Performance Assessment Resource Bank
Why Performance Assessment?
Unlike multiple-choice “bubble” tests, performance assessments require students to construct an original response rather than simply recognize a correct answer. The Performance Assessment Resource Bank includes high-quality tasks that engage students in multiple-step and extended performances, such as researching and developing mathematical models to write an article on the rising cost of college tuition. As tasks become more complex and require greater student direction they assess more complex and integrated aspects of learning and require the planning, problem-solving, and persistence that are necessary for success in the real world. This means that the use of performance assessment can both measure and encourage the development of many of the 21st century skills—critical thinking, inquiry, communication, collaboration—that are essential for success in college, career, and life.
What the Resource Bank Offers
The Performance Assessment Resource Bank provides tools that support the use of performance assessment as part of a system of assessment for meaningful learning. These resources include high-quality and expert-reviewed performance tasks that are aligned to Common Core State Standards (CCSS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and Critical Abilities. In addition, the resource bank includes resources and tools designed by assessment experts and experienced educators to support the use, development, review, and scoring of performance tasks. Users can learn how to integrate performance tasks within curriculum and instruction, about using learning progressions and trajectories as part of assessment, about portfolios of learning that include performance assessment, and explore policies that support a comprehensive system of assessment that incorporates performance tasks.