When the decision about how to assess a performance indicator is finalized, the focus of design shifts to the evaluation process itself. Steps 4 through 6 illustrate how to develop an assessment rubric, a set of scoring guidelines intended to inform students regarding expectations and serve as the evaluative lens.
Sample Performance Activity/Field Based Teaching and Learning Project
- Recruit 1-2 peers in the workplace to join you in a learning community and work as a team to complete the assignments in this project. Maintain a reflective journal of your activities that includes a brief description of actions taken, reflections on the leadership behaviors you exhibited, and thoughts about how your leadership actions might be refined or strengthened. (A-3, A-4)
- Using standards-based accountability data, identify a problem of instructional practice at the classroom level that is related to a broader issue of student learning and performance within a particular content area in the school. Submit a written problem statement that includes a description of the procedures and processes used by the team to identify this as an area of concern and how the problem of practice is situated in the broader school improvement plan. (C-1, A-1)
- Select a unit of study from the district curriculum for the content area you identified above and conduct two audits: 1) to determine alignment of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment; and, 2) to determine alignment of the unit outcomes with state content standards and benchmarks. Prepare a written report of your findings and make recommendations for enhancing the unit through the use of technology and research based instructional strategies in ways that fully accommodate learners’ diverse needs. (B-1, B-2, B-4)
- Collaborate with your team to address the problem of practice you identified in your own work setting using observation and feedback strategies and practices to analyze student work, monitor progress, and redesign curriculum and instruction as needed to meet diverse needs. (A-6, A-3, B-1, B-3, B-4)
- Reflect on your experiences completing this project and evaluate your current level of knowledge and skills as instructional leaders. Use the results of the evaluation to guide development of a professional growth plan for your team that reflects an on-going commitment to continuous improvement of teaching and learning. Prepare a written summary of the team discussion and an action plan that outlines specific goals and agreed upon expectations for how you will support each other’s learning over time. (A-2, A-5, A-7)
Step 4: define the assessment criteria
Rubric design begins with a determination of the criteria that will be used to make judgments about quality. Criteria specify expectations regarding the types of behavior or attributes that should be evident in the performance. For example, prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics figure skating free skate performances were rated based on two criteria: technical merit and presentation.
When writing performance assessments to professional standards documents, the standards themselves specify the major assessment criteria. In the curriculum and instruction element from CCSSO 2008 reprinted in Table 3, the products of performance must include evidence the student developed shared understanding, ensured alignment, monitored effects of curriculum and instruction, and used data-based strategies and research in the process.
