President, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH IN ACTION, Underhill, VT
Providing educators with research-based models for effective instruction and assessment, moving students towards greater engagement and deeper learning.
Formative & Performance Assessment Focus Area
Building Your Local Assessment System
A Local Assessment Toolkit to Promote Deeper Learning Module 3 provides an in-depth discussion and tools for developing high-quality assessments. Module 5 focuses on assessment systems.
Develop or Analyze Performance Tasks and Rubrics Using Hess's PLC Tools
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STARS Planning Tool for Developing Role Plays & Simulations (excerpt from Karin's 2021 Rigor by Design Playbook: The What, the Why, and the How)
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PLC Tool #9 Interactive Tool 9 Basic Task Validation Protocol: This interactive PDF can be used to develop assessments and/or analyze performance tasks. Page 3 includes questions for UDL and "fairness."
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PLC Tool #10 What will your formative assessment uncover? Use Karin's interactive Tool #10 to analyze formative assessments
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What skills, concepts, and reasoning you expect to elicit with this assessment;
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What students might not get quite right; and
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What you can do next.
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PLC Tool #11 Interactive Rubric Quality Review Tool - Use this tool for getting peer feedback on your draft rubrics.
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PLC Tool #12 Student Work Analysis: Analyzing and Acting on Evidence: This interactive PDF tool can be used to analyze results from performance tasks in order to (a) refine the assessment or scoring rubrics; (b) plan next steps for instruction; and/or (c) better understand the progression of learning across multiple assessments. Video segments now available at Karin's YouTube channel. (NOTE: This was originally Hess Tool #11)
Assessment Papers and Presentations
Graphic - A Range of Performance Assessment (Hess, Colby, & Joseph, Deeper Competency-Based Learning, 2020)
Selected slides from January 2014 NH-CCE Webinar: Karin provides coaching tips and feedback on development of performance assessment tasks to NH educators. Download the slides.
Performance Assessment Examples
Assignment Menus - Quick Tips for Differentiation
We Teach NYC: The NYC Schools Dept of Education has posted annotated task examples (K-12), go to https://www.weteachnyc.org/
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Grade 1 performance task: Informational Writing, “My report about…” Sample performance task in writing designed by Karin Hess and piloted in NYC schools. Each task includes teaching suggestions, task prompt, scoring rubric, and annotated student works samples. Download sample gr 1 writing task
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Grade 3 performance task: Opinion Writing, “Investigating Sharks” Sample performance task in writing designed by Karin Hess and piloted in NYC schools. Each task includes teaching suggestions, task prompt, scoring rubric, and annotated student works samples. Download sample gr 3 writing task.