Creating a PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) -like performance task in the classroom involves designing a task that assesses students' abilities to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world contexts. PISA tasks typically focus on problem-solving, critical thinking, and the application of knowledge in various situations. Here are steps you can follow to create a PISA-like performance task in your classroom:
3. • This training module answers
the following questions:
– What is a performance task?
– What is a Classroom
Activity?
– What does a performance
task in mathematics or
English language
arts/literacy look like?
PERFORMANCE TASK
7. PERFORMANCE TASK (PT)
• Portion of the test that requires
students to answer a set of
complex questions centered on a
common topic or problem.
8. • Administered online;
• Helps ensure test items are
more accessible; and
• Allows students to respond in
ways that are different from
how they might respond or
access paper-and-pencil tests.
PERFORMANCE TASK
9. • Measures how well a student can
integrate knowledge and skills
across multiple claims and
targets
– Claim: Broad evidence-based
statements about what students
know and can do as demonstrated
by their performance on the
assessment
– Target: Connects the Common
Core State Standards to evidence
that will be collected from the
assessment
PERFORMANCE TASK
12. What is a performance task?
Introduction to Performance Tasks
• Measures capacities such as depth of
understanding, research and writing
skills, and/or complex analysis with
relevant evidence, and
• Designed to provide students with an
opportunity to demonstrate their ability
to apply their knowledge and higher-
order thinking skills to explore and
analyze a complex, real-world scenario.
Mathematics
ELA
Expectations
14. Mathematics
Mathematics performance tasks require
students to integrate skills across multiple
domains, clusters, and standards of the
Common Core State Standards to demonstrate
their ability to use their math knowledge to solve
real-world problems.
Mathematics
ELA
Expectations
What is a performance task?
15. What is a performance task?
ELA
In ELA, performance tasks require students to
integrate research and writing to inform/explain,
to narrate, or to support an opinion/argument for
a designated audience.
Mathematics
Expectations
ELA
16. What is a performance task?
• Student is expected to work more
extensively with the test materials,
such as:
– informational sources,
– research articles, or
– tables of data.
Mathematics
ELA
Expectations
20. The Online Test
Administration Manual
includes a section about
accessibility features and
defines accessibility options
that may be implemented
during the Classroom
Activity for students with
disabilities and English
learners.
Classroom Activity Guidance for
Needs-Specific Accessibility Options
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
21. • Takes place before
students engage in the
performance task;
• Is administered separately
for both ELA and
mathematics;
• Is the same activity for the
entire class; and
• Is not scored.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
22. • Designed to be completed in
approximately thirty minutes;
• In a group setting by a certified teacher or
other instructional staff;
• No more than three days before the
student takes the online task;
• ELA — Classroom Activity should be on a
different day than the performance task;
and
• No information should be added or
provided outside the directions and
information provided.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY—
Administration
23. • Schedule a make-up session.
• Provide students the opportunity to
interact with the teacher and other
students.
• Provide students with an
experience similar to that of their
peers.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY —
Absent Students
24. Now it’s
time to try it
myself!
Technology of the Future
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
26. To review these and other
examples in more detail,
please visit the
Smarter Balanced Practice
Tests.
PERFORMANCE TASK
27. Before the ELA Performance Task: Classroom Activity
ELA
Classroom Activity
Technology of
the Future
ELA
Performance Task
Robots
28. Before the ELA Performance Task: Classroom Activity
Students are
given
information:
In this Classroom
Activity, students
look at images of
some examples of
outdated technology
and read a brief
description about
each of them.
29. Before the ELA Performance Task: Classroom Activity
Discussion:
Then they talk
about what
they have read
with
classmates in a
structured
discussion.
31. ELA Performance Task — After the Classroom Activity
• Students work
independently
without discussion
on different secure
tasks.
• There are two parts
to the individually
administered ELA
task:
– Part 1 — Research
– Part 2 — Writing
• Administer the two
parts in two
sessions.
What happens next:
32. ELA Performance Task — After the Classroom Activity
• In Part 1, students are
given a set of two or
more sources to be
used on both parts of
the test.
• Information may be in
the form of
informational or
argumentative articles,
research articles,
charts, or other
sources.
What happens next:
33. ELA Performance Task — After the Classroom Activity
In this example,
students access
research articles
from several sources
about the same
topic — in this case,
what real robots can
do.
Notes can be taken
on paper or on the
computer.
Example:
34. ELA Performance Task Questions
ELA Performance Task Question Examples
The ELA task then requires the student to answer
research questions about the sources.
35. ELA Performance Task Questions
Example Question 1
1) The student is asked to explain appropriate
evidence from a variety of sources.
36. ELA Performance Task Questions
Example Question 2
2) The student is asked to explain evidence
that supports the given statement.
37.
38. When writing your story, find ways to
use information and details from the
sources to improve it.
41. Before the Math Performance Task: Classroom Activity
Mathematics
Classroom Activity
Food Baskets
Mathematics
Performance Task
Example
42. Mathematics Performance Task
Facilitator Directs
Students:
In the Classroom Activity
for this performance task,
the teacher or facilitator
leads the students
through an activity that
familiarizes them with the
context in which a food
basket would be used and
how individual foods are
selected for inclusion
based on certain
nutritional requirements or
needs.
43. Mathematics Performance Task — After the Classroom Activity
After completing the
Classroom Activity,
students are then
ready to begin the
individual component
of the performance
task.
What happens next:
44. Mathematics Performance Task — After the Classroom Activity
The individually
administered
component of the
mathematics
performance task has
a stimulus that
provides information
for the student to use
in the task.
More information is given:
45. Math Performance Task Questions
The student has the opportunity
to use the tools to help complete
the task.
46. Mathematics Performance Task Questions
The set of questions in the mathematics
performance task is designed to give
students a coherent picture of how
mathematics is used to plan and make
decisions in the real world.
48. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Classroom
Activity PT
CAT
ADMINISTRATION SEQUENCE
49. ADMINISTRATION SEQUENCE
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
ELA ELA
Classroom
Activity
ELA
Part 1
ELA
Part 2
Day 7 Day 8 Day 9
Math Math
Classroom
Activity
Math
PT
PT
PT
CAT
CAT
CA
CA
• ELA PT—2 sessions
• Math PT—1 session
Administer the
performance
task within three
days of the
Classroom
Activity.
55. • There are no pause rules for the
performance task.
• Students can take breaks during the
administration of the performance task
but will be automatically logged out
after twenty minutes in a paused state
or thirty minutes of inactivity.
• For mathematics, students can access
the same items after a break.
• For ELA, students have access to the
items within either Part 1 or Part 2.
PERFORMANCE TASK —
Pausing
56. PERFORMANCE TASK Tools
Global Notes — ELA
• Used only for the ELA PT (not math);
• Global notes is an embedded universal
tool;
• Notes are retained from Part 1 to Part 2
– A student taking Part 2 of the ELA PT
may refer back to the notes even
though the student is not able to go
back to the research questions in
Part 1; and
• Preferred mode for note taking.
57. PERFORMANCE TASK Tools
Scratch Paper — ELA
• Students may choose to use
scratch paper to make notes in
ELA.
• Collect scratch paper at completion
of Part 1 of the ELA performance
task and store securely until Part 2.
• After administration, all scratch
paper must be securely destroyed
in adherence to test security
procedures.
58. • Scratch paper must be available to all students
taking the math assessment. Graph paper is
required in 6th grade and above.
• If the mathematics performance task is
administered over more than one test session, Test
Administrators must retain scratch paper and
graph paper between test sessions.
• Scratch paper and graph paper may not be
retained between test sessions for the CAT portion.
• Following the conclusion of the mathematics PT,
scratch paper and graph paper must be collected
and securely destroyed to maintain test security.
PERFORMANCE TASK
Tools — Scratch Paper and Graph Paper — MATH
59. • A calculator is required for
students in 6th grade and above.
• Calculator is an embedded
universal tool within the test
delivery system.
PERFORMANCE TASK
Mathematics — Calculator
Notas do Editor
Performance Task Overview
This training module provides an introduction to performance tasks by answering the following questions:
What is a performance task?
What is a Classroom Activity?
What does a performance task in mathematics or English language arts/literacy look like?
This presentation is a general overview of the performance task. Test Administrators and classroom teachers who administer the performance task and its related Classroom Activity should be sure to review the additional information provided in the Test Administration Manual. This information provides greater detail about where to obtain the Classroom Activity, how to administer it, and how to plan for the performance task event within the test administration process.
As you know, a Smarter Balanced assessment consists of three components: a CAT portion of the test, a Classroom Activity, and a performance task.
A performance task, also referred to as a PT, is a portion of the test that requires students to answer a set of complex questions that are centered on a common topic or problem. There is one performance task per content area on the summative assessment.
The Smarter Balanced assessment is administered primarily as an online assessment on the computer, which helps ensure test items are more accessible.
Online assessments allow students to respond in ways that are different from how they might respond or access the paper-and-pencil tests.
The performance task is intended to measure how well a student can integrate knowledge and skills across multiple claims and targets.
The ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple claims and targets is a very important part of being college- and career-ready.
A performance task is made up of two components: a Classroom Activity and an individually administered, computer-generated task.
As its name suggests, a performance task measures capacities such as depth of understanding, research and writing skills, and/or complex analysis with relevant evidence. It is designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge and higher-order thinking skills to explore and analyze a complex, real-world scenario.
When students enter college or begin a career, they are often confronted with tasks that require them to seek information, analyze that information, determine which information is needed and which is not, and then evaluate and/or synthesize that information.
Problems in the world do not come to us neatly packaged and ready to solve. Performance tasks are intended to measure a student’s ability to grapple with these scenarios.
In mathematics, the performance tasks require students to integrate skills across multiple domains, clusters, and standards of the Common Core State Standards to demonstrate their ability to use their math knowledge to solve real-world problems.
In ELA, performance tasks require students to integrate research and writing to inform/explain, to narrate, or to support an opinion/argument for a designated audience.
In a performance task, a student is expected to work more extensively with the test materials, such as informational sources, research articles, or tables of data, in ways that closely mirror the kinds of tasks students would be expected to do in the real world.
The Classroom Activity is a short, teacher-led activity designed to provide students with the opportunity to discuss contextual information and key terms and/or ideas on the topic they will encounter in the individually administered performance task. These activities are not intended to cover the content of the performance task.
The Classroom Activity ensures that all students have a common understanding of the contextual elements of a performance task topic or theme.
The Classroom Activity provides context-setting information so that all students, regardless of their backgrounds and experiences, are able to access and demonstrate understanding of the content of the performance task.
The Online Test Administration Manual includes a section about accessibility features and defines accessibility options that may be implemented during the Classroom Activity for students with disabilities and English learners.
The non-secure Classroom Activity takes place before the student engages in the performance task on the test. There is one Classroom Activity per performance task topic. Each class will be assigned the same Classroom Activity. Each student should have a Classroom Activity administered for ELA and a Classroom Activity administered for mathematics. The Classroom Activity is not scored, but it is an important prerequisite for the performance task to ensure that students are not at a disadvantage in demonstrating the skills the task intends to assess.
The Classroom Activity is designed to be completed in approximately thirty minutes. It should be administered by a certified teacher, or other instructional staff, in a group setting, where possible, to allow students an opportunity to interact with their teachers during the activity. The Classroom Activity should be administered no more than three days before the student takes the performance task test and should be administered only once to a student. It is recommended that the ELA Classroom Activity not be administered on the same day as the performance task. No information should be added or delivered outside the directions and information provided.
In the event that a student is absent on the day of the Classroom Activity, a make-up session must be scheduled. Although the Classroom Activity may be recorded, the make-up session should provide students with an experience similar to that of their peers.
For example, where possible, the make-up session should provide students the opportunity to interact with the teacher and other students.
Though students participate in the Classroom Activity together and it’s not scored, the individually administered performance task that follows is part of the student’s overall score.
While taking the performance task, like any other part of the test, students cannot talk to each other, and all students must provide their own responses.
Let’s look at a performance task example for English language arts/literacy and mathematics. Examples such as these can be found on the Smarter Balanced Practice Test.
We will start with an ELA example.
In this Classroom Activity, students review information about outdated technology.
Then they talk about what they have read with classmates in a structured discussion.
Within three days of participating in the Classroom Activity, students take the individually administered performance task.
At this point, the students work independently, without discussion, on different secure tasks related to the Classroom Activity. There are two parts to the individually administered ELA PT: Part 1 is Research and Part 2 is Writing (sometimes referred to as the “full-write”). It is recommended that these two parts be administered in two sessions.
In Part 1, students are given a set of two or more sources to be used on both parts of the test. This information may be in the form of informational or argumentative articles, research articles, charts, or other sources.
In this example, students access research articles from several sources about the same topic — in this case, what real robots can do. They may take notes on paper or on the computer.
The ELA task then requires the student to answer research questions about the sources.
1) The student is asked to explain appropriate evidence from a variety of sources.
2) The student is asked to explain evidence that supports the given statement.
In the final part of the ELA online task, students are asked to respond to a writing assignment using the full-write process: drafting, revising, and editing.
The writing assignment, or full-write assignment as it is sometimes called, is designed so students use information from the sources presented previously in the performance task. They use these sources when writing their multi-paragraph essays, articles, reports, or narratives. In the ELA performance task, sources and global notes from Part 1 are available in Part 2 so students may refer to the sources and their global notes even though they are not able to return to the research questions in Part 1.
The online system provides many common word-processing tools such as an embedded dictionary and thesaurus, bold, italics, underlining, copy, paste, and spell check to assist the student with the writing assignment.
The mathematics performance task looks very similar to the ELA performance task.
In the Classroom Activity for this performance task, the teacher or facilitator leads the students through an activity that familiarizes them with the context in which a food basket would be used and how individual foods are selected for inclusion based on certain nutritional requirements or needs.
After completing the Classroom Activity, students are then ready to begin the individual component of the performance task.
The individually administered component of the mathematics performance task has a stimulus that provides information for the student to use in the task.
In this sample task, the student has the opportunity to use the tools to help complete the task.
The set of questions in the mathematics performance task is designed to give students a coherent picture of how mathematics is used to plan and make decisions in the real world.
Smarter Balanced recommends the following sequence:
1) Students take the computer adaptive test (CAT), then the Classroom Activity, and then the performance task.
2) Once a student starts either portion of the assessment, he or she completes that portion of the test before moving on to the next portion.
3) It is recommended that the CAT portion of the test be administered first, followed by the performance task.
In all instances, the Classroom Activity MUST be administered prior to the performance task and the performance task must be completed within 10 days of starting the task.
Here’s a sample order of administration for both the ELA and mathematics performance tasks.
The ELA performance task should start with the Classroom Activity, and then, within three days, the performance task should be administered. The ELA performance task should be administered over two sessions (Part 1 and Part 2). The performance task should not be administered on the same day as the Classroom Activity.
The mathematics performance task requires a Classroom Activity first, and then, within three days, the performance task should be administered. The mathematics PT requires one test session at minimum, but may, in some instances, be administered over multiple sessions.
There may be an instance when the performance task is inadvertently administered prior to the student(s) being exposed to the Classroom Activity.
If this happens, the student(s) should continue with and complete the performance task. The Test Administrator must report this occurrence as a testing irregularity.
Further directions about testing irregularities can be found in the TAM.
The Online Test Administration Manual includes tables of recommended sequences for ELA and mathematics.
The tables provide estimated average times for students to complete the Smarter Balanced assessments and outlines the number and duration of sessions, breaks, total duration of the assessment, and additional resources for the mathematics and ELA CAT items, Classroom Activities, and performance tasks.
There are some other important details to know about performance tasks, so please take note of the following information.
Performance tasks expire after ten calendar days once initiated by the student.
There are no pause rules for the performance task. Students can take breaks during the administration of the performance task but will be automatically logged out after twenty minutes in a paused state or thirty minutes of inactivity. The mathematics PT is presented on a single screen. Following a break, students have access to the same items in the mathematics task.
For ELA, after taking a break, students will have access to only those items within the part of the task they were working on (Part 1 or Part 2) prior to the break.
During the ELA PT, the notes on the embedded universal tool, Global Notes, are retained from Part 1 to Part 2 so that the student may go back to the notes even though he or she is not able to go back to the research questions in Part 1. Embedded Global Notes is the preferred mode for note taking. Global Notes is not available for the mathematics PT.
To ensure that students using scratch paper for notes have the same allowance as students using the online notes, TAs should collect students’ scratch paper at the completion of Part 1 of the ELA PT and securely store the paper for students’ use during Part 2 of the ELA PT.
Scratch paper must be made available to all students taking the math assessment. Graph paper is required for students in 6th grade and above.
If the mathematics performance task is administered over more than one test session, Test Administrators should retain scratch paper and graph paper between test sessions. Scratch paper and graph paper may not be retained between test sessions for the CAT portion. Following the conclusion of the mathematics PT, all scratch paper and graph paper must be collected and securely destroyed to maintain test security.
A calculator is required for students in grade 6 and above taking the mathematics performance task. This is an embedded universal tool available through the online test delivery system.