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Using Performance Tasks to Support Instruction

Move beyond traditional assessments by embedding performance tasks into your daily instruction. This guidance will help you use student work as a powerful tool to support sensemaking and drive learning forward for all students.

From Assessment of Learning to Assessment for Learning

Performance tasks are more than just end-of-unit tests; they are rich opportunities for students to apply their science knowledge and practices to make sense of phenomena or solve problems. Beyond simply measuring learning, these tasks can serve as powerful instructional anchors that help you guide learning in real time.

When used as part of instruction, performance tasks:

  • Surface what students truly know and can do.
  • Create authentic opportunities for scaffolding, discourse, and feedback.
  • Embody the three-dimensional assessment principles of the CA NGSS.

To be most effective, tasks should be used as part of a coherent assessment system that spans short, medium, and long cycles, as described in the CA Science Framework.

 

How to Use Tasks for Responsive Instruction

Using performance tasks effectively is an iterative process focused on building from your students' ideas. Instead of just a final grade, think of tasks as a way to see how students are thinking and what they need next. This guidance provides steps for integrating tasks into your instruction.

 

Step-by-Step Guidance to Responsive Instruction

  1. 1

    Clarify the Performance Expectation

    Define what students should demonstrate using NGSS Evidence Statements and CA NGSS Performance Expectations.

  3. 2

    Position and Embed the Task in Your Instruction

    Short-Cycle

    Before or after a lesson or series of lessons to elicit prior knowledge and initial and developing ideas

    Medium-Cycle

    During or after a unit to check for progress and inform and adjust instruction

    Long-Cycle

    At the end of a grade level year or course year to assess application and synthesis

  5. 3

    Select and Customize a Performance Task

    Find a task from the ATLAS library that aligns with your goals and learning sequence. Modify the task as needed to better align to your selected objectives. Consider linguistic, cultural, and contextual access for all students using the SAEBL checklist.

  7. 4

    Use Student Work as Evidence

    Look for patterns in student reasoning, evidence, and language to guide your next instructional steps.

  9. 5

    Reflect on Science Learning

    Reflect with colleagues on task and student outcomes.

 

Tasks in Action: Classroom Use Cases

Here are a few examples of how teachers can use tasks at different points in their instruction. Click any card to expand and learn more.

Using a Task to Elicit Prior Knowledge 

A middle school teacher uses an ecosystems task at the start of the unit to elicit student thinking. Insights guide which phenomena to emphasize.

Using a Task for Mid-Unit Adjustments 

An elementary teacher embeds a matter properties task mid-unit. Student models reveal misconceptions and partial understandings, leading to instructional adjustments.

Using a Task as an Embedded Assessment 

A high school team uses a multi-day assessment on climate systems, woven into instruction. Student responses inform ongoing scaffolds.

Using a Task to Focus on Equity 

A teacher adapts prompts with sentence frames, word banks, and multimodal response options. This ensures multilingual learners can participate fully while demonstrating 3D understanding.

Learn More

Customizing Performance Tasks for Your Classroom Needs
Finding and Selecting Tasks in ATLAS
Understanding the CA Next Generation Science Standards