Students love to tackle a science challenge as proof of their learning.  This training will introduce participants to summative science assessments for elementary and middle school students through performance-based tasks.  Performance assessments give students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of science concepts and acquisition of skills by applying them to an authentic task.  This approach allows teachers to link their goals and lessons for a science unit to what they determine students should know and be able to do.

Goals: This staff development will assist elementary and middle school teachers of science to:

• Learn about the value of summative performance assessments for student learning;
• View both elementary and middle school examples of science lessons and formative assessments that culminate in a summative performance assessment;
• Learn about the key elements in designing performance-based assessments;
• Design a performance assessment for students to apply the knowledge and skills they learned from a chosen science unit;
• Through backwards planning, identify the requisite skills needed to be able to accomplish successfully the performance assessment task; and
• Plan for a series of formative assessments to check-in on the student acquisition of the requisite skills.