Student Engagement: A Framework For On-Demand Performance Assessment Tasks

The goal of this paper is to introduce the ways in which dimensions of engagement may be meaningfully incorporated into assessment tasks so that all students are more fully motivated to complete the tasks and perform them well.  This report begins with an overview of research on student engagement.  Then the report presents a set of design challenges, recommendations, and guiding questions for item writers’ consideration (see Table 1), followed by design considerations for each of the following elements: Classroom Activities, Design of the Tasks, and Scoring of the Tasks. Summaries and resources of student engagement literature are also presented in Appendix A.