30 Questions
What is the purpose of performance tasks?
To provide evidence of learning through tangible products or performances
What are performance tasks and how do they differ from traditional assessments?
Performance tasks are learning activities that require students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills through a tangible product or performance. They are open-ended and do not have a single correct answer, and establish novel and authentic contexts for performance. They provide evidence of understanding via transfer and can integrate two or more subjects as well as 21st century skills. In contrast, traditional assessments often rely on multiple-choice and short answer questions, which do not allow for demonstration of understanding in authentic contexts or transfer of knowledge and skills.
True or false:Performance tasks only assess factual knowledge and not transferable processes such as problem solving and critical thinking.
False
True or false: Performance tasks are open-ended and have only one correct answer.
False
Why are performance tasks important in the classroom?
Performance tasks can be used to engage students in meaningful learning, enable teachers to gauge student understanding and proficiency with complex processes, and elicit Habits of Mind such as precision and perseverance. Additionally, the new academic standards in the US focus on developing transferable processes such as problem solving and critical thinking, which can be better assessed through performance tasks than through traditional assessments.
What is the nature of performance tasks?
They are open-ended and do not have a single correct answer
What is the difference between a performance task and a performance-based assessment?
A performance task is a specific type of learning activity that requires students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills through a tangible product or performance. Performance-based assessment, on the other hand, is a broader term that encompasses any assessment that requires students to demonstrate their understanding through actual performance, not simply selecting an answer from given alternatives. Performance tasks are one example of a performance-based assessment.
What do performance tasks establish?
Novel and authentic contexts for performance
True or false: Performance tasks are evaluated using established criteria and rubrics.
True
How can performance tasks be used to measure trans-disciplinary skills?
Performance tasks can be designed to integrate multiple subjects as well as 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and communication using technology. By requiring students to demonstrate these skills in an authentic context, performance tasks can provide evidence of students’ ability to apply their learning in trans-disciplinary contexts.
What do performance tasks provide evidence of?
Understanding via transfer
True or false: Performance tasks cannot integrate two or more subjects or 21st century skills.
False
What skills can performance tasks integrate?
Two or more subjects as well as 21st century skills
True or false: The new academic standards in the US focus on developing transferable processes rather than presenting factual knowledge.
True
What is the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and why do they advocate for performance-based assessments?
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a coalition of educators, business leaders, and policymakers that advocates for the integration of 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and communication using technology into education. They advocate for performance-based assessments because these assessments are better able to measure these skills than traditional assessments such as multiple-choice tests.
True or false: The Common Core and Next Generation Standards call for a shift in assessments, including expanded use of performance tasks.
True
How are performances on open-ended tasks evaluated?
With established criteria and rubrics
Why do the new academic standards in the US call for a shift in assessments?
The new academic standards in the US focus on developing transferable processes such as problem solving and critical thinking, not simply presenting a body of factual knowledge for students to remember. To assess these processes, assessments must focus on actual performance, not simply selecting an answer from given alternatives.
What can performance tasks be used for?
To engage students in meaningful learning
What is the role of teachers in implementing performance tasks in the classroom?
Teachers can more readily employ performance tasks along with traditional assessment formats to engage students in meaningful learning and provide evidence of students’ ability to apply their learning in authentic contexts. They can design performance tasks that integrate multiple subjects as well as 21st century skills, and use established criteria and rubrics to evaluate performances on open-ended tasks.
True or false: The two national assessment consortia, Smarter Balanced and PARCC, do not plan to include performance tasks in their next generation of standardized tests.
False
True or false: Performance assessments such as writing an essay and conducting research do not give students opportunities to demonstrate their learning through actual performance.
False
What does performance-based assessment elicit?
Habits of Mind, such as precision and perseverance
Why are current assessments inadequate in measuring 21st century skills?
Current assessments often rely on multiple-choice and short answer questions, which do not allow for demonstration of understanding in authentic contexts or transfer of knowledge and skills. They do not measure application of knowledge or use of technology, which are critical components of 21st century skills.
True or false: The Partnership for 21st Century Skills does not highlight the need for assessments of critical thinking, collaboration, and communication using technology.
False
What do the Common Core and Next Generation Standards focus on?
Developing transferable processes, such as problem solving and critical thinking
What is the goal of the new academic standards in the US?
The goal of the new academic standards in the US is to develop transferable processes such as problem solving and critical thinking, not simply presenting a body of factual knowledge for students to remember. The new standards focus on developing learners who can perform with their knowledge in authentic contexts.
What is the goal reflected in the new standards?
To prepare learners who can perform with their knowledge
How can performance-based assessments help teachers modify their instruction?
Performance-based assessments provide evidence of students’ ability to apply their learning in authentic contexts, which can help teachers identify areas where students may need additional support or instruction. By designing performance tasks that integrate multiple subjects as well as 21st century skills, teachers can also modify their instruction to better meet the needs of their students.
True or false: Teachers and schools do not need to modify their practice based on assessments of 21st century skills.
False
Study Notes
- Performance tasks are learning activities that require students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
- They yield a tangible product or performance that serves as evidence of learning.
- Performance tasks are open-ended and do not have a single correct answer.
- They establish novel and authentic contexts for performance.
- Performance tasks provide evidence of understanding via transfer.
- They are multi-faceted and can integrate two or more subjects as well as 21st century skills.
- Performances on open-ended tasks are evaluated with established criteria and rubrics.
- Performance tasks can be used to engage students in meaningful learning.
- They enable teachers to gauge student understanding and proficiency with complex processes.
- Performance-based assessment can elicit Habits of Mind, such as precision and perseverance.
- Academic standards in the US call for educational outcomes that demand more than multiple-choice and short answer assessments.
- The new standards focus on developing transferable processes (e.g., problem solving, argumentation, research, and critical thinking), not simply presenting a body of factual knowledge for students to remember.
- The preparation of learners who can perform with their knowledge is a fundamental goal reflected in these standards.
- The new emphases of the Common Core and Next Generation Standards call for a concomitant shift in assessments — both in large-scale and classroom levels.
- The widespread use of multiple-choice tests as predominant measures of learning in many subject areas must give way to an expanded use of performance assessments tasks that engage students in applying their learning in genuine contexts.
- The two national assessment consortia, Smarter Balanced (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), have declared their intent to expand their repertoire to include performance tasks on the next generation of standardized tests.
- The most natural home for the increased use of performance assessments is in the classroom.
- Teachers can more readily employ performance tasks along with traditional assessment formats.
- Performance assessments such as writing an essay, solving a multi-step problem, debating an issue, and conducting research and creating an informative website ask students to demonstrate their learning through actual performance, not by simply selecting an answer from given alternatives.
- Classroom assessment needs to include performance tasks that provide evidence of students’ ability to apply their learning in authentic contexts.
- Schooling should focus on trans-disciplinary skills.
- These skills include critical thinking, collaboration, and communication using technology.
- The Partnership for 21st Century Skills highlights the need for assessments of these skills.
- Current tests do not measure application of knowledge or use of technology.
- Tests do not help teachers modify their instruction.
- Needed assessments should be performance-based and authentic.
- The Partnership proposes using 21st century skills in assessments.
- The author agrees with the Partnership's proposal.
- Current assessments fall short in measuring 21st century skills.
- Teachers and schools need to modify their practice based on assessments of 21st century skills.
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