1. Designing Your Performance Task Assessment

2. Create a Cover Page Include:
Your name, grade level, and topic of your PTA
A statement of purpose: PTA are usually both formative and summative since they are used as part of the teaching process.
Formative in the development of the final product but
Summative in the end. These usually take place near the end of the unit.
Clear Targets:
The GLCEs or HSCEs the assessment addresses.
A target chart
Tell where the targets are included in the PTA.
You may wish to provide the section where the targets are addressed or the day(s) where the targets will be addressed (e.g. day 1, day 2 ,etc)

3. Cover Page and Beyond Clear Targets: Materials
Review the samples that are on the Blackboard site and view how past students designed their target charts.
Keep in mind that these are long term assessments, that may take several days to complete
Include a schedule or calendar when each PTA is due
Materials
Provide all materials students may need to complete the task

4. Tasks RAFT Strategy: this will help you when designing your PTA Role
What is my role?
Who is my audience?
What is the format?
What is the topic?
What is the purpose?
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Strong Verb – as you have students reason, synthesize, create and/or evaluate

5. Rubrics
Rubric
Use a rubric using the 5, 3, 1 scoring method
Be sure to focus rubric on important aspects of the performance
Written criteria should be in student friendly terms, so that all can understand them (i.e. students, parents, etc.)
PTA: Make sure it is worth the time and effort that you and your students are putting into it.

6. Standards of Quality for Performance Task Assessments
Name:
You included this
Standards of Quality for Performance Task Assessments
Clear Purpose
It is clear who the intended users and uses are
It is clear that this is a formative or summative assessment.
Comments:
Clear Targets
Targets are important – worth the assessment time devoted to them.
Targets involve deep understanding, reasoning, skills, products
(Deep understanding and reasoning involve in-depth, complex thinking about what is known and application of knowledge and skills in novel and more sophisticated ways. Skills include student proficiency in reasoning, communication, and psychomotor tasks. Products are completed works, such as term papers, projects, and other assessments were students use knowledge and skills)
Targets are clearly related to the state and/or district standards
Targets connect to the items on the assessment
General Formatting
1. Use plenty of “white space” to set off directions, questions and answers, and sections of the test. Don’t crowd things together.
2. Keep wording simple and focused
3. Highlight critical words
4. Free of grammatical or typographical errors.
The Tasks
1. Needs to be specified so that it meets the criteria for good performance assessment and is clear to students.
2. Task description is a blueprint or listing of specifications to ensure that essential criteria are met.
3. Clearly describe the specific targets to be assessed to make certain that the activities and scoring are well matched
4. The task should be authentic (realistic, require judgment and innovation, asks the student to “do” the subject)
5. Structure the task to assess multiple learning targets (knowledge: content and language arts (for instance) with skills: comparison and communication (for instance)
6. Structure the task so that you can help the student succeed
7. Think through what students will do to be sure that the task is feasible (imagine what you would do if given the task – what resources would you need, how much time would you need, what steps would you take?)
8. The task should allow for multiple solutions (encourage students to personalize, but demand that they justify, explain their assumptions, planning, predictions and other responses).
The task should be challenging and stimulating to students. You hope students will be motivated to use their knowledge and skills to be involved and engaged, sometimes for days or weeks.

7. Include constraints for completing the task.
Time – how much time to plan, revise, finish?
Reference material – what resources will they be able to consult?
Other people – will they be able to ask for help from peers, teachers, experts?
Equipment – will they have access to computers, calculators, spell checkers, or other aids as they complete this?
Scoring criteria – will they be informed of explicit standards that you will use to evaluate?
Comments:
The rubrics
1. Be sure the criteria focus on important aspects of the performance
2. Match the type of rating with the purpose of the assessment (holistic – overall judgment OR analytic – feedback on different aspects of the performance)
3. The descriptions of the criteria should be directly observable
4. The criteria should be written so that students, parents and others understand them
5. The characteristics and traits used in the scale should be clearly and specifically defined.
Student Involvement
1. Assist students with self assessment, tracking learning, and communicating about their learning.