Building a Performance Assessment

With the assistance of the AAC (Alberta Assessment Consortium), we are developing our skills in using performance assessments in the classroom. To begin with, we decided to get some expert help in honing our skills at the school. Pat Sachs, from the AAC, has worked with us for two professional development days already, giving us planning templates and feedback on our work.

When we first began, we agreed that we needed to plan with the end in mind using universal design strategies. Therefore, we developed essential questions that needed answering in Science by looking at the Alberta Science curriculum, at the PAT (Provincial Achievement Test) years.

Grade 3:
How do living things grow in order to adapt to their environments?
What characteristics of rocks and soil make them useful in the community?
What decisions need to be made in order to create the best product possible?
What makes sound, sound?

Grade 6:
How can humans make informed decisions about their actions on a forest ecosystem?
How can we pose questions and make inferences based on investigated evidence?
How can we use what we know about air and aerodynamics to construct working flight models?
How does the position of the Earth in the universe affect humans?

Grade 9:
How can humans make informed decisions about their actions on ecosystems and the global environment?
Why is it important to understand reactions of matter in your environment?
How has the development of technologies contributed to the exploration and understanding of space and to the benefits on Earth?

We then unpacked the curriculum outcomes at the Grade 3, 6 and 9 levels by cutting and pasting them on a bulletin board so that we could see the alignment from the early grades to the later.

In our next professional development session, we decided as teachers which essential question we would focus on in the creation of a performance assessment. Because our classes are multi-graded and have a variety of levels within each grade, we decided that we would focus on a question that could be answered at all of the levels in the individual classrooms to some degree. As teacher of the Grade 3 Science curriculum, I chose to answer the question involving product creation. I felt that I could comfortably provide instruction at the Grade 3 level and tier it down for the Grade 2s and 1s, without changing the focus.

Once the essential question was selected, an assessment plan had to be created. The assessment Planning Template includes the Alberta Program of Studies Enduring Understandings, that is, what we want each student to learn at each level that is worth remembering past a test. It also includes the outcomes written in students friendly language, the list of evidence we will expect as a demonstration of the learning, and the enabling tasks or activities that we will have the students do in the process of answering the essential question.

Moving on from the assessment planning template, a performance assessment task needs to be created, a scenario that would appeal to the students and give them real life connections. For my Grade 1, 2, and 3s, I created a Santa's Workshop Scenario. Several of Santa's elves have retired since this last Christmas and he has just advertised for several new positions that are available. The new elves would have to demonstrate that they can create a variety of objects with a variety of uses from a variety of materials. The new elves would also have to explain why they chose the materials they did and the process of creating these objects.

Taking this scenario to the class, I put it to them that they had decided that they would like a job in Santa's Workshop. They liked this idea.

In order to be successful in getting the job, I told them that they would need to impress Santa and his head elf. They would need to:
- Ask questions and make predictions about how they might be successful in getting the job.
- Design an object that Santa would like to have in his workshop.
- Identify, select, and list the materials and tools they will need to create the object.
- Learn some building skills by building 3 practice objects.
- Create an object to present to Santa and his head elf.
- Practice safe construction techniques.
- Present the object to Santa and his head elf for inspection.

The performance assessment task has rubrics at each Grade level, from Grade 1 to 3, a check list of embedded tasks the students would have to complete as they are building the objects, with space for teacher observations, and a student self-reflection sheet, where the students would be asked to reflect on their performance of the criteria and embedded tasks.

The three practice objects are taken from the Grade 2 building things unit of study: a flower vase made from a paper roll, a napkin holder made from cardboard and/or plastic, and a gift box made from cardboard, plastic, and/or wood. With each object, the students would have to fill out a planning sheet and answer one or two reflection questions designed to assist them in improving their skill level in the next round. In the first practice, the students would be asked what they did to make their vase stable enough to hold a flower. In the second practice, students would be asked if they could do the project all over again, would they do it the same or differently, and if they would do it differently, what would they do? In the third practice, students would be asked to reflect on the materials and techniques they have used so far. They would be asked to present their object to their flexible group and/or the teacher, stating how they built the object, listing the materials they used, and describing the building techniques they learned in this section of the project.



Students will build the object or toy for Santa, will self-reflect and revise if necessary, and will present the object or toy for inspection. Students efforts will be documented and pictures will be taken of the students with their practice objects. Their final presentations will be recorded using video. If students' parents agree, these final presentation recordings will be uploaded to the school website for publication.