eager to work with teachers on creating performance-based assessments, but I did a little research first. Here is what I found.

Performance-based assessments have recently experienced a reemergence in education literature and curricula. In the 1990s, performance-based assessments became a valid alternative to traditional multiple-choice tests. In the years that followed, legislative requirements shifted the emphasis to standardized testing, which caused a decline in nontraditional testing methods (Darling-Hammond & Adamson, 2013). Currently, more school districts and universities are seeking authentic measures of student learning, and performance-based assessments have become increasingly relevant.

What is a performance-based assessment?

The definition of performance-based assessments varies greatly depending on author, disciple, publication, and intended audience (Palm, 2008). In general, a performance-based assessment measures students' ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit or units of study. Typically, the task challenges students to use their higher-order thinking skills to create a product or complete a process (Chun, 2010). Tasks can range from a simple constructed response (e.g., short answer) to a complex design proposal of a sustainable neighborhood. Arguably, the most genuine assessments require students to complete a task that closely mirrors the responsibilities of a professional, e.g., artist, engineer, laboratory technician, financial analyst, or consumer advocate.

What are the essential components of a performance-based assessment?

Although performance-based assessments vary, the majority of them share key characteristics. First and foremost, the assessment accurately measures one or more specific course standards. Additionally, it is:

• Process/product-oriented

Normally, students are presented with an open-ended question that may produce several different correct answers (Chun, 2010; McTighe, 2015). In the higher-level tasks, there is a sense of urgency for the product to be developed or the process to be determined, as in most real-world situations.

How can teachers create performance-based assessments for their students?

Most recently, I worked with a high school math teacher to create a performance-based assessment for a unit on probability. Below is a simplified version of our planning, loosely based on the backward design process:

1. Identify goals of the performance-based assessment.

In this instance, the teacher wanted to challenge her students to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills. She also wanted them to exhibit less codependence and more individuality while completing this assessment. The teacher did not want students to rely on her direction about how to complete each step of the assessment.

2. Select the appropriate course standards.

Once the goals were identified, she selected the Common Core standards to be addressed with this performance assessment. She decided that the assessment should measure students' understanding of conditional probability and rules of probability.

3. Review assessments and identify learning gaps.

This was a very important step. We looked at the current worksheets that students were completing for the unit. Two-way frequency tables were a large part of the assignments. Next, we looked at what was missing and noted that there was very little relevant real-world application. As a result, we decided to create a performance-based assessment that was also reality-based. Moreover, this task would require students to analyze two-way frequency tables along with other charts and graphs.

4. Design the scenario.

After brainstorming a few different scenarios, we settled on a situation where the students would decide if an inmate should be granted parole or remain in prison. This scenario included five key components:

(See the Public Comments Session example below.)

5. Gather or create materials.

Depending on the scenario, this step may or may not be needed. For this particular assessment, we wanted students to calculate the probability of the inmate returning to prison. For their review, I created seven different documents that included pie charts, bar graphs, and two-way frequency tables. All of the information was based on statistics from government agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Bureau of Justice Statistics.

6. Develop a learning plan.

We wanted to be careful not to "teach to the test" in preparing students for the performance-based assessment. We needed to strike a balance between teaching the content (e.g., probability given two independent events) and preparing students for the task (e.g., interpreting the validity of a media resource). We brainstormed six different formative assessments that would need to be in place before students completed the performance task. However, we also acknowledged that this part of our plan would need to be constantly reviewed and revised depending on student learning needs.

Example: Public Comments Session

Ashley, an inmate at Texahoma State Women's Correctional Institution, is serving three to five years for embezzlement and assault. After three years, this inmate is up for parole. Once a month, the Inmate Review Board offers Public Comment Sessions. The sessions are open to all interested parties who want to voice their support or opposition to an inmate's release from prison.

You are Ashley's former probation officer, and the warden requested that you attend the Public Comment Session. You have been asked to review the following documents and present your opinion: Should Ashley be released from prison early or stay for the remainder of her sentence? You have been granted three to five minutes to speak to the review board. Your speech must be short, but detailed with strong evidence to support your decision.

• Criminal history report
• Article announcing a new web series on embezzlement
• Blog post about prison nurseries
• Letter to the parole board from the inmate's mother and son
• Newsletter about the incarceration rates in the state
• Press release about a prison-work program
• Research brief on the recidivism rate of nonviolent offenders

I welcome your thoughts about performance-based assessments in the comments section below.

• Chun, M. (2010, March). " Taking teaching to (performance) task: Linking pedagogical and assessment practices ." Change: The Magazine of Higher Education .
• Darling-Hammond, L. & Adamson, F. (2013). Developing assessments of deeper learning: The costs and benefits of using tests that help students learn .
• McTighe, J. (2015, April). " What is a performance task? "
• Palm, T. (2008). "Performance assessment and authentic assessment: A conceptual analysis of the literature." Practical Assessment Research and Evaluation , 13 (4).

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• Performance-Based Assessment: A Comprehensive Overview

This article offers a comprehensive overview of performance-based assessment, including what it is, how it works, and its advantages and disadvantages.

Performance-based assessment (PBA) is an increasingly popular strategy for assessing student learning, offering a comprehensive and holistic approach that measures both knowledge and skills. This type of performance-based assessment requires students to demonstrate their understanding of a concept or topic by applying their knowledge in a practical context. PBA can be used to assess a variety of subject areas, from science to language arts, and has been widely adopted by educators as a valuable tool to measure performance-based student growth and progress. In this article, we will provide an overview of performance-based assessment (PBA), discussing its advantages and disadvantages, as well as exploring strategies for successful implementation of performance-based assessment in the classroom.

Performance-based assessment (PBA) is a valuable method for evaluating student understanding and progress in a performance-based manner. This type of assessment requires students to demonstrate their knowledge in ways that go beyond traditional exams. PBA typically involves activities that assess a student's ability to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create the knowledge they have acquired. These activities can include projects, simulations, role-playing, and hands-on activities. It is important to note that PBA does not replace traditional tests; rather, it provides an alternative method for assessing student learning. When designing PBA activities, it is important to keep in mind the goals and objectives of the assessment. It is also important to consider the context in which the assessment will be conducted.

For example, is it a summative or formative assessment? Is it used to measure mastery of a concept or skill or to assess a student's progress? Once these decisions are made, the assessment can be designed and implemented. Advantages of using performance-based assessment include the ability to assess higher-order thinking skills and provide more authentic evaluation of student learning. It also encourages students to be creative and take ownership of their learning. Disadvantages include the need for more time and resources for planning, implementation, and assessment. It can also be more difficult for teachers to assess students' performance objectively. Implementing PBA in the classroom requires careful planning and designing.

The first step is to identify the desired outcome of the assessment. Next, the teacher should select tasks that are appropriate for the students’ age and skill level. The tasks should be aligned with curriculum goals and be organized in a way that allows students to demonstrate their understanding. The teacher should also provide clear instructions and criteria for success. There are many different types of PBA activities that can be used in the classroom.

These include simulations, projects, portfolios, oral presentations, debates, role-playing, and hands-on activities. Each type of activity has its own benefits and challenges. For example, simulations allow students to apply their knowledge in a real-world context but may require more time and resources than other types of activities. Projects allow students to explore topics in depth but may require more guidance from the teacher. The impact of performance-based assessment on student learning can be substantial.

PBA encourages students to think critically and develop higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. It also encourages students to take ownership of their learning and become more engaged in their studies. Finally, PBA provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of concepts in an authentic way. When using performance-based assessment in the classroom, there are several things teachers should keep in mind. First, it is important to provide clear instructions and criteria for success.

Second, teachers should plan assessments carefully to ensure that they are appropriate for the students’ age and skill level. Third, teachers should provide feedback that is timely and constructive. Finally, teachers should differentiate instruction when necessary to ensure all students are able to participate fully in PBA activities. In conclusion, performance-based assessment is an effective way to evaluate student learning. It encourages students to think critically and apply their knowledge in meaningful ways.

Impact of Performance-Based Assessment on Student Learning

One advantage of PBA is that it allows teachers to assess a student's knowledge in a more meaningful way. Unlike traditional exams that focus on memorization and recall, PBA requires students to show they understand the material by performing specific tasks. This type of assessment can be used to measure a student's problem-solving skills, critical thinking , and creativity. Another benefit of PBA is that it allows for more individualized instruction.

By examining each student's strengths and weaknesses, teachers can tailor the instruction to best meet the needs of each student. This type of assessment also allows for more effective feedback since teachers are able to provide more detailed guidance on how to improve. Finally, using PBA can be a motivating factor for students. When students are given the opportunity to show what they know in a practical way, it can be an empowering experience.

Recommendations for Teachers

2.Provide clear instructions and expectations – Teachers should provide clear instructions and expectations for the assessment. This will help ensure that students understand what is expected of them and are able to complete the assessment correctly.3.Allow for collaboration – PBA can be used as an opportunity for students to collaborate with one another. This can help foster a sense of community amongst students and encourages them to work together to achieve success.4.Monitor progress – Teachers should regularly monitor student progress and provide feedback when necessary. This will help ensure that students are on track and are able to complete the assessment successfully.5.Provide resources – Teachers should provide resources to help students complete the assessment.

How to Implement Performance-Based Assessment in the Classroom

This type of assessment can be used to measure mastery of particular skills or knowledge in a subject. Another option is standardized testing , which measures a student's performance against the performance of other students. This type of assessment can be used to compare students on a larger scale. Once the type of PBA has been decided, teachers must then decide how to assess student performance.

This will depend on the type of assessment chosen, but may include tasks such as writing an essay, presenting a project, or completing a lab experiment. Each task should be designed to measure student understanding of the material and should be tailored to the specific objectives of the course. In addition, teachers must ensure that they provide clear instructions and expectations for each task. This includes setting deadlines, providing feedback, and establishing criteria for successful completion.

What is Performance-Based Assessment?

Projects may involve research, experiments, or other activities that require students to apply the knowledge they have acquired in order to complete the task. Activities and simulations may involve role-playing or game-like scenarios that require students to demonstrate their understanding of a particular concept or process. The advantages of using PBA are many. It allows students to show their mastery of a subject in ways that go beyond simply memorizing facts and answering multiple choice questions.

It also allows educators to assess the student's ability to think critically and apply the knowledge they have acquired in real-world situations. Additionally, it can be used as a form of formative assessment, providing feedback to both the student and the teacher on areas that need improvement. The disadvantages of using PBA include the fact that it can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, as it typically requires more planning and preparation than traditional exams. Additionally, it can be difficult for teachers to grade projects and activities fairly and consistently.

Types of Performance-Based Assessment

Presentations, performance tasks, observations.

However, it can be challenging to implement PBA in the classroom, so it's important for teachers to have a plan for assessing student performance and addressing any challenges that may arise. Teachers should also be aware of the various types of PBA and the impact it can have on student learning and achievement. With careful planning and implementation, performance-based assessment can be a powerful tool for promoting student learning.

• performance

Shahid Lakha

Shahid Lakha is a seasoned educational consultant with a rich history in the independent education sector and EdTech. With a solid background in Physics, Shahid has cultivated a career that spans tutoring, consulting, and entrepreneurship. As an Educational Consultant at Spires Online Tutoring since October 2016, he has been instrumental in fostering educational excellence in the online tutoring space. Shahid is also the founder and director of Specialist Science Tutors, a tutoring agency based in West London, where he has successfully managed various facets of the business, including marketing, web design, and client relationships. His dedication to education is further evidenced by his role as a self-employed tutor, where he has been teaching Maths, Physics, and Engineering to students up to university level since September 2011. Shahid holds a Master of Science in Photon Science from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Bath.

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What Are Performance Assessments and Why Do They Matter?

What are performance assessments and why they matter.

Performance assessments are a key tool for educators to measure and evaluate student understanding of academic content, and the application of higher-order skills.

Interested in learning more about performance assessments and how they can be used to measure students’ academic knowledge and higher-order skills, and provide data to guide instruction?

What are performance assessments.

Performance assessments typically involve tasks that challenge students to use their higher-order skills , such as critical thinking and problem solving . 

Key Characteristics of Performance Assessments

Performance assessments must be…

Authentic to real-world situations: A primary goal of education is to ensure students are prepared to leave school ready for any challenge. A well-written performance-based assessment will include scenarios that students will likely face outside the school setting.

Presented with a clear rubric: As with any type of assessment or measurement tool, it is important to ensure that students understand what is required of them and how the assessment works. Performance assessments should be presented with a clear rubric detailing instructions and timeframe.

Open-ended: Real-life situations are often complex and cannot be approached with a single solution. Quality performance assessments allow students to explore a given topic in a way that they could arrive at a number of “correct” solutions or present a final solution in various ways.

Centered in higher-order thinking: In the workplace and in day-to-day life, students need to possess strong higher-order skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and effective communication. In performance assessments, a considerable portion of a student’s score is based on their ability to demonstrate their knowledge and skills used to complete the task. This includes their ability to synthesize information, apply evidence, analyze, problem solve, and apply other critical higher-order skills.

Process-oriented: Each student has their own unique way of thinking and approaching problems. The most effective performance assessments offer multiple avenues for completing the task and encourage exploration, learning, analysis, and development of higher-order skills. Students are evaluated based on their ability to apply their knowledge toward achieving the end result.

Complex: Outside of the classroom, individuals must rely on multiple skills to complete a work or life task. Therefore, performance assessments must require students to draw from a variety of skills and information to complete their performance task. 

Educators Are Looking for a Better Way to Measure Competency

In the 1990s, performance assessments became a valid alternative to traditional multiple-choice tests. But in the years that followed, legislative requirements shifted the emphasis to standardized testing, which caused a decline in nontraditional testing methods ( Darling-Hammond & Adamson, 2013 ). 

Today, many states and districts are turning to performance assessments as a more authentic measurement tool.

Why Do Performance Assessments Matter?

A well-designed performance assessment can help educators: 

• Measure how well students comprehend the material 
• Address any misunderstandings students may have 
• Provide additional instruction to enhance learning

Performance assessments also help students acquire crucial higher-order skills such as teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking, and more. As students take the assessment and receive ongoing guidance, they acquire and practice these skills. Students who do well on performance-based assessments are well-equipped to face real-world challenges.  

A More Comprehensive Assessment

Performance assessments provide insight into how well students are able to apply the skills they learn in school to real-world situations they will encounter in their lives and careers.

Traditional assessments usually consist of true/false, matching, or multiple choice questions. They are more standardized and straightforward to grade. However, a drawback of these assessments is that they only evaluate theoretical knowledge and its isolated application, facts, or memorized data at lower-level thinking skills. 

Real-World Application/Practice

Compared with multiple-choice or short-answer exams, performance assessments are more realistic and applicable to real-life problems. They require students to employ complex, higher-order thinking abilities such as reasoning, problem solving, and collaboration with others. They also provide learners with opportunities to apply their knowledge in practical, real-world scenarios. This is possible because performance-based assessments replicate genuine situations and comprise tasks that urge learners to link the gap between theory and practice.

Measure Your Skills: Try Our Higher-Order Skills Performance-Based Assessment

Preview CAE’s performance assessment and the type of scenarios CAE’s curriculum puts students in to help them develop their critical thinking, problem-solving, and written communication skills.

Improved Engagement

Performance-based assessments encourage students to focus on the process rather than the final product. Students must be able to back up the decisions they’ve made and explain how they arrived at their final answer or solution to a problem. This increases the relevancy of the instruction and provides the students with an intrinsic reason for doing a task. This process enhances metacognition, and it also promotes self-efficacy and motivation. Students are more engaged in their learning because they understand how it can be applied in real-world situations.

Personalized Learning

Personalized learning and performance assessments go hand-in-hand. Both are designed to give students greater ownership of their learning and provide opportunities to tailor instruction according to individual learner readiness, strengths, needs, and interests.  

In personalized learning environments, learners engage with content at their own pace and move on once they’ve achieved mastery. Performance assessments help educators understand what students already know and what they still need to work on, and they give students opportunities to practice skills and demonstrate their learning.

College and Career Readiness

Recent research found that high school and college graduates alike are not proficient in critical thinking, problem solving, or written communication — even though those are the skills most desired by employers. To ensure students are ready for postsecondary education and/or their careers, educators must help students develop and practice these skills before they graduate and move onto their next step. Performance assessments give students opportunities to develop and practice higher-order skills.

How CAE’s Performance Assessments Prepare Students for Future Success

CAE’s performance assessments measure students’ skills to apply their knowledge effectively and in real-world situations, giving a complete picture of their readiness for their next steps after graduation.

Sample Performance Tasks

Here are two examples of performance assessment questions that students may encounter in CAE performance-based assessments.

You and your business partner are planning to start a social media company called “PenPals.” This online forum would be a platform where aspiring writers and journalists can connect with employers, share their writing, and network with other writers. Your partner has drafted a business plan, but they are unsure about the best way to monetize the business. They have suggested several options, including selling advertising space and member information to advertisers, charging members to use the service, charging employers to search for potential employees using the service, or a combination of these three options.

Your task is to carefully examine the business plan and supporting documents to identify the strengths and limitations of each funding option available to you. After analyzing them, you are expected to write a recommendation to your business partner, evaluating each possible funding option and suggesting the best one that will meet the needs and limitations of your business.

You are a student member of the Abington Public Schools Board of Education, which has been presented with a proposal to consider. The proposal suggests that Abington Public Schools should require high school students to perform unpaid community service as a part of their graduation requirements.

The Board agreed to study and vote on the proposal, with the understanding that if it is approved, Abington Public School leaders will develop a program that specifies how students will meet the community service graduation requirement. To assist with the decision, a set of research documents have been provided for you to review. You must use the evidence in these documents to determine whether you are in favor of or against the proposal. Once you have reached a decision, you must write a memo explaining your choice and provide supporting evidence from the research documents.

CAE’s Higher-Order Skills Solution

CAE performance assessments are part of a comprehensive Higher-Order Skills Solution that supports educators with tools to measure, teach, and monitor the growth of skills in demand by employers and essential for success.

Explore how our performance-based assessments , instructional materials, and professional development integrate higher-order skill development into your curricula so your graduates possess the skills needed to flourish in any environment.

Performance Assessments

Performance assessments that allow students to demonstrate their higher-order skills in content areas and measure and monitor growth over time.

Instructional Materials

Instructional materials that help students develop and build higher-order skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and written communication. 

Professional Development

Professional development that helps educators use our performance-based assessments effectively and integrate critical thinking instruction across content areas.

Want to learn more about how to better prepare students for their future with performance assessments? We’d love to schedule some to chat with you to introduce you to CAE’s solution.

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How to Design a Performance Task

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Follow a sequence of steps to develop an authentic performance task.

Performance tasks enable teachers to gather evidence not just about what a student knows, but also what he or she can do with that knowledge ( Darling-Hammond and Adamson 2010 ). Rather than asking students to recall facts, performance tasks measure whether a student can apply his or her knowledge to make sense of a new phenomenon or design a solution to a new problem. In this way, assessment becomes phenomenon-based and multidimensional as it assesses both scientific practices and content within a new context ( Holthuis et al. 2018 ).

As we move away from traditional testing, the purpose of assessment begins to shift. Instead of only measuring students’ performance, we also strive to create an opportunity for students to learn throughout the process. Not only are students learning more as they are being assessed, but the feedback you gain as a teacher is far richer than traditional assessment ( Wei, Schultz, and Pecheone 2012 ). This allows teachers to gather more information about what students do and do not know in order to better inform meaningful next steps in their teaching.

The design process

In the next sections, we describe a sequence of steps to design performance tasks for a science course using a sample middle school performance task, titled “Deer Population in Colorado.” Performance tasks are intended to assess individual student performance and can be administered at points that make sense for your instruction, either within or at the end of a unit. While we have defined a clear and meaningful sequence for this process, we want to emphasize that it is iterative in nature and often requires returning to earlier steps.

Step 1: Unpack the performance expectation

The first step of designing a performance task is to unpack the performance expectation (PE). “Unpacking” means digging into the Next Generation Science Standards ( NGSS ) documents to interpret what the PE really means; this ensures that your performance task assesses what you want it to assess.

Imagine you are planning a unit on interactions within ecosystems and you would like to write a performance task that assesses students on the life science PE MS-LS2-1. Take a look at the NGSS document pictured ( Figure 1 ). The first step is to read the PE at the top, which also includes an important clarification statement that lends more detail. This is where many of us will stop; however, it is critical you continue to unpack the three dimensions listed below the PE.

Notice that we have circled the bullet points underneath the science and engineering practice (SEP), disciplinary core idea (DCI), and crosscutting concept (CCC). If you need more specific information for each dimension, you can click on the bulleted language, which will take you to the NGSS K–12 framework. By unpacking each dimension to this element level, we ensure that we are addressing these dimensions at the correct grade level for this PE. This ensures that we create a meaningful spiral for students throughout their K–12 education as they build complexity within these three dimensions over time. For example, with MS-LS2-1, we will not just ask students to identify cause-and-effect relationships, which would be at the 3–5 grade band level; we actually need to ask students to use cause-and-effect relationships to predict phenomena.

Keep in mind that this process also provides the flexibility to incorporate NGSS dimensions that are not specifically associated with a PE; we will show an example of this in step 3 of the process. By doing a thorough analysis and asking yourself these critical questions during the unpacking process, you will avoid major revisions later.

Step 2: Identify a rich and authentic phenomenon

The second step is to identify a rich and authentic phenomenon or an engineering problem that fits the performance expectation you are trying to assess. The NGSS community defines a phenomenon as an observable event that occurs in the universe; students then use their science knowledge to make sense of the selected phenomenon.

The phenomenon is the foundation of the task, and it is often where teachers experience the most frustration because it is challenging to find an actual phenomenon that truly fits the performance expectation. To begin the process of brainstorming a suitable phenomenon, we often start by looking at the elements of the DCI and connecting these concepts to anything we have seen or done in the past—for example, a cool video we saw, an interesting article we read, an intriguing podcast we listened to, or a great activity we have used in our classroom. These phenomena might be big and exciting—such as the Mount Tambora eruption that led to the “Year Without Summer”—or they could be smaller and more prevalent in everyday life—such as two pumpkins that grew to different sizes in the school garden.

Examining the DCI of MS-LS2-1, we noticed themes of competition, limited access to resources, and population size. This triggered a memory of a research study about a huge decline in the deer population in Colorado. Upon further investigation, we found that this phenomenon aligned with all three dimensions of the PE; it had multiple sources for data analysis to assess the SEP, it showcased each element of the DCI, and it provided opportunities to use cause-and-effect relationships. See Figure 2 for an example of how we engage students with this phenomenon at the beginning of the Deer Population in Colorado performance task, using key words such as “data” and “cause” to introduce students to the NGSS dimensions they will be performing in this task. You will see this phenomenon weaved throughout the rest of the performance task.

In this process, we learned that a lot of interesting phenomena may seem initially applicable, but upon further investigation, they are not well-aligned with the PE and the corresponding dimensions we are trying to assess. For example, a common pitfall is selecting a phenomenon that initially seems to match the language of the PE but, in the end, does not apply to a majority of the elements of the DCI. The key to this step is to keep an open mind and remain willing to change the phenomenon if your first idea does not quite fit.

Step 3: Develop prompts

The next design step is to develop prompts—questions or instructions—that focus on the phenomenon and will elicit evidence of all three dimensions of the PE. In alignment with the SEP of MS-LS2-1, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, we first gathered data relevant to the phenomenon. The research study that inspired our choice in phenomena provided us with graphs that showed the change in the number of deer in Colorado, yearly rainfall, amounts of cheatgrass and sagebrush, population sizes of deer and elk, and causes of fawn deaths. While the data for this task came in a traditional format and was easily accessible from one source, data can come in many different forms (e.g., videos, images, data tables, graphs) and often this data collection process will require much more time and internet research. If data are not available in a form that is accessible to your group of students, you may also consider adapting existing data or using scientific concepts to manufacture your own mock data sets. In some cases, students can also generate data for themselves in the form of observations, measurements, and calculations as a result of carrying out an investigation or doing a simulation.

As we begin to write prompts, we must always remember that this type of assessment asks students to engage in a new and very complex thought process. In order to help students understand the phenomenon of the task and engage with difficult multidimensional questions, we also need to build in scaffolding questions that provide all students access to the assessment. If, for example, we ask students to analyze five different sources of data to use as evidence, we should provide them with a graphic organizer to help them organize their data analysis (see Figure 3 ). This is not only a tool to help each student organize and make sense of data as he or she independently completes this performance task, but it also offers another assessment opportunity for teachers to determine each student’s ability to read, analyze, and interpret data.

In line with this goal, we also want to make sure that our prompts are aligned with the NGSS vision of assessing the integration of relevant practices, knowledge, and concepts. For example, the above prompt was multidimensional because it asked students to show evidence of the SEP, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, and the DCI, LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. As another example, take a look at the final prompt of this performance task ( Figure 4 ).

This prompt asks students to use their data analysis and their cause-and-effect relationships to make a claim about the phenomenon—the cause of the change in the deer population in Colorado. Notice we are not only assessing the relevant DCI LS2.A and CC of Cause and Effect for MS-LS2-1, but we are also choosing to assess an additional SEP element of Constructing Explanations: “Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future” ( Appendix F 2013 ).

To decide which SEP to assess, we needed to hone in on the distinction between Constructing Explanations and Engaging in Argument From Evidence—two SEPs that are so similar, they are often used interchangeably. For this particular prompt, students are required to construct a causal explanation of a phenomenon—which the NGSS defines as Constructing Explanations. This prompt focuses on assessing how students can use the provided sources of evidence as well as their understanding of appropriate scientific concepts in order to support one primary explanation for the number of deer in Colorado—lack of food.

This final prompt not only showcases this emphasis on the NGSS and multidimensionality, but it also reinforces that when we write performance tasks, it is essential that our prompts keep returning to the phenomenon—in this case, the change in the number of deer in Colorado. If this connection is not maintained, it is no longer a performance task, but rather a series of content-focused questions.

Step 4: Create scoring guides

Upon drafting a performance task, the next step is to create a scoring guide that includes rubrics that clearly assess the three dimensions of the PE. We will summarize the key components here.

When writing rubrics, we first need to identify the dimensions addressed in the prompt. Take the example of the final prompt of the Deer Population in Colorado task ( Figure 4 ). In this prompt, students are asked to show evidence of the SEP of Constructing Explanations, the DCI of Resource Availability and Populations, and the CC of Cause and Effect. Using the NGSS language of each of these dimensions, we write a specific statement, known as the rubric construct, that helps clarify what we are trying to assess in that prompt (see Figure 5 ).

Once we have an idea of what we are looking for, we can look at student work to identify a range of exemplars and use these to write descriptions for each level of performance. By including a student sample for each level of performance (see the last row of the rubric in Figure 5 ), we also provide teachers a range of authentic examples to know what student performance looks like for that prompt. Using this approach ensures that we create what is known as a multidimensional rubric, meaning it assesses the integration of multiple NGSS dimensions, rather than assessing only content. Keep in mind that writing rubrics is a very iterative process. At each step, you will want to stop and reflect on the alignment, and you will often return to previous steps to make adjustments.

Step 5: Pilot, score, and revise

Step 5 is often skipped due to time constraints, but it is the most essential. Piloting the task with students at the appropriate grade level and scoring student responses will help you identify prompts and rubrics that need to be revised.

In the case of the Deer Population in Colorado performance task, we learned that if we want students to show evidence of knowledge and practices, we must ask for it explicitly in the prompt. As we scored student samples for the final prompt, we noticed that students were able to demonstrate their ability to analyze data, but rarely included numerical data in their responses. To remedy this, we returned to the task itself and revised the prompts to specifically ask students to cite numerical data. We must remember that this kind of assessment is new for many students, so we need our expectations to be as clear and explicit as possible to give every student the best opportunity for success.

The most important step

While understanding the steps of the design process is essential, you will also find that support and collaboration are integral parts of the process. Remember that like any new process, designing performance tasks is going to be challenging. As you prepare to make the shift to NGSS -designed performance tasks, we highly recommend you put together a team of forward-thinking teachers like yourself, and seek out professional development to guide you through this new process.

For more information on the support SCALE Science provides around performance task design, please visit our website at scienceeducation.stanford.edu or contact us at [email protected] .

Darling-Hammond L. and Adamson F. 2010. Beyond basic skills: The role of performance assessment in achieving 21st century standards of learning. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.

Holthuis N., Deutscher R., Schultz S.E., and Jamshidi A. 2018. The new NGSS classroom: A curriculum framework for project-based science learning. American Educator 42 (2): 23–27.

NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For states, by states. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. .

Wei R.C., Schultz S.E., and Pecheone R. 2012. Performance assessments for learning: The next generation of state assessments. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Performance Tasks

A performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to  perform  to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance tasks yield a tangible product and/or performance that serve as evidence of learning. Unlike a selected-response item (e.g., multiple-choice or matching) that asks students to select from given alternatives, a performance task presents a situation that calls for learners to apply their learning in context.

For more information of the design and use of performance tasks and performance task assessment, we’ve published a seven part series at  https://blog.performancetask.com/  , authored by Jay McTighe.

Defined STEM Performance Task Project Outline

Set the stage.

• Introduction
• Career Video & Guiding Questions

Explore the Background ( GRASP)

• Goal – Each performance task begins with a Goal. The goal provides the student with the outcome of the learning experience and the contextual purpose of the experience and product creation.
• Role – The Role is meant to provide the student with the position or individual persona that they will become to accomplish the goal of the performance task. The majority of roles found within the tasks provide opportunities for students to complete real-world applications of standards-based content. The role may be for one student or in many instances can serve as a small group experience. Students may work together or assume a part of the role based upongroup dynamics. These roles will require student(s) to develop creative and innovative products demonstrating their understanding of the content through the application of the content and a variety of skills across disciplines.
• Audience  – The performance tasks contain an Audience component. The audience is the individual(s) who are interested in the findings and products that have been created. These people will make a decision based upon the products and presentations created by the individual(s) assuming the role within the task. Click here for an article on the importance of audience within a performance task.
• Situation  – The Situation provides the participants with a contextual background for the task. Students will learn about the real-world application for the task. Additionally, this section builds connections with other sections of Defined STEM. This is the place that may invite students to consider various video resources, simulations, language tasks, and associated websites when appropriate. This section of the performance task will help the students connect the authentic experience with content and concepts critical to understanding.
• having a student complete all products within a task;
• having students complete a number of products based upon content application and/or student interest;
• having a student complete certain products based upon the educator’s decision to maximize content, concept, and skill application;
• having student work as part of a cooperative group to complete a product or the products; and/or
• having students complete products based upon the strength of their multiple intelligences.

Do the Research

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Performance Assessment: 4 Best Practices

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Corrected : An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect job description for Paul Leather. He oversees state and local partnerships for the Center for Innovation and Education.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Performance assessment—the idea of measuring what students can do, not merely what they know—is not a new idea in K-12 education.

Teachers have been told to engage students in projects at least since the days of John Dewey, and probably long before that. (The famous Socratic method, after all, requires students to advance and sustain their positions in an argument, not repeat back knowledge.)

Nevertheless, performance assessment has a bit of a riddled history in the United States. In the 1990s—the last major period of experimentation—it was tried at scale and then abandoned in Kentucky, Maryland, and Vermont.

The challenges begin with a definitional problem: Does an essay test count as a performance assessment? What about a short response on an otherwise multiple-choice test? Experts disagree, and such quibbles have fueled confusion over how to measure “authentic” student performance.

Education Week ‘s special report sets out to inject some clarity into the debate. In this report, you’ll find a glossary, examples of districts slowly expanding their use of capstone projects for graduation, states encouraging the use of tests that feel more like games, and colleges exploring whether demonstrations of competency can supplement traditional application credentials like seat time and transcripts.

The landscape of performance assessment remains hard to parse. Although most testing experts agree that it’s trending again, it’s unclear how widespread performance assessment is. Just ask Jenny Poon, a fellow at the Center for Innovation in Education, which advises four states on the development and use of the tests. She’s worked to create a continuously updated, comprehensive map of state action .

The problem is that, even in states that have policies supporting performance testing on paper, districts vary greatly in how rigorously they implement those ideas.

Still, Poon said a few trends help to raise interest in measuring student performance in richer ways than multiple-choice questions. About 20 states now use the Next Generation Science Standards , she points out, which specifically require students to engage in scientific practices, such as generating hypotheses and recording data from experiments.

A second thrust is states’ interest in better gauging what high school graduates know and can do, as evidenced by the spread of state and local adoptions of diploma seals and capstone projects—presumably a firmer indication of student ability than credit hours.

Experts also know more about performance assessment after years of experimentation. So as you read the report, keep in mind some of the four big lessons they’ve offered up, which are distilled here for you.

1. Decide on goals first.

First and foremost, the experts say: Know why you want the assessment and what benefits you expect to achieve by investing in it.

“There’s no point in teaching someone to write an article for a newspaper and giving them a multiple-choice test to see if they’re able to do that,” said Scott Marion, the executive director of the Center for Assessment, which advises states on testing. “Performance assessment is made for those situations. But if you’re filling in grammar rules, then maybe multiple choice is fine.”

A related issue concerns how the results will be used. Performance assessments are generally more difficult to standardize and less likely to produce comparable results for individual students. That’s probably OK if the test is being used mainly to supplement curriculum or for classroom grading. But it’s a bigger problem if you want to use it for making decisions about whether a student should graduate from high school or for school ratings.

One well-known mishap occurred in Vermont in the early 1990s, when the state’s portfolio-assessment program rolled out . The program used teachers to score collections of students’ best math and writing work. Early results showed that the degree of agreement among teachers’ scores, known as rater reliability, was initially fairly low. In retrospect, RAND Corp. researcher Brian Stecher, who helped evaluate the program back then, wonders whether leaders there got the focus wrong.

“I think what was really beneficial in Vermont was the fact that this broadened to some extent how teachers were teaching mathematics, instead of a reductive ‘I do, we do, you do,’ ” Stecher said, referring to a common teaching method taught during teacher preparation. “That seems like a good thing to me and valuable in its own right—and might have been a better use of this unstructured portfolio than trying to have it be the basis for a standardized judgment.”

2. Keep costs in mind.

Coming up with good performance tasks can be expensive as well as time-consuming. In short, it’s hard to do performance on the fly or on the cheap. That’s especially the case if what’s valued is the comparability and reliability of scores, which requires creating and field-testing many tasks.

“When you open up assessments to getting students a wide range of response possibilities in terms of format, length, and activities, then it just becomes very hard to manage the time, and materials, and scheduling. It becomes hard to incorporate it into a structured system of assessments, and it also becomes more expensive,” Stecher said.

That’s one reason so few states have done so at scale under federal annual-testing requirements. New Hampshire, the sole exception for now, is using some traditional exams in the years it doesn’t administer its locally developed performance measures.

Finally, even if a performance exam is only used locally or for classroom purposes, teachers must invest time and energy to familiarize themselves with its scoring frameworks to make sure they’re grading fairly. Many districts with expertise in performance assessment, in fact, use blind scoring or double reviews of student work—and all that takes time.

And while teachers are generally more knowledgeable about scoring frameworks, or rubrics as they’re called in the field, than they were 20 years ago, there’s still often an expertise gap for teachers who are used to fill-in-the-blanks and true-false questions, said Steve Ferrara, who oversaw Maryland’s now-defunct performance-assessment program in the 1990s. (He’s now a senior adviser at Measured Progress, a testing company.)

3. Prioritize teaching and learning—not just testing.

Performance assessment in education should be part and parcel of reforms to teaching and learning.

Much of the criticism of multiple-choice tests is that they encourage teachers to focus on low-level, easily measured skills. The inverse should be true, too: Give students rich assessment tasks worth teaching to and help support educators to redesign their instruction to boost development of skills like analysis and inference.

In fact, studies from the 1990s on the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program found that under it, teachers had higher expectations for the learning of their students, and principals had higher expectations on what they expected teachers to do. Schools with a high degree of curriculum alignment to the tests showed the most improvement, Ferrara said.

In other words, performance assessment truly requires system change.

“If you don’t include at least parallel reforms in teaching and learning, an assessment isn’t enough,” Marion warns. “You have to improve the meaningfulness of the content, instructional quality, and improve student engagement, too. If you’re not doing those three things, then you’re just rearranging the deck chairs.”

There are also technical reasons why the mirroring of testing and instruction is desirable: Performance assessment hinges on students having had enough exposure to the content and skills needed to complete the task. Otherwise, the assessment might measure generic problem-solving intelligence, rather than how well students grasp and apply what they’ve learned, noted Sean P. “Jack” Buckley, the head of the U.S. Department of Education’s statistical wing from 2010 to 2013, during which he oversaw the development of the agency’s first performance tasks for exams administered as part of “the nation’s report card.”

“This was always something we worried about,” he said. “It is way easier to make a hard test that smart people can do well on than one that shows growth tied to teaching and learning.”

4. Plan for scaling up the exams—and communicating the results.

Parents and teachers can be a performance assessment’s biggest boosters or its toughest foes, which means it’s key to keep them apprised of the assessment program and the logic behind it as it’s piloted, rolled out, and scored.

Teachers, the experts say, should especially be intimately involved in test design and communications.

“It takes time to build the capacity to build quality assessments; it’s almost an apprenticeship approach,” said Paul Leather, who helped get New Hampshire’s performance-assessment system off the ground and now oversees state and local partnerships for the Center for Innovation and Education, a research and consulting group.

“As we built our common tasks, we selected content teacher-leaders who led development of the content and the common tasks,” he said. “Over time, they start to lead the entire system because assessment literacy has reached such a high level, and we believe that actually has to happen for this kind of system to scale. You essentially create a way in which expertise is not just shared as a product, but something that helps others to gain that expertise over time.”

Even when teachers are involved in task design, they can feel left behind without the right training and supports, Ferrara cautioned. “It took so much effort in the first few years [of MSPAP] to get the program up and running that all the investment went into the assessment program and not into” professional development, he said. In fact, he recalled, missing materials and a lack of training in the 1992 assessment administration raised teacher ire and got the test slammed in newspapers as the “MSPAP Mishap.”

Finally, as performance assessments yield more-nuanced information on students’ abilities, there’s a related challenge of communicating those results. For six years, Maine required high schools to prepare students to demonstrate competency in eight subjects to earn a diploma. But the experiment faltered in part because districts struggled to communicate what the new grades , often issued on a 1-to-4 scale, meant—and how they’d affect students’ chances of getting into college, according to news reports on the system. By 2018, the pressure caused state lawmakers to roll back the requirements, giving districts the option to return to traditional diplomas.

A version of this article appeared in the February 06, 2019 edition of Education Week as Four Lessons Learned When Teachers Went Beyond Bubble Tests

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What is a Performance Task? (Part 1)

Jay McTighe is an accomplished author, having co-authored 14 books, including the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design series with Grant Wiggins. His books have been translated into ten languages. Jay has also written more than 35 articles and book chapters, and been published in leading journals, including Educational Leadership (ASCD) and Education Week. JayMcTighe.com

A performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to perform to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance tasks yield a tangible product and/or performance that serve as evidence of learning. Unlike a selected-response item (e.g., multiple-choice or matching) that asks students to select from given alternatives, a performance task presents a situation that calls for learners to apply their learning in context.

Performance tasks are routinely used in certain disciplines, such as visual and performing arts, physical education, and career-technology where performance is the natural focus of instruction. However, such tasks can (and should) be used in every subject area and at all grade levels.

Characteristics of Performance Tasks

While any performance by a learner might be considered a performance task (e.g., tying a shoe or drawing a picture), it is useful to distinguish between the application of specific and discrete skills (e.g., dribbling a basketball) from genuine performance in context (e.g., playing the game of basketball in which dribbling is one of many applied skills). Thus, when I use the term performance tasks, I am referring to more complex and authentic performances.

• More from Jay: Register for Jay McTighe’s Designing Authentic Performance Tasks & Rubrics

Here are seven general characteristics of performance tasks:

1. Performance tasks call for the application of knowledge and skills, not just recall or recognition.

In other words, the learner must actually use their learning to perform. These tasks typically yield a tangible product (e.g., graphic display, blog post) or performance (e.g., oral presentation, debate) that serve as evidence of their understanding and proficiency.

2. Performance tasks are open-ended and typically do not yield a single, correct answer.

Unlike selected- or brief constructed- response items that seek a “right” answer, performance tasks are open-ended. Thus, there can be different responses to the task that still meet success criteria. These tasks are also open in terms of process; i.e., there is typically not a single way of accomplishing the task.

3. Performance tasks establish novel and authentic contexts for performance.

These tasks present realistic conditions and constraints for students to navigate. For example, a mathematics task would present students with a never-before-seen problem that cannot be solved by simply “plugging in” numbers into a memorized algorithm. In an authentic task, students need to consider goals, audience, obstacles, and options to achieve a successful product or performance. Authentic tasks have a side benefit — they convey purpose and relevance to students, helping learners see a reason for putting forth effort in preparing for them.

4. Performance tasks provide evidence of understanding via transfer.

Understanding is revealed when students can transfer their learning to new and “messy” situations. Note that not all performances require transfer. For example, playing a musical instrument by following the notes or conducting a step-by-step science lab require minimal transfer. In contrast, rich performance tasks are open-ended and call “higher-order thinking” and the thoughtful application of knowledge and skills in context, rather than a scripted or formulaic performance.

5. Performance tasks are multi-faceted.

Unlike traditional test “items” that typically assess a single skill or fact, performance tasks are more complex. They involve multiple steps and thus can be used to assess several standards or outcomes.

6. Performance tasks can integrate two or more subjects as well as 21st century skills.

In the wider world beyond the school, most issues and problems do not present themselves neatly within subject area “silos.” While performance tasks can certainly be content-specific (e.g., mathematics, science, social studies), they also provide a vehicle for integrating two or more subjects and/or weaving in 21st century skills and Habits of Mind. One natural way of integrating subjects is to include a reading, research, and/or communication component (e.g., writing, graphics, oral or technology presentation) to tasks in content areas like social studies, science, health, business, health/physical education. Such tasks encourage students to see meaningful learning as integrated, rather than something that occurs in isolated subjects and segments.

7. Performances on open-ended tasks are evaluated with established criteria and rubrics.

Since these tasks do not yield a single answer, student products and performances should be judged against appropriate criteria aligned to the goals being assessed. Clearly defined and aligned criteria enable defensible, judgment-based evaluation. More detailed scoring rubrics, based on criteria, are used to profile varying levels of understanding and proficiency.

Let’s look at a few examples of performance tasks that reflect these characteristics:

Botanical design (upper elementary).

Your team will be responsible for selecting a public place in your area that you can improve for visitors and members of the community. You will have to research the area selected, create a scale drawing of the layout of the area you plan to redesign, propose a new design to include native plants of your region, and prepare educational materials that you will incorporate into the design.

• Check out the full task

Evaluate the Claim (upper elementary/ middle school)

The Pooper Scooper Kitty Litter Company claims that their litter is 40% more absorbent than other brands. You are a Consumer Advocates researcher who has been asked to evaluate their claim. Develop a plan for conducting the investigation. Your plan should be specific enough so that the lab investigators could follow it to evaluate the claim.

Moving to South America (middle school)

Your task is to research potential home locations by examining relevant geographic, climatic, political, economic, historic, and cultural considerations. Then, write a letter to your aunt and uncle with your recommendation about a place for them to move. Be sure to explain your decision with reasons and evidence from your research.

Accident Scene Investigation (high school)

You are a law enforcement officer who has been hired by the District Attorney’s Office to set-up an accident scene investigation unit. Your first assignment is to work with a reporter from the local newspaper to develop a series of information pieces to inform the community about the role and benefits of applying forensic science to accident investigations.

In sum, performance tasks like these can be used to engage students in meaningful learning. Since rich performance tasks establish authentic contexts that reflect genuine applications of knowledge, students are often motivated and engaged by such “real world” challenges.

When used as assessments, performance tasks enable teachers to gauge student understanding and proficiency with complex processes (e.g., research, problem solving, and writing), not just measure discrete knowledge. They are well suited to integrating subject areas and linking content knowledge with the 21st Century Skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and technology use. Moreover, performance-based assessment can also elicit Habits of Mind, such as precision and perseverance.

Additional Resources

• For a collection of authentic performance tasks and associated rubrics, see Defined STEM
• For a complete professional development course on performance tasks for your school or district, see Performance Task PD with Jay McTighe
• For more information about the design and use of performance tasks, see Core Learning: Assessing What Matters Most by Jay McTighe

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• Teaching and Learning

Performance-Based Learning: How it Works

• June 5, 2020
• Mary Jo Hollandsworth, MEd, and Laura Trujillo-Jenks, PhD, FHEA

Should you give your students another assessment or worksheet from the textbook? Why aren’t your students engaged in your classroom? Traditional instruction may not be enough for our 21 st century students to be fully engaged, take ownership of their work, and activate their higher-order thinking skills. Active learning, through performance-based learning and assessment, is something that any teacher can implement in their own classroom with just a little planning, preparation, and progress monitoring.

Performance-based learning and performance-based assessment is a system of learning and assessment that allows students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a learning environment that embraces their higher-order thinking skills, as well as relating it to real-world situations (Performance-Based Learning and assessment, n.d.). This type of learning is an on-going process that allows student-centered learning and progress monitoring where teachers and students collaborate and adjust their learning where needed. When planning for performance-based learning, keep in mind that the content and instruction does not have to change, but instead of assessing the students’ knowledge from the content, the student is allowed to demonstrate what they have learned. With proper preparation and planning, the instructor has full control over what the content is and how it is taught.

Performance-based learning is being implemented at all levels of learning, from primary and elementary to high school and higher education. Performance-based learning can be implemented along with traditional instruction when used in a balanced setting. As Hibbard et al. (1996) mentioned, “Performance-based learning and assessment achieve a balanced approach by extending traditional fact-and-skill instruction” (p. 5). The traditional learning coupled with performance learning allows for instructors to ensure that students master content standards and student learning objectives. Although utilizing traditional instruction along with performance-based learning can be time-consuming, and ensuring that all standards and SLOs are being taught effectively can seem cumbersome, once the material for allowing students to demonstrate what they have learned is created, the results and data collected on student achievement will be much more meaningful. Specific data and actual observations will help an instructor redirect or re-teach a student on the spot and in a timely manner. 

So, what does a strategy or activity look like when it includes elements of performance-based learning or assessment?  It may include:

• Focusing on the end in mind , then working backwards to understand what specific details the students will need to understand in order to perform a task. Think about what is most important for students to take away from an activity and how they can best demonstrate their learning.
• Using critical thinking, deep thinking, and problem-solving skills . This will help students think about how an activity can be approached in different ways, taking into account multiple variables in order for the best answer to be shown. 
• Allowing students to see your expectations and how they will be graded . If using a rubric, give students a copy and give them information and criteria on how they will be graded on their performance. When students are given set standards with clear expectations upfront, they tend to have more accountability and ownership of their assignments.
• Providing a space, an app, or a program for students to use to show their level of understanding about the content learned. This space, app, and/or program could allow for mistakes to be made, and corrected, with an opportunity to explain their process for proceeding in the manner they chose.
• Allowing constant practice . Many students may not have had the opportunity to show or demonstrate their learning, so the opportunity to do so may be foreign. Practice of demonstrating and understanding of a concept may be necessary.

These may be steps you are already using in your course, so now, the key is to allow students to have more accountability and ownership of their work. Let them reflect and figure out why something worked or not. When students are given a chance to take ownership of their learning, they are more motivated and determined to succeed. Student ownership of learning also leads to self-reflection on their performance, which means that they are able to identify their own areas of strength and weakness. Then, of course, teacher feedback and follow- up with students regarding their performance and assessment is vital for students to fully receive the full effect of performance-based learning and assessment.

This type of instruction and assessment allows instructors and students to customize their learning and make it applicable to real-world situations. Once both instructors and students become more familiar with performance-based learning and assessments, and adapt their learning and thinking, the process becomes smooth and engaging. And, student achievement will be easier to observe and reflect upon.

Mary Jo Hollandsworth is a graduate from Texas Woman’s University, with an MEd in Leadership and Administration and currently teaches sixth-grade math at a small rural district in North Texas.

Laura Trujillo-Jenks is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Texas Woman’s University, where she teaches principal and superintendent courses in the Educational Leadership program.

Performance-based learning and assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2020, from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/performance-based-learning-and-assessment

Hibbard, M. K., Elia, E., & Wagenen, L. van. (1996). A teacher’s guide to performance-based learning and assessment . Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/196021/chapters/What_is_Performance Based_Learning_and_Assessment,_and_Why_is_it_Important%C2%A2.aspx

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• Higher Ed Trends

Performance-Based Assessment: How to Implement It in the Classroom

Performance assessment is an increasingly common assessment method that offers significant advantages over traditional high-stakes testing

Top Hat Staff

Performance assessment is an increasingly common assessment method that offers significant advantages over traditional high-stakes testing.

What is a performance assessment?

Performance assessment is a summative assessment tool that is used as a substitute for high-stakes testing. It’s intended to focus more on practical or applied skills—more “do you know how to use your knowledge?” versus “tell me what you know.” Other common terms include “authentic assessment” or “performance-based assessment.”

So, what is a performance-based assessment? It can be an individual or group project, a portfolio (with potentially one or more pieces foregrounded) or an open-ended response exercise. The creation process of the work is then graded according to a set of pre-agreed criteria or a checklist, shared with the student in advance.

This is the “performance” part of the “performance assessment”—and this accountability for the process is what sets it apart from grading a regular assignment.

Performance assessment: Why now, and why in higher education?

Standardized testing is becoming increasingly outdated in K–12 contexts, according to a report published jointly by the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment and the Center for Collaborative Education. This kind of traditional testing exacerbates socioeconomic differences while failing to properly assess skills pre-higher education. A new Quality Performance Assessment scheme is underway to “engage students in ways that standardized tests cannot, giving students more say in how they demonstrate their knowledge in culturally responsive ways.” 1

If this kind of shift in performance-based assessment is truly underway for the freshmen of the future, performance assessment is worth considering sooner rather than later.

Why use performance assessment?

Here are some benefits of performance assessment over standardized testing:

1. Performance assessment looks at higher-order thinking skills and problem-solving abilities. Other features like time management and clear communication are also tested in these kinds of assessments. This ultimately leads to a deeper and more meaningful learning process.

2. High-stakes standardized testing evaluates whether students know enough about a subject. Performance assessments, on the other hand, measure whether students can apply the knowledge appropriately in various contexts.

3. If interim goals are created and applied correctly, performance assessments allow students to monitor themselves. This type of metacognition, particularly in a test environment, is enormously beneficial to higher-level student learning.

4. Any instructors who use performance assessments need to include the standards they expect and the steps that they must take in applying the knowledge in the curriculum. This makes “teaching to the test” a positive teaching and learning strategy.

5. Performance assessments go hand-in-hand with modern teaching strategies like active learning and critical thinking. If a student undertakes collaboration and discussion in a classroom context (and in formative assessment), those learned skills will be more easily applied and evaluated in summative assessments, and eventually reflected in students’ performance. 2

How do performance assessments work?

The educator sets a task for which there is more than one route to completion or a complex problem to tackle with considerable leeway for interpretation.

Students must reach an answer—but the answer is not the most important part. Rather, the journey is the destination. Students must demonstrate competencies in production, communication and applying their content knowledge.

The most effective way of measuring this is by assigning a list of performance tasks, along with an achievement level for each. This list should be reasonably comprehensive and scoring for each task should take place on a scale.

These tasks can reflect industry best practices. A performance assessment example for a computer science class could be answering “Did the candidate effectively document their code?” That task could be measured on a grade of “not achieved,” “partly achieved” or “fully achieved.” A performance assessment example for an art class could be “Did the student correctly gather requirements to complete the project?” Final scores can then be calculated from this list.

The key to performance assessment is that students develop how they approach their tasks while understanding the standards to which they will be evaluated.

What you need to make performance assessment successful

1. templates and scoring rubrics.

For students, performance assessments are a balancing act between the open-ended nature of the project, and the competencies and mastery they need to demonstrate to meet learning objectives. You can either share the full guidelines of how the project will be graded with your students. Instructors can also build templates for intermittent assessments that explain what must happen at each stage and when—for instance, an abstract, a first draft, and one for the final presentation.

2. Examples/benchmarks: Good (or bad)

Students who have set open-ended tasks for summative assessments will find previous examples crucial to success. These examples could be ‘ideal’ versions of work for them to follow. However, they could also be flawed or low-quality work that can be used as part of a teaching activity. For example, students can then try evaluating and discussing in class what they would improve, why and how in order to arrive at the correct answer.

3. Help your students prepare and practice

Although many of your students will have participated in performance assessments in the past, there will be others to whom the concept is completely new. Setting milestones, in the form of mini-performance assessments, in preparation for the final tally will help them get used to thinking in a new way. This may help reduce anxiety that might affect their overall performance.

4. Leverage your community

It’s rare that a performance assessment would just touch on a single course—they are almost always interdisciplinary. Rather than producing a performance assessment and the communications you need with your students alone—get assistance from fellow instructors in your field. This can also be a form of professional development for instructors. After all, if performance assessment is meant to measure real-world application of knowledge rather than producing another version of your lessons, your tasks should reflect real-world situations. And reality is seldom based on a single subject area. 3

• Famularo, J., French, D., Noonan, J., Schneider, J., Sienkiewicz, E. (2018) Beyond Standardized Tests: A New Vision for Assessing Student Learning and School Quality. [White paper]. Retrieved from http://cce.org/files/MCIEA-White-Paper_Beyond-Standardized-Tests.pdf
• >Hibbard, K.M., et al. (1996) A Teacher’s Guide to Performance-Based Learning and Assessment. Alexandria, Virg.: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.
• Performance Assessment. [White paper]. Retrieved from https://www.learner.org/workshops/socialstudies/pdf/session7/7.PerformanceAssessment.pdf

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Performance tasks.

Performance tasks that

Deepen student understanding.

Defined Learning’s performance tasks are built from the UBD (Understanding By Design) framework by award-winning authors and educators Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins. Each cross-curricular task presents students with a real-world situation in a STEM career and provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of key academic content and processes.

Take a Demo Learn More about UbD

The Defined Learning Performance Task Framework

Goals of the

Performance task, customizable so teachers can, differentiate instruction.

Each Defined Learning task includes one or more criterion-based rubrics that define the performance standards to guide the evaluation of student work. Teachers can customize the tasks, research resources, rubrics and more so they can best meet their student’s needs and classroom goals.

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Performance Tasks or Projects? Complementary Approaches for Student Engagement

Performance Task—or Project?

Eight dimensions for profiling “performance tasks” and “projects”, qualities of effective performance tasks and projects, the stepping stones students need.

• Students play the role of community garden planners in a city. They calculate lot and plot sizes and amounts of soil needed, create a site map, and consider water and fertilizer needs for various plants that could be grown. They create a flyer and a presentation that would be appropriate for an audience of community members. (Source: Defined Learning)
• Students read three fairy tales that all have the same general pattern. They are asked to write a story that includes all the characteristics, and general pattern, of a fairy tale. They then read their story to a kindergarten reading buddy and teach him/her about the characteristics and general pattern of a fairy tale. (Source: Marzano, Pickering, & McTighe, 1993)
• Students act as a consumer advocate researchers who have been asked to evaluate the claim by the Pooper Scooper Kitty Litter Company that their litter is 40 percent more absorbent than other brands. Students develop a plan for conducting the investigation that must be specific enough so that the lab investigators could follow it to evaluate the claim. (Source: McTighe, 2021)

2-4 class periods                                5-10 class periods                       More than 2 weeks    

Inauthentic/decontextualized             Simulates an authentic context     Totally authentic

Single discipline Integrates two subject Multi-disciplinary

Teacher directed             Teachers with some student self-direction     Student directed

No support Some support Extensive support

Task topic, problem, issue Product(s)/performance(s) Audience(s) How and with whom they work

Individually Some group & some individual work All work done collaboratively

Classroom teacher only Team of teachers External evaluators/experts

Figure 1 – Performance Task Criteria

1.  The task aligns with targeted standard(s)/outcome(s) and one or more of the 4 C’s – critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration.

2.  The task calls for understanding and transfer, not simply recall or a formulaic response.

3.  The task requires extended thinking and habits of mind—not just an answer.

4.  The task is set in an “authentic” context; i.e., includes a realistic purpose, a target audience, and genuine constraints.

5.  The task includes criteria/rubric(s) targeting distinct traits of understanding and transfer; i.e., criteria do not simply focus on surface features of a product or performance.

6.  The task directions for students are clear.

7.  The task will be feasible to implement.

8.  The task allows students to demonstrate their understanding/ proficiency with some appropriate choice/variety (e.g., of products or performances).

9.  The task effectively integrates two or more subject areas.

10.  The task incorporates appropriate use of technology.

Figure 2 – High-Quality PBL Criteria

1.   Intellectual Challenge and Accomplishment: Students learn deeply, think critically, and strive for excellence.

2. Authenticity: Students work on projects that are meaningful and relevant to their culture, their lives, and their future.

3. Public Product: Students’ work is publicly displayed, discussed, and critiqued.

4. Collaboration: Students collaborate with other students in person or online and/or receive guidance from adult mentors and experts.

5. Project Management: Students use a project management process that enables them to proceed effectively from project initiation to completion.

6. Reflection: Students reflect on their work and their learning throughout the project.

• The learning goals—content standards in academic disciplines, competencies identified in a Profile of a Graduate, habits of mind found in a mission statement.
• Age and experience of the learners.
• Organizational factors—available time, schedules for both students and teachers, availability of resources.
• The experience levels of teachers in facilitating tasks and PBL.

Buck Institute for Education. (2017). Framework for high-quality project-based learning .

Defined Learning (2018). Performance task: Community garden coordinator.

Educurious. (2021). Project America: Untold stories of the revolution . Course.

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & McTighe, J. (1993). Assessing student outcomes: Performance assessment using the dimensions of learning model. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. p. 56

McTighe, J., Doubet, K. & Carbaugh, E. (2020). Designing Authentic Performance Tasks and Projects: Tools for Meaningful Learning and Assessment. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. p. 12.

McTighe, J. (2021). Developing authentic performance tasks . Performance task examples provided in a workshop handout.

Jay McTighe has a varied career in education. He served as director of the Maryland Assessment Consortium, a collaboration of school districts working to develop and share formative performance assessments and helped lead standards-based reforms at the Maryland State Department of Education. Prior to that, he helped lead Maryland’s standards-based reforms, including the development of performance-based statewide assessments.

Well known for his work with thinking skills, McTighe has coordinated statewide efforts to develop instructional strategies, curriculum models, and assessment procedures for improving the quality of student thinking. He has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, resource specialist, program coordinator, and in professional development, as a regular speaker at national, state, and district conferences and workshops.

McTighe is an accomplished author, having coauthored more than a dozen books, including the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design® series with Grant Wiggins. He has written more than 50 articles and book chapters and has been published in leading journals, including Educational Leadership (ASCD) and Education Week .

UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN® and UbD® are registered trademarks of Backward Design, LLC used under license.

John Larmer is an author and internationally-recognized expert in project-based learning (PBL). A speaker, curriculum developer, professional learning designer, innovative educator, writer and editor, he is a long-time advocate of progressive school reform and is dedicated to making learning more meaningful for all students. Larmer was a key builder of PBLWorks and the Buck Institute for Education, serving as its editor in chief, director of publications, and director of product development. He is the co-author of the ASCD books Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning and Project Based Teaching.  He is currently Senior Project Based Learning Advisor at Defined Learning.

ASCD is a community dedicated to educators' professional growth and well-being.

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Authentic Ways to Develop Performance-Based Activities

Students acquire knowledge, practice skills, and develop work habits

• Assessments & Tests
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• M.Ed., Curriculum and Instruction, University of Florida
• B.A., History, University of Florida

Performance-based learning is when students participate in performing tasks or activities that are meaningful and engaging. The purpose of this kind of learning is to help students acquire and apply knowledge, practice skills, and develop independent and collaborative work habits. The culminating activity or product for performance-based learning is one that lets a student demonstrate evidence of understanding through a transfer of skills.

A  performance-based assessment is open-ended and without a single, correct answer, and it should demonstrate  authentic learning , such as the creation of a newspaper or class debate. The benefit of performance-based assessments is that students who are more actively involved in the learning process absorb and understand the material at a much deeper level. Other characteristics of performance-based assessments are that they are complex and time-bound.

Also, there are learning standards in each discipline that set academic expectations and define what is proficient in meeting that standard. Performance-based activities can integrate two or more subjects and should also meet  21st Century expectations whenever possible:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication and Collaboration

There are also  Information Literacy  standards and  Media Literacy  standards that require performance-based learning.

Clear Expectations

Performance-based activities can be challenging for students to complete. They need to understand from the beginning exactly what is being asked of them and how they will be assessed.

Examples and models may help, but it is more important to provide detailed criteria that will be used to assess the performance-based assessment. All criteria should be addressed in a scoring rubric.

Observations are an important component and can be used to provide students with feedback to improve performance. Teachers and students can both use observations. There may be peer to peer student feedback. There could be a checklist or a tally to record student achievement.

The goal of performance-based learning should be to enhance what the students have learned, not just have them recall facts. The following six types of activities provide good starting points for assessments in performance-based learning. 

Presentations

One easy way to have students complete a performance-based activity is to have them do a presentation or report of some kind. This activity could be done by students, which takes time, or in collaborative groups.

The basis for the presentation may be one of the following:

• Providing information
• Teaching a skill
• Reporting progress
• Persuading others

Students may choose to add in visual aids or a PowerPoint presentation or  Google Slides to help illustrate elements in their speech. Presentations work well across the curriculum as long as there is a clear set of expectations for students to work with from the beginning.

Student portfolios can include items that students have created and collected over a period. Art portfolios are for students who want to apply to art programs in college.

Another example is when students create a portfolio of their written work that shows how they have progressed from the beginning to the end of class. The writing in a portfolio can be from any discipline or a combination of disciplines.

Some teachers have students select those items they feel represents their best work to be included in a portfolio. The benefit of an activity like this is that it is something that grows over time and is therefore not just completed and forgotten. A portfolio can provide students with a lasting selection of artifacts that they can use later in their academic career. 

Reflections may be included in student portfolios in which students may make a note of their growth based on the materials in the portfolio.

Performances

Dramatic performances  are one kind of collaborative activities that can be used as a performance-based assessment. Students can create, perform, and/or provide a critical response. Examples include dance, recital, dramatic enactment. There may be prose or poetry interpretation.

This form of performance-based assessment can take time, so there must be a clear pacing guide.

Students must be provided time to address the demands of the activity; resources must be readily available and meet all safety standards. Students should have opportunities to draft stage work and practice. 

Developing the criteria and the rubric and sharing these with students before evaluating a dramatic performance is critical.

Projects are commonly used by teachers as performance-based activities. They can include everything from research papers to artistic representations of information learned. Projects may require students to apply their knowledge and skills while completing the assigned task. They can be aligned with the higher levels of creativity, analysis, and synthesis.

Students might be asked to complete reports, diagrams, and maps. Teachers can also choose to have students work individually or in groups. 

Journals may be part of a performance-based assessment. Journals can be used to record student reflections. Teachers may require students to complete journal entries. Some teachers may use journals as a way to record participation.

Exhibits and Fairs

Teachers can expand the idea of performance-based activities by creating exhibits or fairs for students to display their work. Examples include things like history fairs to art exhibitions. Students work on a product or item that will be exhibited publicly. 

Exhibitions show in-depth learning and may include feedback from viewers.

In some cases, students might be required to explain or defend their work to those attending the exhibition.

Some fairs like science fairs could include the possibility of prizes and awards. 

A debate in the classroom is one form of performance-based learning that teaches students about varied viewpoints and opinions. Skills associated with debate include research, media and argument literacy, reading comprehension, evidence evaluation, public speaking, and civic skills. 

There are many different formats for debate. One is the fishbowl debate in which a handful of students form a half circle facing the other students and debate a topic. The rest of the classmates may pose questions to the panel.

Another form is a mock trial where teams representing the prosecution and defense take on the roles of attorneys and witnesses. A judge, or judging panel, oversees the courtroom presentation.

Middle school and high schools can use debates in the classroom, with increased levels of sophistication by grade level.

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• The Purpose of Building a Portfolio Assessment
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• A Writing Portfolio Can Help You Perfect Your Writing Skills
• Cross-Curricular Connections in Instruction
• Classroom Assessment Best Practices and Applications
• The Whys and How-tos for Group Writing in All Content Areas
• 5 Steps to Building a Student Portfolio
• Writing a Lesson Plan: Guided Practice
• Student Portfolios
• Contrasting Growth and Proficiency Models for Student Achievement
• Collecting Homework in the Classroom
• How Scaffolding Instruction Can Improve Comprehension
• How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps

Education: The Great Equaliser or a Divider?

How "equal opportunities for all" might be unfair from the first day of school..

Updated May 16, 2024 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• Why Education Is Important
• Find a Child Therapist
• Children who perform better at school go on to have greater life success.
• Children from disadvantaged backgrounds lag behind in key skills and abilities at school entry.
• These children also perform worse in later school than those from advantaged backgrounds.
• Socioeconomic barriers prevent children from utilising educational opportunities equally.

Horace Mann, a pioneer of American public schools in the 19th century, famously called education the “great equalizer.” What he meant was that education could be a force to even out the disparities between people. Providing high-quality free education to all children regardless of their origins was a means by which those without privilege or generational wealth could experience hope of equal footing.

In meritocratic societies, like Britain, education policy typically focuses on creating " equal learning opportunities," where all children are taught the same curriculum, at the same pace, by the same methods, regardless of their differences in ability, skills, and interests. This is different from " equity of educational outcomes" where, in theory, all children, regardless of their differing abilities, are able to achieve the same academic results. One way to achieve equity in education is by allocating greater support and resources to the children who struggle most in school.

But, if children who perform poorly at the beginning of school continue to struggle throughout school, is education really a great equaliser, or is it possibly more of a great divider?

The notion that schools increase, rather than reduce, children’s differences in life chances appears correct when we consider that children who earn better grades go on to have greater life success. For example, in a U.K. representative sample, students who excelled in their exams were much more likely to go on to university and achieve a first-class degree, whereas less than 10 percent of students who struggled to pass their exams went on to university.

Children enter school on unequal footing.

Before children even enter education, their life experiences differ substantially. Children’s family background (e.g., how educated their parents are or how much household income their family has at their disposal) is a powerful predictor of their school readiness —a combination of children’s school-entry skills, attention skills, and socioemotional skills. Children from more advantaged family backgrounds tend to be better prepared for school (they have higher school readiness) than kids from underresourced families.

We know that preschool education helps better prepare children for school, but for some families the costs of preschool are simply too high to pay. The average cost of part-time preschool (25 hours) for children under the age of 2 years in 2024 is £8,194 . In the United Kingdom, families do not gain access to any form of free childcare until children are two years old, when families receive 15 hours free, increasing to 30 hours after the age of three. This is reflected in the proportion of families who utilise preschool childcare when kids are 0 to 4 years old. Three-quarters of upper- and middle-class families send their children to preschool, compared to only half of low-income families.

According to teachers , 39 percent of children enter reception class unable to hold a pencil, 36 percent lack basic numeracy skills, and 25 percent struggle with basic language.

As children’s language develops, they begin building the foundations for literacy, reading, and writing, which are key to doing well in class. But we know children arrive at school with very different language abilities: Some show signs of developmental language disorders, some struggle with reading because they are affected by dyslexia, and some have not been much exposed within their family homes to the language that is typical in school settings . That means that some children are better prepared than others for school. These children are more likely to participate in classroom discussions and to enjoy doing their homework, thereby gaining richer learning experiences than other kids.

Performance remains unequal throughout school.

Children from advantaged family backgrounds do better in exams when they start school and continue to do so as they go through the primary and secondary school years. The differences in children’s school performance actually magnify and get larger as children grow up.

The relationship between family background and school performance has remained stable for almost a century in Britain, with children from more advantaged family backgrounds consistently performing better. This finding suggests that current policies aimed at bridging the gap between children from advantaged and disadvantaged homes have been mostly unsuccessful.

We must therefore ask ourselves whether the current education system, equal opportunities for all, is actually unfair from the very beginning.

Socioeconomic barriers prevent children from utilising opportunities equally.

Creating equal learning opportunities for all students will not produce fair education systems if students differ in their abilities to utilise these opportunities. To be fair to all, education systems need to adapt to students’ differential learning needs and backgrounds, offering additional help and support to those who need it, and acknowledging that children enter education on very different footing.

In the United Kingdom, the pupil premium reflects this idea: Schools receive additional funding to afford extra educational resources to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds overcome their disadvantages in education. Ofsted has reported that pupil premium has made a positive impact across many U.K. schools, with gaps in attainment between those pupils eligible for free school meals and those who are not slowly closing.

How do we achieve both equity and equality?

Some suggest that aiming for educational adequacy is what is most fair, whereby some inequality in opportunities is acceptable, and at-risk children should be provided with additional support and resources. In theory, this would allow all students to develop the basic competencies necessary to live rich, meaningful, and fulfilling lives. But what society deems as the " basic competencies" remains unanswered.

What we do know is that “ equal societies almost always do better ,” and ensuring all children have an equal chance to benefit from the opportunities schooling offers and achieve their full potential regardless of barriers needs to be the primary aim of educational policy.

Researchers at the Hungry Mind Lab at the University of York study the causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive and social-emotional development across the life course.

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6 ways to use Microsoft Copilot for end-of-school-year tasks

May 14, 2024.

By Microsoft Education Team

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The end of the school year is a hectic time for educators everywhere. Between reviewing content, completing assessments, and maintaining classroom management, it’s easy to feel the pressure of too many responsibilities and not enough time to accomplish everything.

Whether closing out the academic year in the northern hemisphere or preparing for the next one in the southern hemisphere, Microsoft Copilot offers innovative and efficient ways to complete many of the tasks that occupy these transitional times of year. From drafting student feedback to composing newsletters and offering planning suggestions for events, Copilot adapts to whatever task it’s asked. To get started, all you need is a basic understanding of how to access and use Copilot.

Start using Copilot for your end-of-school-year tasks

You can learn how to use Copilot by visiting Meet your AI assistant for education: Microsoft Copilot .

When you’re ready to get started, go to copilot.microsoft.com or download the iOS or Android mobile app.

Writing prompts for the end of the school year

Prompting Copilot to generate content requires practice. Including specific information in your prompt helps produce more relevant responses.

An effective Copilot prompt:

• Asks the tool to take on a role called a persona .
• Provides an objective  that tells the tool what to do or produce.
• Defines the audience  who will be using whatever Copilot generates.
• Includes context  that gives the tool background information.
• Sets boundaries  that limit or constrain responses.

Elements of a Good Prompt infographic which includes tips for writing prompts that produce more relevant responses.

Throughout this post, you’ll find sample prompts that include these components. We recommend borrowing inspiration from them and adjusting to make them fit your own classroom, or you can copy and paste the examples without modifications if you are just beginning.

Now let’s learn how Copilot can help you complete six common end-of-school-year tasks.

1. Craft student feedback at the end of the school year

Copilot can help you write end-of-school-year feedback in a style and tone that all students can understand. Simply craft a prompt that includes the subject area and details about the feedback you want to provide, and Copilot can draft a constructive, supportive statement written specifically for students. For example:

You are a fourth-grade teacher who is writing feedback on a student’s current reading skills. The student uses details to explain what text means but is unable to draw inferences in fiction. The student can identify in-text examples that illustrate a given theme but is unable to independently produce a theme without guidance. Write a short statement that explains this feedback to a student. Include a description about why using details is important and 1-2 ways to develop this skill. The paragraph should be written with plain text so that a fourth-grade student will understand.

You can always refine your prompt if the response is not what you expected. Simply include something like, “Re-write this feedback in Spanish” without selecting New topic , and Copilot will continue where you left off. Give it a try.

2. Write end-of-school-year reflections

Educators often write end-of-school-year newsletters for families, update class blogs with a final post, and draft reflections on school year goals. Copilot can assist with all these tasks and can help you create personalized, engaging visuals for your content. For example, you can use the following prompt to produce a summer newsletter for families.

You are the science department leader for a middle school in New York City. Draft a summer newsletter for families that includes an introduction that talks about the past year and 5 sections: Science Books for Young Adults, Science at Home, Science Summer Camps, Science Events in NYC, and NY Science Museums. Only include information that can be linked to a website to learn more. The newsletter should be written in plain text using an informal tone.

You can also share your experiences, memorable moments, and insights from the school year and Copilot will help you find creative ways to share this information with colleagues, families, and students.

3. Organize classroom materials at the end of the school year

The last few weeks of a school year includes packing up classrooms for the summer, collecting books and devices, and organizing materials for the next year. Copilot can create checklists or reminders for end-of-school-year tasks like these and offer suggestions that you might not even consider. For example:

You are a high school media specialist who checks out technology to administrators and educators. Write a checklist of the 3 most important things to do before returning each of the following devices: document camera, tablet, digital projector, games, and wires. Make each device a section heading and use bulleted lists for the content. Write the checklists so that the content is easily understood by people with varying levels of technological expertise.

Another way to use Copilot when you are organizing classroom materials is to ask for suggestions for efficient ways to declutter and prepare your classroom for the next school year.

4. Plan an end-of-school-year celebration

Many schools celebrate major milestones like the start of summer or moving from lower grades to higher grades with a party or ceremony. Copilot can be your personal planner and assist with brainstorming ideas for end-of-school-year events, awards ceremonies, or virtual gatherings. It can even suggest ways to be more inclusive in areas you might not have considered, like food options in the prompt below.

You are a guidance counselor in charge of helping rising eighth-grade students transition from middle school to high school. Draft a letter to middle school teachers that shares the biggest differences between middle school and high school. Include paragraphs on class schedules, touring the high school, meeting educators, extracurricular activities, and summer reading books. The letter should be written in a formal, conversational tone.

Whether you are creating invitations, planning activities, or drafting speeches, Copilot can be your creative collaborator.

5. Develop transition materials at the end of the school year

When students enter elementary school or move to middle or high school, everyone involved in the transition needs to know how to prepare for this change. Students need to know what to expect, families need to know how to support their children, and current educators need to provide relevant information. Copilot can help create transition materials so that everyone stays informed using a prompt like this example:

You can also use Copilot to write welcome letters, tips for success, or information about what to expect in the upcoming year.

6. Streamline parent communication at the end of the school year

Copilot can help you create templates for parent-teacher conferences at the end of the school year, as well as student progress updates, and letters to families. For example, you can ask Copilot to create a message to families about signing up for conferences with the following prompt.

You are a high school math teacher who teaches introductory algebra. Write a letter to families about parent-teacher conferences. Include an introductory paragraph that thanks families for their ongoing support and paragraphs about what will happen during the conferences, why conferences are important, who should attend, and how to prepare for the meeting. Conclude the letter with a paragraph about how to sign up for a conference slot. Write the letter using an approachable, informal tone.

Microsoft Copilot is a versatile AI tool for educators that adapts to your specific needs. To learn more about Microsoft’s AI solutions and resources, check out Smart learning: AI resources every educator should know and the  AI for educators learning path on Microsoft Learn. Most importantly, enjoy the end of the school year with your students and the time you saved by using Copilot. 

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May 15, 2024 | Courtney Chandler - UConn Health

Tackling the Future of Oral Health and Education

Dr. Sophia Saeed has been appointed to a national task force addressing challenges facing dental education and patient care delivery

Dr. Sophia Saeed is the associate dean for clinical affairs at the UConn School of Dental Medicine (Tina Encarnacion/UConn Health photo)

Dr. Sophia Saeed, associate dean for clinical affairs at the School of Dental Medicine, has big ideas on how to change the future of dental education and patient care.

Saeed, along with a group of deans and faculty members from dental schools across the country, has been appointed to tackle issues facing dental education and patient care on the American Dental Education Association’s (ADEA) Envisioning and Transforming the Future of Oral Health & Education task force.

The task force is a culmination of the ADEA thought leader’s assembly titled “Imagining Oral Health Education for a Connected World” that convened last fall. The thought assembly, along  with a nationwide climate study of dental education, landmark reports, presentations, and initiatives led by ADEA, have all influenced the development of the task force.

“ADEA for the past few years has been working on figuring out how to gather the data necessary to drive the change we know we need in dental education,” Saeed says.

According to ADEA, the task force is aiming to develop a shared vision for ideal oral health that involves its essential integration with overall health, while considering constant expansion of knowledge and expertise and emphasizing optimized access and public/patient health and wellness as the ultimate priority.

“The purpose that dental education exists is to provide better care for patients, so we really have to put the patient at the center of it,” Saeed adds. “We have to look at the data, we have to see where we have moved the needle the past couple of decades, and where we have not.”

The data tells a very complicated story. ADEA reports show the challenges that some dental schools are facing, including with succession planning, leadership development, and belonging and inclusion with students and faculty. For national trend data, there has been progress made with children’s oral health care—with an increase in preventive care, and overall, less disease burden. For adults, it’s a different story. The number of adults and older adults with cavities or missing teeth remains high.

Technological advances are on the rise, with digital dentistry and new cutting-edge treatments becoming popular, however access to these technologies varies. In addition to barriers to treatments, lack of access to prevention, nutrition counseling and healthy foods continue to pose issues for underserved communities. The gap between high income and low-income individuals continues to grow.

Another hurdle is the cost of dental school. Across the country, the cost of dental education continues to increase, with many students graduating with an considerable amount of debt. While educational debt has been increasing, third-party reimbursements for services has been decreasing steadily.

“We have a lot of great ideas for what care should look like. We want to see a reduced burden of disease, and to do that we have to see what has to change in the oral health care delivery system, and what has to change in the education of the folks that are joining that workforce” says Saeed.

Saeed is hopeful that the task force—made up of sharp, forward-thinking leaders in academic dentistry—will start to move the needle in the right direction.  The task force will continue to meet through 2024 with the goal of a full report of recommendations at the 2025 ADEA Annual Session.

“We need a high level of disruption to really reimagine what the care delivery model looks like to better meet patient’s needs. And that requires we get out of the box that we’ve been in for decades.”

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Researchers from the Toyota Research Institute have introduced Scalable UPtraining for Recurrent Attention (SUPRA), a method to convert pre-trained transformers into recurrent neural networks (RNNs). This approach leverages high-quality pre-training data from transformers while employing a linearization technique that replaces softmax normalization with GroupNorm. SUPRA is unique as it combines the strengths of transformers and RNNs, achieving competitive performance with reduced computational cost.

The SUPRA methodology involves uptraining transformers such as Llama2 and Mistral-7B. The process replaces softmax normalization with GroupNorm, including a small multi-layer perceptron (MLP) for projecting queries and keys. The models were trained using the RefinedWeb dataset with 1.2 trillion tokens. Training and fine-tuning were performed using a modified version of OpenLM, and evaluations were conducted with the Eleuther evaluation harness on standard NLU benchmarks. This approach allows transformers to operate recurrently and efficiently, handling short and long-context tasks.

The SUPRA method showed competitive performance on various benchmarks. It outperformed RWKV and RetNet on the HellaSwag benchmark, achieving a score of 77.9 compared to 70.9 and 73.0, respectively. The model also demonstrated strong results on other tasks, with scores of 76.3 on ARC-E, 79.1 on ARC-C, and 46.3 on MMLU. Training required only 20 billion tokens, significantly less than other models. Despite some performance drops in long-context tasks, SUPRA maintained robust results within its training context length.

In conclusion, the SUPRA method successfully converts pre-trained transformers into efficient RNNs, addressing the high computational costs of traditional transformers. By replacing softmax normalization with GroupNorm and using a small MLP, SUPRA models achieve competitive performance on benchmarks like HellaSwag and ARC-C with significantly reduced training data. This research highlights the potential for scalable, cost-effective NLP models, maintaining robust performance across various tasks and paving the way for more accessible advanced language processing technologies.

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Nikhil is an intern consultant at Marktechpost. He is pursuing an integrated dual degree in Materials at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Nikhil is an AI/ML enthusiast who is always researching applications in fields like biomaterials and biomedical science. With a strong background in Material Science, he is exploring new advancements and creating opportunities to contribute.

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