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I am interested in trying performance assessments in my classroom next year. I am not sure what the best method for developing a grading system should be. I have considered both checklist, rating system and rubrics and they all seem to have different merits. Have you tried performance assessments in your instruction? What methods did you use to grade the assessments?

Angela,

I wonder if you have considered looking at some existing performance tasks and the scoring guides used to score them. There are also some benchmarks tocheck out.
Science Released Tasks ans Scoring guides

Hope this s helpful

If I might make a suggestion, there is a cooperative learning strategy called Professor Know-it-All. My students enjoyed it. What this does is allow the students to research a topic, become knowledgeable about their subject, and then they present the information to the class. As the students are giving their presentations the students are listening to the presentations and answering questions provided on the handout. Of course the teacher, give them a rubric to go by, and the questions they are to answer in their presentations. You can make this a week long assessment by having the kids create PowerPoint presentations, visuals, models, etc. The sky is the limit. What makes this even more fun, the audience gets the opportunity to ask the "Professor" questions. You can google "Professor Know-It-All", and you will given all the instruction and planning you need for this activity. I used it in our discussion of Atomic Theory. The students initiated the use of visuals in their project. This cooperative strategy heightens the level of thinking for all students especially your higher level thinkers. I hope this is of some help for you.

@ Kathy What a fantastic collection of performance task. It is so helpful to have a support manual and rubrics already created. Thank you, I am going to try the Rainy Morning inquiry task. @Della I am also excited to use Professor Know-it-All strategy in my classroom. What an innovative way to get students to take charge of their learning in a different context. I am sure my middle students will love this activity. I really look forward to trying these performance assessments next year. I can see such merit in assessing science students outside of the typical objective test. Thank you for sharing! Angie

Angie, I use a combination of assessments for my pre-service elementary teachers. I’ve used rubrics (e.g., for their written lesson plans, field experience reports) and a checklist (e.g., that I use on their Portfolio and Journal). For some projects (like their moon observations for a month) I grade a sampling of their observations. There is one project that I have my students do that I think you might want to try with yours. It’s based on a MySpace or Facebook format. Each student selects a scientist to research. As they research information on their scientist, they are to present their information on a poster using the format of MySpace or Facebook. When the assignment is due, I hang all the posters around the classroom. Then I have each student assess five other students’ posters using the same criteria they used to make their own poster. This gives them experience not only assessing others’ work (like they will do in their own classrooms someday) but also to see what their colleagues have produced. I originally got this idea from a high school teacher who shared her instructions with me. My students really like this project because it gives them another form of expression and communication. Of course, I collect the posters and grade them also. I usually staple all six assessments together (mine and the five students) and average the points (unless something is way off). Here is a copy of my instruction sheet. Kathy

Attachments

ScientistMySpaceProject.docx (0.01 Mb)

Kathy I am excited to try the scientist Myspace / Facebook page. My students will be so engaged and it breaks out of the typical report structure. What a fantastic resource, thank you for sharing. Kudos for Texas trying a statewide performance assessment on experiment design. From the research I have read, I am really encouraged to try them in my classroom. It is also good to see the other side of the story experienced by the elementary students. Thank You, Angie

Hi Angie, Kathy, Della, Adah and other thread readers!
Della I googled Professor Know It All and what a great resource that was - thank you.
At the bottom of the URL I found for the Professor Know It All activity, there was a link to 18 interactive literacy strategies. The first one was about interactive graphic organizers. It is an excellent resource. I hope you will check it out. Thank you Vermilion Parish Schools (Louisiana) for sharing these great resources on the web.

Carolyn, I just looked at the interactive graphic organizers you mentioned. They are fantastic and will be a great tool! Thank you for sharing. A Angie

Tina - I love that you take the time to create the rubric with each of your classes. Do you allow the classes to share ideas and adapt their rubrics as the year goes on?

I tried a performance based assessment at a workshop called "Raining Morning". We got to take the performance assessment ourselves and I loved it. It came with its own rubric which made it easy to assess. I wish our state science test used this type of assessment.

Edith and Angelika - are the Rainy Morning and the Raining Morning the same task? Can either of you post a link or tell us more?

The assessment is called Rainy Morning. Here is a link to tell you more about it. http://www.ride.ri.gov/assessment/DOCS/NECAP/Science/InquiryTasks/NECAP%20Science%20Gr8%20Practice%20Test%20Inquiry%20Task%20Manual.pdf Edie

Della, I am fascinated with the idea of Professor Know it All. I am definitely going to spend some time looking at this strategy. Kathy, I really like your strategy of using the Facebook format and having students score each other’s work. Being able to assess another person’s work gives you the opportunity to learn how to better improve your own. Currently I have given the students an assignment to research and then present to their peers a Web 2.0 tool(s) that would help them become a more successful student. How they make the presentation will be totally up to them. After they have presented to peers, they have the opportunity to offer suggestions to the presenter that they feel would make their presentation stronger. Even better, they have the opportunity to “cherry pick” ideas from others they can use in their final presentation that will be submitted to me through an electronic dropbox format. Technology and critical thinking/problem solving is a 21st Century skill we don’t often have the opportunity to present to students in a real world way. My students are both excited and scared. Excited because they have the chance to show what they know in a way meaningful to them. Scared because these are all new tools and the thought that they get to choose how to show what they know is a new concept to them. What they don’t know yet, is as individual groups and classes, are going to create the rubric for scoring their evidence of understanding and use of Web 2.0 tools. If history proves true, they will come up with a rubric far more rigorous than I.