Project-Based Learning/ Performance-Based Assessment Charlottesville City Schools School Board Presentation April 2, 2015 Strategic Plan Update 1.1.1 Project-Based Learning “a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning important knowledge and 21st century skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and learning tasks.” Buck Institute for Education PBL - Division Expectations ● ● ● Schools are implementing PBL plans as refined last school year based on feedback from division coordinators Legislative Mandate – House Bill 930 and Senate Bill 306 – Eliminated some SOL tests and requires each local school board to annually certify that it has provided instruction and administered an alternative assessment, consistent with VDOE guidelines. We have worked with VSUP (Virginia School University Partnership) to develop assessments for grade 3 History and Science and US History to 1865 and 1865 to the present PBL and Assessment for Learning ● Assessment for learning recognizes the mutuallysupportive relationship between instruction and assessment. ● Classroom assessment should reflect and promote good instruction. ● Project-based learning and performance-based assessment represent a set of strategies for learning through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging for students. Performance-Based Assessment: Key Questions for Planning 1. Learning Outcomes What do we want students to understand and be able to do? 2. Purpose(s) for Assessment Why are we assessing and how will the assessment information be used? 3. Audience(s) for Assessment For whom are the assessment results intended? The primary purpose of classroom assessment is to Inform teaching and improve learning, not to sort and select or justify a grade. Performance Based Assessments in Social Studies Grades 3, 6 and 7 lead the way! K-3 Standards Assessed in Grade 3 Using the My Monticello curriculum, grade 3 teachers refined the existing task and created a rubric. The annual art show celebrated their responses! Writing skills emphasized along with historical thinking skills, creativity, student choice and connecting past and present. Other grade 3 PBAs piloted with VSUP USI and USII at Walker / Buford developed original tasks with rubrics, and piloted others from VSUP ● ● ● ● ● Historical Thinking Skills Analysis of primary sources Research and writing skills emphasized Student choice/voice National History Day projects - authentic audience & academic competition Moving forward... ● Continue to develop performance assessments in conjunction with new Standards of Learning ● Major changes coming in 2016 with emphasis on Historical Thinking Skills over rote memorization of facts, spatial thinking using geographic concepts ● Goal is to embed the AVID WICOR strategies into all new PBAs e-Portfolios Strategic Plan Update 1.2.2 ● “…a curated collection of digital artifacts representing hard work, creativity, and collaboration.” ● “…organized compilation of artifacts that demonstrate knowledge, skills, values, or achievement that articulate the relevance, credibility, and meaning of presented artifacts.” Cooper and Love (2007) e-Portfolios ● Increase Student Engagement ○ Students become authors and publishers of content and are more likely to reflect on the content they create and share. ● Increase Student Participation ○ By expanding the walls of the classroom, the learning becomes more personal and authentic encouraging active student participation. ● Increase Student Digital Citizenship ○ Creating, managing, and representing oneself in a positive manner on the web is an essential understanding. Steps in Progress ● ● ● ● Level 1 – Digitize and upload Level 2 – Student artifact collection Level 3 – Personal ePortfolio generation Level 4 – Classroom teacher ePortfolio generation Moving forward... ● ● ● ● ● Continue to refine ePortfolio implementation Monitor grade-level benchmarks Types and number of artifacts Specifications for the grade level Continue training for ePortfolio development