Developing High-Quality Performance Tasks
Grades K-12
Tuesday, 03 October 2017
October 03
October 03, 2017
Many teachers are sold on the idea of performance tasks, but become “lost in the weeds” when it comes to administering and scoring them. Performance tasks offer teachers the opportunity to gather information about student understanding, knowledge, and skills in a more authentic and engaging manner than afforded by traditional tests. Unfortunately, performance tasks can also become unwieldy, leaving teachers to wonder if they have indeed captured their intended learning outcomes and leaving students confused about teacher expectations. This session explores how to effectively craft performance tasks that facilitate authenticity, transfer of learning, goal-alignment, student engagement, and efficient implementation. By the end of the session, participants will be able to: unpack standards to craft high-quality learning goals, develop performance tasks that measure deep understanding and transfer of learning, create student-friendly instructions that reflect learning goals and communicate clear expectations for student performance, and develop criteria for rubrics that clearly communicate expectations to all stakeholders. Participants will emerge from their work during the course of the day with a performance task, as well as student-friendly directions that will facilitate teaching for transfer.
The online follow-up for this course will involve the instructors facilitating the process of a structured peer review of their Performance Tasks. In addition, common participant questions will be addressed to provide support for future task development.
Classroom Teachers, Instructional Leaders, and School Administrators
Conference Runs from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Registration and Breakfast Begin at 8:00 a.m.
Lunch will be served at noon.
All registered participants will receive an email with event details in the week before the conference is held.
Follow-up session(s) will be provided through an online platform
The conference fee is $139 for each participant who is member of a school division which is a member of VSUP/VaSCL.
The registration fee for participants from Non-Member school divisions is $189 .
Registration fees include breakfast and lunch, as well as parking and internet access.
The registration deadline is September 22, 2017.
In the registration form (below), required fields are indicated with a red asterisk. Mistakes made in completing the form will be highlighted in red.
Once you have submitted the registration, the person or people whom you have designated to receive a confirmation email should see that email (with registration information included) within 24 hours.
Pre-Payment is not required for participation.
After the conference has been held, an invoice will be emailed to the person identified in Billing Information on the Conference Registration Form for each participant.
Notification of cancellation must be sent by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., VSUP/VaSCL Coordinator, at least FIVE BUSINESS DAYS before the event is held . . . or the registration fees will be billed in full.
If a Purchase Order Number is provided on the Conference Registration Form for a participant, the invoice from VSUP will reference that Purchase Order Number.
If you wish to be invoiced BEFORE the date of the event or if you have any other questions about payment, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If you have questions or concerns, or would like to receive more information about this conference, please contact our Conference Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..