Step 1
Identify Standard(s), Components, and Indicators
(Washington State Frameworks or Local School District Grade Level Expectations)
Review the Washington State standards or your local standards/grade level expectations for the subject area in which you will be focusing. . You may wish to select more than one, possibly integrating across subject areas to obtain an even richer learning experience. It would be unlikely to choose more than three subject areas as you would lose the impact of your desired outcomes by diluting your tasks. Choosing standards at the state indicator/framework level or your local grade level expectations strengthens the correlation between your performance task and desired assessed skills. Within the Standards selected, review the list of developmentally appropriate indicators described for each and select those for which you will focus.
Questions and Consideration:
- What important part of learning will be assessed through this performance task?
- Which standard(s) will be your focus?
- What are the observable and measurable indicators for each standard? In other words, how will we know it when we see it?
- When selecting a benchmark indicator, pay attention for those which involve action verbs, such as solve, design, write, compare, decide, draw, persuade, and investigate, as these will require a student to produce or perform their assessment "response."
Steps in the Design Process
- Step 1 - Identify Standard(s), Components, and Indicators
- Step 2 - Create a Meaningful Context for the Task
- Step 3 - Identify Thinking Skills/Processes to Build into the Task
- Step 4 - Identify the Products and/or Performance
- Step 5 - Identify Criteria for Evaluating Performance
- Step 6 - Generate Exemplary Responses
- Step 7 - Construct Scoring Tools
- Step 8 - Try out the Task
- Revise Where Necessary
