Performance Tasks
The purpose of this portion of our site is to explain what a performance task is, how to create one that is aligned with Illinois Learning Standards, and locate examples that support IAR. 

As teachers engage in providing students with performance tasks, evaluation of those tasks needs ot be taken into consideration so tools and other resources are provided here to support educators.
what Are Performance Tasks?
WHAT I USE IN OI: The definition of performance-based assessments varies greatly depending on author, discipline, 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 is a performance task?
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 serves as evidence of learning. Unlike a selected-response item that asks students to select from given alternatives, a performance task presents a situation that calls for learners to apply their learning in context.
~Jay McTighe
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​Types of Tasks: What I use on OI
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At the most basic level, thinking of an assignment based on its specific task type outlines to a student what it is they are expected to do. Are they solving a problem, conducting research to propose new ideas, or analyzing data to draw conclusions? While the task type of a given assignment often seems obvious to instructors, students, unless the task is explicitly stated, may be unaware of exactly what they are doing and, more importantly, the ways that this task may be similar to tasks they have completed in the past or in other disciplines. When teachers state the task type for their students, those students will be better able to make connections on future assignments. The three primary task types students see are:
  • Problem-solve: In these assignments, the instructor proposes a problem and students must respond with a solution.
  • Research from sources: In these assignments, students propose new ideas or theories based on information gathered from sources.
  • Empirical inquiry: In these assignments, students make conclusions based on data. Often, this data is gathered by the students themselves.​ ​
Why Use Performance Tasks?
offIn order to become proficient problem solvers, students must master the art of deciding on the appropriate strategy to apply in a variety of situations. Research shows that student learning is greatest in classrooms where the tasks consistently encourage high-level student thinking and reasoning and least in classrooms where the tasks are routinely procedural in nature (Boaler and Staples 2009; Heiber and Wearne 1993; Stein and Lane 1996).  FROM MATH PAGE

Specific to ELA, the writers of the CCSS have this to say:
  • The performance capacities of the literate individual demonstrate independence. Students can, without significant scaffolding, comprehend and evaluate complex texts across a range of types and disciplines, and they can construct effective arguments and convey intricate or multifaceted information… Students adapt their communication in relation to audience, task, purpose, and discipline. Likewise, students are able independently to discern a speaker’s key points, request clarification, and ask relevant question.  Without prompting, they demonstrate command of standard English and acquire and use a wide-ranging vocabulary. More broadly, they become self-directed learners, effectively seeking out and using resources to assist them, including teachers, peers, and print and digital reference materials.(CCSS for E/LA, p. 7)​

​Tasks can be used to instruct or to formatively assess. FROM MATH PAGE COULD GO IN A SECTION FOR TYPES OF TASKS 
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FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TASKS
  • Targeted diagnostic assessment designed to elicit common misunderstandings.
  • Provides immediate information about individual student’s understanding and misunderstanding.
  • Provides collective feedback about understanding in the class
  • Informs instructional actions and individual intervention needs.
  • Pinpoint students’ difficulties through multiple formative tasks.
What are Examples of High/low Quality tasks?
​Fourth Grade: Botanical Design by Defined STEM
Eleventh Grade: Accident Scene Investigation by Defined STEM
How Do I design ela Tasks? (by Grade level)
The following GRASPS acronym from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe showcase how to craft an example task:
(1) a real-world Goal; such as providing public commentary
(2) a meaningful Role for the student; such as a parole officer who is to present an opinion
(3) authentic (or simulated) Audience(s); such as a parole board
(4) a contextualized Situation that involves real-world application; such as providing the scenario of speaking publicly about an inmate's release.
(5) teacher and/or student-generated Products and/or Performances; such as a 3-5 minute speech
(6) Standards (criteria) by which successful performance would be judged. Several standards can be utilized such as speaking and listening, reading informational text, and writing an argument.  Other content standards can also be infused:

To help frame this, think of the following questions:
  • What is the overarching essential question you'd like students to answer?
  • What are the long term goals you'd like students to master having participated in this type of task?
  • What long-term transfer goals are targeted?
  • What knowledge and skill(s) will students acquire?
  • What essential questions will students explore and answer to help them master the knowledge, skills and long term goals?
  • What standards are necessary to practice within this performance task?
Kindergarten
Guidance to Design Literacy Tasks
first Grade
Second grade
third grade
fourth grade
fifth grade
sixth grade
seventh grade
eighth grade
ninth grade
tenth grade
eleventh grade
twelfth grade
how do i Know if a task is high quality?
how do i evaluate Student Work?
LDC Top 10 Principles: Suggested practices for ensuring scoring of student work is properly executed.

Achieve: Student Work Analysis Tool
Stanford:  Example Rubric and Responses

Literacy Design Collaborative Rubrics
ELA: 
​K-5 Opinion                                     6-8 Argumentative                           9-12 Argumentative 
K-5 Informative/Explanatory            6-8 Informative/Explanatory            9-12 Informative/Explantory

Science:
​K-5 Science Content/Practices        6-8 Science Content/Practices        9-12 Science Content/Practices

History and Social Science:
K-1 History & SS Content/Practices                                                 
2-5 History and SS Content/Practices6-8 History & SS Content/Practices           
9-12 History & SS Content/Practices

resources to support task based instruction
Literacy Design Collaborative