A rich performance assessment task is a task used to demonstrate that students have learned the know, do and be of that unit.
There may be a variety of assessment tasks that act as formative assessment
during the unit, but there is generally a final assessment task as well. In
order to create a rich performance assessment task the task must meet some of
the following criteria.
Drake,
Reid & Kolohon, 2014, page 71
In my opinion, the most significant component of the
criteria mentioned above is the ability to provide students with the
opportunity to explore, enact, and reflect on the values or behaviours of a
responsible student and citizen. I think this is especially important since it
stresses the importance of learning outside the classroom. The assessment must
also ensure that there is a link between the task and the lessons being
learned. Chun (2010) suggests that the easiest way to ensure that the lesson
links to the assessment task is to teach and assess in the same way. For
example, if a classroom focuses on the higher-level thinking and development of
interpersonal skills, it is critical that the assessment must also focus on the same
higher level thinking strategies. In saying this, I believe it is critical to
include a variety of assessments along the path to the final or summative
assessment. These early assessments can be considered formative assessment and
provide opportunity for a student's reflection and refinement. Helen Donaldson further explains this
notion of formative assessment in the classroom;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGYPMcu5Tb
This video stresses the need for inclusion of the students in both the planning stages, and learning stages in order to ensure
that they know what the expectations are during the course. This notion of
involving students in their assessment is further explained by the three stages
of assessment. Purcell (2014) proposes that the three stages of assessment
include: grounding the assessment in real world applications, involving
the students in the assessment and allowing the students to be engaged with the
feedback. All of these stages meet the previously mentioned criteria of
creating a rich performance assessment task.
Personally, I have been involved in one classroom
that encompassed formative assessment. This
assessment was followed by a summative assessment that involved the students’
feedback and input. This class was during grade twelve and was titled Leadership
(interdisciplinary studies). A course description from the school can be found
on Corpus Christi’s website and the required content can be found on
the curriculum documents. In saying this, my leadership class was focused on the
goal of creating an event that prepared grade eight students to begin grade nine in
the next school year. Our assessment was based upon a real life situation of
accomplishing our goals, working well together and communicating with those who
were going to be visiting our event. Throughout the year we had small events
such as intramural days and sporting tournaments that prepared us for the final
summative task. These formative tasks also allowed us to receive feedback and
understand what aspects needed improvement. Overall, this class allowed me to
participate in a student-centered environment that was focused on a real life
setting. It also provided a variety of rich performance assessment tasks that
had clear success criteria, invited student opinions and valued higher-level
thinking.
Chun, M.
(2010). Taking Teaching to (Performance) Task: Linking Pedagogical and
Assessment Practices. Change: The
Magazine Of Higher Learning, 42(2), 22-29.
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon,
W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st
century learner. Don Mills, On: Oxford University press.
Purcell, B.
M. (2014). Use of Formative Classroom Assessment Techniques in a Project
Management Course. Journal Of Case
Studies In Accreditation And Assessment, 3
