PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS
Backward Design
Performance Assessments:
Assessment Structure
Unit Assessments
Formative
Informal
Summative
Formal
Traditional
Test
Performance
Assessment
Performance Assessments:
Assessment Structure
Unit Assessments
Formative
Informal
Summative
Formal
Traditional
Test
Performance
Assessment
Performance Assessments:
Backward Design
Unit Goal
Unit
Assessment
Lesson
Objectives
& Activities
Performance Assessments:
A Summary
• Purpose: To provide a culminating Unit
assessment in which students demonstrate Unit
Goal critical-thinking and Unit Concept
attainment through performance of a task
• Basis: Students with different learning styles
can demonstrate achievement in a holistic way
that differs from the typical Traditional Test.
Performance Assessments:
Construction
• Projects and presentations are performance assessments
only if:
• They allow students to demonstrate achievement of the Unit
Goal
• The performance at the level of the Unit Goal is attempted
independently & individually (I&I) and on previously unseen
material (students in 3rd grade and beyond).
• Younger students and ELLs may benefit from scaffolds and
graphic organizers.
• Good performance assessments often allow students to
make decisions about the content.
Performance Assessments:
Examples
3rd Grade Language Arts
Unit Concept: Opinions and Persuasions
Unit Goal: SWBAT develop opinions and persuasions in
writing to express themselves to others. CCELAS 3.W.1
Performance Assessment: Students will write an opinion
or persuasive piece of writing for publication in a class
newspaper.
Performance Assessments:
Examples
5th Grade Language Arts
Unit Concept: Tall Tales
Unit Goal: SWBAT connect tall tale figures and stories
to specific regions of the United States. CCELAS 5.RL.3,9,10,
5.RI.9-10, 5.W.3
Performance Assessment: Students construct a sequel of
an established tall tale figure and story that takes place
in modern day United States.
Performance Assessments:
Examples
8th Grade Language Arts
Unit Concept: Theme: Southern Drama (The Glass
Menagerie by Tennessee Williams)
Unit Goal: SWBAT compare different pieces of Southern
Literature in regards to conflict, theme, characters, and
tradition. CCELAS 8.RL.1-3, 5, 8.W.1,4,
Performance Assessment: In an expository essay, students
compare The Glass Menagerie and other Southern literature
in terms of conflict, theme, characters, and tradition.
Performance Assessments:
Examples
11th Grade American Literature
Unit Concept: The American Teenager & The Catcher in the Rye
Unit Goal: SWBAT analyze the enduring appeal of The Catcher
in the Rye by considering multiple themes and the critical
reception of the novel. CCELAS 11-12.RL.1-3,9, 11-12.RI.1-3,7, 9, 1112.W.1,4,8
Performance Assessment: Students will write an in-class essay
analyzing the enduring appeal of The Catcher in the Rye using
their own understanding of the novel and two scholarly analyses
of the novel's popularity with American teenagers.
Performance Assessments:
Take Home Points
• Performance Assessments:
• Measure holistic achievement of the Unit Goal and
Unit Concept
• Provide an alternate means of showing achievement
of the Unit Goal
• Are often based on authentic or real-life situations
• Are graded with a rubric