The Importance Of Performance Task

A performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to perform to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance tasks yield a tangible product and/or performance that serve as evidence of learning. (McTighe, 2015), Academics is most of our current school system revolves around it, and yet, I think it falls miserably short of what our kids need. To be honest, I think our academic system of education is highly overrated, at best. At worst, it destroys a number of our kids. (Wright S. 2013), Performance tasks are routinely used in certain disciplines, such as visual and performing arts, physical education, and career-technology where performance is the natural focus of instruction. However,

(Wright S. 2013) Authentic tasks are needed to both develop and assess many of the most significant outcomes identified in the current sets of academic Standards as well as trans-disciplinary 21st Century Skills and Research on effective learning from cognitive psychology and neuroscience underscores the importance of providing students with multiple opportunities to apply their learning to relevant, real-world situations. (McTighe 2015) Teacher expectancies can have an impact on students' academic achievement. These expectancies can be based on diverse student characteristics, only one of which is past academic performance. The present study investigated three student individual differences that teachers may use when forming academic expectancies: the sex of the student, the family socioeconomic status (SES) of the student, and the student's after-school activities. (Hickman D., 2000) When designing a performance task, educators should make sure that it requires application, not simply information. The task must also call for learners to present the why not just the what; to explain a concept in their own words use new examples to illustrate a theory and/or defend their position against

(JuniorC, 2011) Our school system doesn’t need to create kids who are good at school. Instead, we need to create an environment that engages learners, fosters creativity, and puts responsibility for learning where it belongs (Wright, 2013) Some students excel at creating visual representations; others are adept at writing. Allowing students some choice within open-ended performance tasks provides a practical way to personalize learning while letting them work to their strengths and interests. A standardized, one-size-fits-all approach to instruction and assessment may be efficient, but it is rarely optimal for all learners. (McTighe, 2015) Authentic performance tasks offer many opportunities for involving students in the purposeful and productive use of technology for finding and processing information, interacting with others, and communicating. (McTighe, 2015) For the most part, kids who we consider “academic” tend to be good hoop jumpers. They’ve figured out the system and can navigate their way through the predictable demands of the system. But they are seldom truly engaged. Rarely are they transformed by their learning. They’re going through the