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?
Types of Tasks: What I use on OI 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:
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:
Tasks can be used to instruct or to formatively assess. FROM MATH PAGE COULD GO IN A SECTION FOR TYPES OF TASKS FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 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:
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 |