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Q Quality P Performance A Assessment Center for Quality Performance Assessment: Collaborative Education A Guide for Schools and Districts By Center for Collaborative Education Foreword by Jay McTighe www.qualityperformanceassessment.org This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Q Quality P Performance A Assessment Center for Quality Performance Assessment: Collaborative Education A Guide for Schools and Districts By Center for Collaborative Education Foreword by Jay McTighe www.qualityperformanceassessment.org This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Lead Authors: Christina Brown and Amy Mednick Foreword: Jay McTighe Contributors* • Laurie Gagnon • Olivia Biagetti • Dan French • Pascale Mevs • Maggie Ward • Amy Woods • Austin Mueller • Liza Duddy • Julia Moskowitz *In order of contribution. Permissions • Some of the tools and strategies used or adapted for this guide are drawn from the work of Karin Hess (as cited in context). Permission is given to QPA and schools using this guide to reproduce and use these materials as long as authorship is fully cited. All rights for the original materials remain the intellectual property of Karin Hess and cannot be copyrighted by others. This work includes: o Local Assessment Toolkit: Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix; Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste Test; Student Work Analysis Protocol; Assessment Development & Validation Protocols o Tools for Examining Text Complexity (with S. Hervey, 2011) • eSchool News for A Window into Performance Assessment at Frances W. Parker Charter Essential School: Copyright © February 2012, eSchool News (www.eschoolnews.com); reprinted with permission. • National Writing Project for Friedman, T. (2006). Developing a culture of inquiry for equity: One school’s story. In L. Friedrich, C. Tateishi, T. Malarkey, E. R. Simons, and M. Williams (eds.), Working toward equity: Writings and resources from the Teacher Research Collaborative (pp. 129–139). Berkeley, CA: National Writing Project. • Microlabs and Text-Based Seminar protocols are copyrighted by the National School Reform Faculty® (NSRF®) and adapted/used with permission. For more information, call 812-330-2702 or visit http://www.nsrfharmony.org. QPA website: www.qualityperformanceassessment.org CCE website: www.ccebos.org Please contact us at [email protected] © 2012 by the Center for Collaborative Education, Boston, MA. Second printing 2013 ISBN: 978-0-9883116-0-2 Center for Q Quality Collaborative P Performance Education A Assessment This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Jay McTighe i Preface by Dan French iii Acknowledgments vii How to Use This Guide ix Let’s Get Started: Entry Points and a Sample Timeline for Quality Performance Assessment xii Chapter 1: Performance Assessment: A Framework and Rationale 1 Chapter 2: Align: Instruction and Assessment 17 Chapter 3: Design: Common Performance Assessments 49 Chapter 4: Analyze: Data Analysis for Performance Assessment 83 Chapter 5: Collaborate and Lead: Communities of Assessment Practice 109 Appendix A: The QPA Framework and Self-Assessment 133 Appendix B: QPA Network Schools and Districts Whose Work Informed This Guide 138 . Glossary 139 References 142 Tools T1 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Foreword Jay McTighe Co-author, Understanding by Design Throughout North America, high-stakes, accountability tests have influenced the nature and practice of district and classroom assessments. Since these external, standardized tests rely primarily on selected-response (and sometimes, brief constructed-response) formats, it is too often the case that local assessments mimic their form. Indeed, an entire cottage industry of “practice tests” has emerged with the promise of helping to raise the scores. While there is nothing wrong with multiple-choice or short-answer formats, they are inherently limited in the outcomes that they can appropriately assess. Indeed, some of the most valued educational outcomes (e.g., creative thinking, ability to construct and support an argument, experimental inquiry, oral communication) do not lend themselves to standardized “bubblesheet” responses. Moreover, students quickly learn a truism of schooling – “what is assessed signals what is important.” The things that are not tested are less likely to be seen as important. Quality Performance Assessment (QPA) offers a timely and refreshing alternative to a fixation on standardized test methods. The book makes a strong case for the importance of including performance assessments as part of a balanced assessment system. Like the game in athletics or the play in theater, quality performance assessment tasks provide clear and relevant targets for learning. Rich performance tasks engage students in applying their knowledge and skills to a realistic issue or challenge. i Quality Performance Assessment: A Guide for Schools and Districts | www.qualityperformanceassessment.org This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Quality performance assessments get at essential questions of curriculum and instruction: What content is most important? What do we want learners to be able to do with their learning? What evidence will show that students really understand and can apply learned content? How good is “good enough”? What can we do to improve performance? They encourage a “backward design” approach to curricu- lum by identifying a worthy end in mind from which teaching is planned. In fact, teaching to rich performance tasks should occur without apology, just as effective coaches practice with the game in mind. In addition to assessing traditional subject matter, QPAs provide a natural vehicle for integrating the so-called 21st century skills (e.g., critical thinking, technology use, creativity, teamwork) with academic content – skills that can easily “fall through the cracks” of conventional teaching and multiple-choice assessments. The book clearly delineates the principles and practices needed to insure that performance assessments and companion rubrics are of high quality in order to provide fair and valid measures of targeted goals. These abstractions are brought to life through specific examples and memorable anecdotes featuring recognizable teaching situations. In addition, the authors champion the value of the process of developing, refining, and using performance assessments. The essential conversations and collaborations required (e.g., task and rubric design, peer reviews of drafts, group scoring and calibration) contribute to profound professional learning. Moreover, the subsequent analysis of student work and shared ideas for improvement lies at the heart of a professional learning community. While the book focuses on summative assessments, the authors also make a case for the importance of diagnostic (pre-assessments) and formative (on-going) assessments and their benefits to teaching and learning. They offer tried and true, manageable methods by which teachers can effectively apply a range of assessments to enhance, not simply evaluate, the performance of their students. Quality Performance Assessment is authoritative without being “ivory tower.” Indeed, one of its greatest strengths lies in its practicality. The variety of proven tools and protocols will support educators in improving their assessments while concurrently engaging their students in meaningful learning. I am a long-standing advocate for performance assessment, and this book is music to my ears. I trust that you too will enjoy its melody and act on its lyrics. Quality Performance Assessment: A Guide for Schools and Districts | www.qualityperformanceassessment.org ii This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Preface “ One thing I never want to see happen is schools that are just teaching the test, because then you’re not learning about the world. .” —President Barack Obama, March 28, 2011 Is it possible to heed President Obama’s warning and create a student assessment and accountability system that actually does teach students about the world? Is it possible to prepare students for our global society and create a system that makes profound differences in student engagement and achievement? In such a student assessment and accountability system, students would demonstrate what they have learned, how they have learned, and how their knowledge can be applied to real-life situations. Performance assessments allow educators to rethink the intersections of teaching, learning, and assessment through meaningful and transferable student learning. Quality Performance Assessment (QPA) seeks to demonstrate that performance assessments can be a powerful tool to drive and measure meaningful learning in the 21st century at the school, district, and state levels. QPA began in 2008 when the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) partnered with the Nellie Mae Education Foundation with the goal of demonstrating that rich performance assessment systems can play a vital role in preparing diverse students for attending college, achieving success in their careers, and participating in the 21st