1. Performance Task Assessment
is 21st Century Assessment
Jonathan E. Martin
www.21k12blog.net
Twitter: @JonathanEMartin
jonathanemartin@gmail.com

2. Jonathan E. Martin
•10 years experience teaching High School History
•15 years experience principal, PK-12.
•Currently educational writer and consultant
•www.21k12blog.net
•Twitter: @JonathanEMartin
•jonathanemartin@gmail.com

3. I Why Performance Task Assessment?
II What is Performance Task Assessment?
III How to Prepare
Performance Task Assessments

4. why

5. “We value what we measure rather
than measure what we value.”

6. Our students often cannot
apply what they have
learned to a new problem
or context they haven’t
seen before.
Our students need more
complex and open-ended
tests that demand real
thinking and a deeper
understanding of concepts.

7. aware,
Glo bally nt,
rs and e
pend …
tive cato inde sible
E ffec uni s respo
n
mm orator
co ab
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Critical and creative
thinkers, innovators,
and problem solvers

10. “Today is the day that marks the
beginning of the development of a new
and much-improved generation of
assessments for America’s
schoolchildren. Today marks that start
of Assessment 2.0”
“For the first time, many teachers will
have the state assessments they have
longed for—tests of critical thinking
skills and complex student learning
that are not just fill-in-the-bubble tests
of basic skills but support good
teaching in the classroom.”
September 2, 2010

12. what

13. What is a performance task?
Students assume roles in a scenario that is a situated
"real world" and contains the types of problems they
might need to solve in the future or the present.
Often documents must be evaluated for informing
answers.
The “answer” students provide are cast also in real-
world formats: memos, speeches, etc.
The task requires critical thinking, analytical
reasoning., problem solving and Communication skills.

15. “CWRA is doing truly
groundbreaking work in developing
assessments of the skills that
matter most in the 21st century.”
The beauty of the
CLA/CWRA is that it
tests skills all teachers
should be accountable
for teaching in every
class

19. http://tinyurl.com/8n6spsf

20. Smarter Balanef
SB

21. SB

22. What do students think?
We got a little speech before the test about how it
wasn’t really a test, and we were like “yeah right
ok whatever” but then we got in there and then
we realized it really wasn’t a test. It was a load of
fun.
We came out of the test and all the underclassmen were laughing at us
because we were laughing and we were like “oh, why did you do that?”
and “how did you do that?” and “that is really smart” and “I did it
completely different.”
http://wp.me/poMQP-re

23. how

24. Schools and Districts
1. Review, Declare, and Promulgate your learning
outcomes
2. Make a plan for embedding Performance Task
Assessments across your K-12 program.
3. Train teachers, especially by supporting collaborative,
performance task development and design teams.
4. Explore and Exploit “Formative Assessment” Tools
available and forthcoming from Smarter Balanced and
PARCC.

25. 7 steps to design your own
Performance Task
1.Collaborate

26. 2. Begin with the End in mind:
What skills: critical thinking, quantitative
reasoning, writing effectiveness, etc. do you want
students to demonstrate understanding of?
Tie them to essential standards, CCSS, or
district/school goals for 21st century skills.

27. 3. Envision an age-appropriate real-world
problem, issue, situation your students care
about.
Ask your students for suggestions; develop
the scenario out of conversation.

28. Source: Virginia Beach school district

29. 4. Develop the role your students will take, the documents
your students will have to evaluate, & the “task” they will
have to complete.
(This is the most labor intensive part of task design.)
Suggestion: If you have more than one class of students,
have one group prepare documents for the other– with
your fairly extensive editing/revising for your purpose. Or
swap with another teacher.

30. Alternatively
Find Performance task assessments available
online, and customize to your needs

32. 5. Build the rubric. Do it with students and
colleagues.

33. 6 Score collaboratively.

34. 7. Share and Iterate

35. Jonathan E. Martin
www.21k12blog.net
Twitter: @JonathanEMartin
jonathanemartin@gmail.com