A Step-by-Step Process for Replacing Tests With Meaningful Performance Tasks
This is a big question many of us have in education: Why are we still giving so many tests?
First, the obvious reason; the state and other entities require us to give standardized tests each year.
Ok, I think we can all agree this is the most pressing reason, and it has a trickle-down effect that we will get into later (i.e. the only way to get kids ready to take these tests is to give more tests). There is also a lot to unpack with just that statement - why state and other entities require us to give tests which - we will not get into in this article, but many others have broken down the political and financial reasons behind this phenomenon.
Second, we have to hold colleges and universities accountable. If they are still requiring tests like the SAT, ACT, and AP tests for admission, then we will inevitably be giving tests "like this" in our K-12 schools.
Third, there is a combination of things that are all interconnected: Convenience, time, and data.
Testing is the easiest way to assess students. It is the most time-efficient way to assess students. It is also the fastest way to measure students' "understanding" and to get data on where students are compared to their peers (either locally, nationally, or internationally).
Fourth, tests are written into our curriculum, they are baked into learning "programs" and are typically tied to standards. Why? Well for many of the reasons above and because we've done it this way for a long time. I took tests and was measured by tests in school. Weren't you?
Now, there are many other reasons why we still give so many tests. I'm sure you could list many additional reasons in the comments of this article, and when I'm leading assessment workshops we come up with many additional reasons for our testing culture.
Also, I don't pretend to think all testing is bad. There are often valid reasons for giving a test or a quiz (especially when we want to formatively see where students are at). Also, many tests are built with questions that are beyond surface-level regurgitation and hold real value.
Still, the research I'll share below (and many of our own experiences) tells us that testing is:
1) Not the best or only way to share learning or demonstrate understanding.
2) Has a major retention problem with sometimes 90% of knowledge correct on a test being lost in a few months.
3) Testing is not even the best way to prepare students to do well on those high-stakes standardized state tests, AP tests, and SAT/ACT tests.
If tests aren't the best way to assess, don't promote learning retention, and don't even prepare kids for the tests they "have" to take, then why are we still giving so many tests?
The follow-up question as to why are we still giving so many tests is "What can we do differently, and how do we pull it off?"
I got the chance to talk with Understanding By Design author and curriculum/performance task expert Jay McTighe about all of these questions (and more). In this episode of The Backwards Podcast, we dive into driving factors of testing (curriculum, mandates, and more) and how performance tasks can, and should, be a replacement for many tests. We also get into the weeds about how we can replace tests at the local level, and what the future of the curriculum might look like.
Listen to The Backwards Podcast on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcasts, or directly on Libsyn.
What Should We Use Instead of Tests?
The simple answer: performance-tasks and a project-based approach. Students are engaged in these approaches, able to demonstrate deeper levels of understanding, and are connected to real-world experiences and authentic tasks that are relevant and meaningful.
This is hard work. Most of us are just trying to stay afloat right now in education. We've seen many of these issues that have been present for a very long time bubble to the surface even more during the pandemic.
It takes time to develop an adaptable curriculum. It takes time to develop meaningful performance tasks. It can't be solved by buying a program or singular resource. As ASCD points out, the most notable successes occur in schools and districts whose teachers build their own admittedly imperfect curriculum.
Also, not all tests are created equal. Some tests are valid, getting rid of all tests doesn't make that much sense, and is most likely not possible in our current circumstances and environment.
But, if we are giving tests as assessments 90% of the time currently, how can we shift that percentage down and provide more performance tasks as assessments?
WHAT CAN STUDENTS DO? THE PORTFOLIO JOURNEY
We always want to know what our students understand and are able to do/apply. The problem is a multiple-choice assessment rarely ever provides that information. Yet, these types of assessments are easy to grade, easy to distribute, and easy to reuse year after year with various tweaks. It is why many standardized assessments are multiple-choice and why the SAT and ACT use this model for most of their questions.
What’s worse, is that the idea of “data-driven” instruction is based on these various multiple-choice assessments and what they say about our students’ abilities.
What kind of learning do these assessments promote?
Regurgitation and memorizing facts from study guides or stories
Only one right answer mentality
Rewards smart guessing and “playing the game”
Answers have to be “in your head”
The list could go on. As a former teacher who gave multiple-choice tests, and an SAT Tutor for years who taught students how to take these tests, I’m embarrassed to say I once tied rigor and tough multiple-choice questions to deep learning.
I saw firsthand when I had that group of 8th-grade students again in 10th grade, what kind of information I can get from different forms of assessments. I was able to see how they did on standardized and district-level assessments, but unless their scores were off the charts (high or low) it didn’t give me much info on what kind of learner they were or what kind of work they could produce.
What I can see by looking at student work is much different. A student portfolio shows me the following:
What the assignment/activity/assessment was and how the student approached it.
What kinds of personal experiences and biases they brought toward the assignment.
How well they demonstrated an understanding of the content.
How well they demonstrated their skill ability.
Usually some kind of reflection or metacognitive piece on what they did.
If they improved or not with the next piece in the portfolio…
The answer is obvious.
In fact, it’s not only what every teacher wants to see from their former students, but it also makes it much easier to assess the growth of a student over the course of a semester or full-year class versus how much a final test or culminating project would show.
Performance Task Portfolios helped me visually see where my students were struggling and where they were exceeding my expectations. These Portfolios also allowed for student choice in the assessment process, which as we know leads to student engagement and ownership of their learning.
CHOICE IN DEMONSTRATING ABILITY AND UNDERSTANDING
Because we love multiple-choice so much, let’s take a quick quiz:
A student is trying to demonstrate their understanding of the rise and fall of Napoleon. In order to show what they know about this historic time period and the reasons behind Napoleon’s rise and fall, they can be assessed through which activity:
Writing a five-paragraph essay on the rise and fall of Napoleon
Creating an infographic on the rise and fall of Napoleon
Creating a political cartoon and rationale on the rise and fall of Napoleon
Creating a five-minute mini-documentary on the rise and fall of Napoleon
Creating a fictional Serial-like podcast of interviews with key players in Napoleon’s life
All of the above
Don’t you just love the “all of the above” option!
In any one of the above options, you could assess a student’s understanding of the topic/situation and their ability to demonstrate the appropriate skill.
What’s different about this scenario, is the choice provided to students allows them to “engage” in the material and claim some ownership over the assessment activity.
Step-by-Step Process: Performance-Based Assessments
In true Understanding By Design fashion, we’ll use the backward design process to create units.
For our purposes, this is extremely important. We want to create the assessment first, and then backward design the Unit so that the content and activities students are doing match the skills and standards covered in the assessment(s).
The first step is choosing your Unit (this is most likely decided by your current curriculum).
The second step is choosing the skills you want your students to master and the applicable standards for the content and skills you are covering (hopefully this is also somewhat covered by your current curriculum).
For example, let’s say the unit is all about “historical figures” in your state/area. You have a set curriculum and text to read (often an informational text such as a textbook). This current example can be for 5th grade. Jump onto the standards website and search for applicable standards for 5th grade “Reading: Informational Text” to find this:
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.
Step Three is now putting the pieces together for various assessments. The assessment must focus on similar content (historical figures), similar skills and standards (see the above three we will hit on), and have a similar rubric for grading.
Let’s talk about the rubric for a moment. Here’s where many teachers get stuck…and it takes a long time to create. And who has that much time!?
Lucky for all of us there are some very easy and efficient ways to create standards-based rubrics online. My favorite tool is now MagicSchool.ai to create rubrics.
It took me less than five minutes to create a sample rubric based on our example standards.
What’s nice about MagicSchool.ai is the ability to personalize and change all of the categories above in the top row. The categories down the side are straight from the standards and skills we pulled for this unit.
Ask yourself after creating a rubric, “Can this work for various types of assessments for this unit?”
If the answer is “Yes”, then you’ve got a rubric to work with. If the answer is still “No” you’ll either have to create a new rubric or revisit Step #2 for some clarity.
Step four is allowing your students to choose their preferred assessment or create their own assessment. As we discussed in my last article, choice empowers students and engages them in the material.
I used to have a bank of various assessment types that my students could look through and choose the assessment that best fit their personality, interests, and learning styles. However, over time more and more students started to use the first option on that list: Make your own assessment.
Some of the assessment ideas that came from students include:
“I want to make a Saturday Night Live parody skit around this topic, and poke fun at the way it was handled in a historical sense”
“I want to conduct an in-depth interview with the author, where my friend will play the role of the author, and we’ll get into a heated argument”
“I want to create a flip-book style comic to show the character’s story arc”
This list could go on. Students are much more creative in their assessment ideas than I ever could be!
Step five is conferencing with students on their plan. You’ll want to make sure students understand the following:
What the end-goal is for this assessment
How they are being assessed (look at the rubric together)
What the expectations are for their work
What a time-line looks like for their assessment
An action plan of how they are going to get it finished
This is one of the most important pieces of allowing choice in assessment. A traditional assessment dictates all of the terms listed above. You know when the test date is, what type of content is going to be on the test, how much each question is worth, when the study guide needs to be completed etc…
Here, the short conference serves as a guiding plan for completing the choice-based assessment, and demonstrating a high-level of understanding.
My students always felt better after this mini-conference because the goals, outcomes, and steps were clearly laid out in front of them, as well as how they would be ultimately assessed on their project.
Step six is digitizing the project and sharing it with the class and in their portfolio. Regardless of what assessment type students choose, they need to create a digital record of this assessment to put in their online portfolio. This is easy to do if the work was done on a digital device, but if it was not, you’ll need to take pictures (or video recordings) to upload to the portfolio.
Teachers ask me all the time what they should use for student digital portfolios. I’d first recommend using a platform that your school is already using (Google Apps for Education, Microsoft 365, or Apple options).
By starting out with a simple Google Drive folder, you can eventually give the students a choice down the road of what platform they want to create their digital portfolio so they can share it with the world. Here is where students will make their own websites using WordPress.com, Weebly.com, Wix.com, Squarespace.com, and many more options.
Step seven is grading the assessment (teacher grade and student grade). A big piece of this type of assessment is to have students grade themselves using the rubric. They were fully aware (from the earlier conference) what was expected and how their work demonstrates understanding. The act of reflecting and grading themselves makes this all the more transparent.
After students grade themselves, I would look at the rubric and their assessment to see if I had different thoughts on what was demonstrated. Interestingly, most of my students were incredibly honest throughout this process and were harder on themselves than I might have been when grading them.
If the student’s grade and my grade were completely off base, then I would have another short conference to talk about expectations and outcomes for this assessment so we could get on the same page.
Step eight is actually assessing the portfolio itself. At the end of the unit, marking period, semester, or year, it’s important to assess the overall work of the student in their portfolio. Art teachers have been doing this for years, and more and more colleges are requesting to see real student work as part of the admission process.
To make a real-word connection (and I sometimes hate that phrase), think of your students’ digital portfolios as the first steps in their academic resume, but also in crafting their personal brand/story.
The choices they make in what they create/make/do for assessments can lead them down a number of roads in the future. If they do not document this journey, then it will be hard to reflect on why they made choices and what they have learned along the way.
Need Help Creating Performance Tasks? A Real School Example.
I just recently ran a "Performance Task Camp" with a local school district. We took a cohort of teachers and school leaders who were determined to move away from traditional assessments and towards more meaningful and relevant performance tasks.
First, we ran a double-diamond design sprint to get the core problems out in the open (i.e. what the challenges were in doing this work). Then we ended the sprint with a solution-based focus on crafting possible tasks.
From there we jumped into rapid-prototyping groups where each team was made up of cross-curricular subject area and grade level experts. This helped the team think outside their current box, but also provide valuable insight into the process.
After prototyping we regrouped, shared, and looked at examples across the disciplines. We ran a rose, thorn, bud sprint identifying which parts of the performance tasks would work for our situation and how some could be modified.
Then we took a short break and got back to work creating: This time with folks in our subject/grade-level bands. Each group had 45 minutes to create a performance task as an exemplar to use.
Post-lunch we shared and gave feedback using the peer feedback system. Each group then took a UDL approach to adapting, modifying, and improving their performance task.
The final part of the day had each group creating a short PD sprint for their colleagues to be exposed to performance tasks and how they can improve retention across all areas!
The work is not easy, but wow is it worth it!
