*Draft Guidelines*
CORE Performance Task Assessment Modules
Fall Pilot Classroom Teacher Guidelines
Thank you for agreeing to participate in the CORE Performance Assessment Pilot. This document provides
important background information and guidelines for participating in the Pilot.
Pilot Purpose
The purpose of this Pilot is two-fold:
1. To garner feedback from teachers about CORE-designed Performance Task Modules
2. To offer opportunities for teachers to engage with students in assessment tasks that are aligned to:
A. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts and Math
B. The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) design specifications
Pilot Background
What is CORE?
The California Office to Reform Education (CORE) is a unique partnership of 8 leading school districts (Long
Beach, Los Angeles, Fresno, Sanger, Clovis, Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland) which collectively serve
over just over 1 million students. CORE districts are dedicated to a shared goal of increasing college and career
readiness, through a variety of means, including successful implementation of the Common Core State
Standards.
Summer Design Institute
As part of that collective effort, approximately 200 educators including teachers, content coaches, and district
leaders from each of the 8 CORE districts, along with Common Core experts and facilitators, participated in a
three day Summer Design Institute (SDI) in Berkeley during June of 2012. The purpose of that institute was a) to
engage participants in an intensive study of the CCSS, and the practice of formative assessment and the key role
it can play in supporting CCSS implementation and improved student learning, and b) to develop a set of
performance task modules aligned to the Common Core Standards and the SMARTER Balanced assessment
design specifications.
Performance Task Modules
Starting at the Institute and continuing over the summer, 28 SDI cross-district Design Teams comprised of
teachers and content coaches, developed a total of 82 performance task Modules in 7 target grade levels (ELA
grades 1, 4, 7 and 9; Math grades 3, 5, and 7). Each Module includes the following elements: a) a cover sheet
with key overview information about the Module (e.g., the standards and assessment claims addressed); b)
directions on how to administer the Module, c) a “stimulus” of some sort (in ELA, typically a challenging chunk of
text; in Math, typically a set of data, numbers, graphs); d) a set of increasingly challenging short answer
“constructed response” questions; and e) a culminating “performance task” that requires students to apply their
understanding in solving a substantial mathematical problem or responding to a text-dependent essay prompt.
Modules also include a variety of graphic organizers and other analytic tools. These key elements are displayed
in the figure below:
Pilot Details
Again, the purpose of the CORE Performance Assessment Pilot is to test out these modules in classrooms across
the 8 CORE districts. As many as 1000 teachers will be participating in this Pilot. Here are some key details:
 Timeline. The Pilot implementation timeline will run from October 1 through December 14, 2012.

Facilitation. Each CORE district will identify one district leader to serve as the Lead Contact for the Pilot.
That person will be in steady contact with you over the course of the Pilot.

Pilot Configuration. 63 of the overall 82 Modules will be included in the Pilot. Each Pilot teacher will be
asked to implement one of these Modules in their classrooms, as part of the following overall district
configuration
o English Language Arts
 Grade 1 (2 teachers) x 9 modules (total of 18 grade 1 teachers from each district)
 Grade 4 (2 teachers) x 9 modules (total of 18 grade 4 teachers from each district)
 Grade 7 (2 teachers) x 9 modules (total of 18 grade 7 teachers from each district)
 Grade 9 (2 teachers) x 9 modules (total of 18 grade 9 teachers from each district)
o Mathematics
 Grade 3 (2 teachers) x 9 modules (total of 18 grade 3 teachers from each district)
 Grade 5 (2 teachers) x 9 modules (total of 18 grade 5 teachers from each district)
 Grade 7 (2 teachers) x 9 modules (total of 18 grade 7 teachers from each district)
*A maximum total of 126 teachers per CORE District if all modules are piloted in a single district, though
the final number of participating teachers is at the discretion of each district.

Pilot Preparation. To prepare for the pilot, each participating teacher will be expected to attend a RollOut professional development event. CORE staff and partners will facilitate and fund teacher release
time for these one day events in each district or regionally based combination of districts. These Roll
Out events will be held during the weeks of October 1 and October 8, 2012, and will address the
following topics:
o Brief overview of CCSS in ELA and Mathematics
o Brief overview of SBAC design specifications
o History of Performance Task Assessment Module development (SDI)
o Detailed overview of:
 The Fall Pilot Purpose
 The Modules’ design
 Step by step administration instructions and expectations
 Participants’ survey instructions and expectations
 Fall Pilot Research design and purpose

Pilot Materials. Performance Task Modules will be shipped in printed and electronic versions to all of
the CORE District Fall Pilot lead contacts on or about October 1, 2012.

Preferred Participant Characteristics. The following are the preferred qualities of teachers participating
in the Pilot:
- Teaching experience and deep knowledge of the academic content and instructional strategies
appropriate to one of the target grade levels
- Ideally, familiarity with Common Core State Standards Ideally, familiarity with Smarter Balanced
(SBAC) general assessment item and task design specifications
- A passion for teaching in highly diverse settings
- Commitment to professional learning
- Experience with curriculum and assessment development
- An innovative mindset
- Experience with rubric scoring
Pilot Research Two organizations—California Education Partners (CAEP), and The Center for the Future of
Teaching and Learning (CFTL)—will be conducting research on the Fall Pilot.
 CAEP Study. The first study will focus on experiences and perceptions using the CORE performance
tasks, and what factors facilitate or inhibit their use. As a participant in the Pilot, you will be asked to
submit a three-phase “Experience Log” (described below)

CFTL Study. The second study will examine what teachers need to know and be able to do to implement
the Common Core standards, and the extent to which developing and/or implementing formative
assessments help teachers in CORE districts come to understand the instructional shifts called for by the
Common Core standards. you may be asked to participate in one-on-one and/or focus group interviews.
Guidelines for Piloting the Modules. The Pilot itself will consist of three key phases: Preparation,
Administration, and Reflection
 Phase 1: Preparation
o Pilot Roll Out. These events will provide detailed information about the specifics of the Pilot.
This will include a process, based on the targeted learning standard and assessment claim
(noted on the cover sheet), for determining the best point in the semester to administer the
modules, which vary from 1-5 days in length.
o Modules Directions. The Modules themselves include detailed directions for teachers as to how
to best administer the module. You will be asked to follow those directions closely.
o Experience Log. You will receive a discrete log in code for accessing the on-line CAEP Experience
Log. During this preparation phase you will be prompted to provide basic demographic data of
your class, and to discuss the preparation itself.

Phase 2: Administration
o Module Implementation. During this phase, based on you’re the Module directions and your
administration plan, you will be engaging students in responding to the “stimuli”-based
constructed response and performance tasks.
o Student Work. During this phase you will also be collecting and evaluating student work, based
on the rubric provided, and choosing one exemplar representing each level of achievement
outlined on the rubric to submit to your pilot contact.
o Experience Log. During this phase you will be prompted to discuss the specifics of how the
implementation went in your classroom and to note any grammatical errors or suggested edits
to the Module.

Phase 3: Reflection
o Experience Log. This final entry will prompt you to reflect on the overall experience of
implementing the performance tasks in your classroom; how you would characterize your
student reactions; what you found surprising or unexpected; what, if anything, you would
change about the Module; etc.
o Interviews. During this phase you may be asked to participate in one-on-one and/or focus
group interviews. If so, you will be contacted directly by researchers from SRI, who are
conducting research on behalf of CFTL.
o Student Feedback. It is also possible that some of your students will be asked to participate in
follow-up interviews about the experience of the Modules. In this case you will be notified, and
all required school and parent permissions will be obtained in advance.