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Short Performance Assessments

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Classroom or external assessments (20-40 minutes)

Short Performance Assessments (SPAs) are designed to be taken individually at the end of a lesson sequence that addresses the NGSS Performance Expectation (PE). The SPAs provide information about students' progress with integrating the three dimensions of a single PE.

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Image credit: Famartin Creative Commons 3.0 License

This task was adapted from an assessment designed by San Diego Unified School District teachers using the SNAP online courses and feedback from SCALE. See SNAP Course 4 for training in using the SNAP Multidimensional Rubrics to embed assessments into instruction.

Earth Science (2nd Grade)

PE: Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land (2-ESS2-1).

Physical Science & Engineering (3rd grade)

PE: Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other. (3-PS2-3)

Image credit: Mateusz Konieczny CC BY 2.0

Life Science & Engineering (3rd grade)

PEs:

  1. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.* (3-LS4-4)
  2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. (3-5-ETS1-2)
Image credit: Øyvind Holmstad CC BY 4.0

Life Science (5th grade)

PE: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. (5-LS2-1)

Image credit: Daniel Kraft CC BY 3.0

This task was adapted from an assessment designed by San Diego Unified School District teachers using the SNAP online courses and feedback from SCALE. See SNAP Course 4 for training in using the SNAP Multidimensional Rubrics to embed assessments into instruction.

Earth Science (5th Grade)

PE: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact (5-ESS2-1).

Image credit: joelbeeb CC BY 3.0

Earth Science (5th grade)

PE: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the earth’s resources and environment. (5-ESS3-1)

Earth Science (MS)

PE: Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects. (MS-ESS3-2)

Image credit: CC BY 4.0

Earth Science (MS)

PE: Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process. (MS-ESS2-1)

Life Science (MS)

PE: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem (LS2-1)

Physical Science (MS)

PE: Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave. (MS-PS4-1)

Image credit: Jarek Tuszyński CC BY 4.0

This task was adapted from an assessment designed by San Francisco Unified School District teachers using the SNAP online courses and feedback from SCALE. See SNAP Course 4 for training in using the SNAP Multidimensional Rubrics to embed assessments into instruction.

Physical Science (MS)

PE: Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects (MS-PS2-1).

Image credit: Stu Spivack CC 2.0

This task was adapted from an assessment designed by San Francisco Unified School District teachers using the SNAP online courses and feedback from SCALE. See SNAP Course 4 for training in using the SNAP Multidimensional Rubrics to embed assessments into instruction.

Physical Science (MS)

PE: Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object (MS-PS3-5).

Image Credit: TesterWMNL CC BY 4.0

This task was adapted from an assessment designed by San Francisco Unified School District teachers using the SNAP online courses and feedback from SCALE. See SNAP Course 4 for training in using the SNAP Multidimensional Rubrics to embed assessments into instruction.

Physical Science (HS)

PE: Create a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known (HS-PS3-1).

Image credit: Mas3cf CC-BY-SA-4.0

This task was adapted from an assessment designed by San Francisco Unified School District teachers using the SNAP online courses and feedback from SCALE. See SNAP Course 4 for training in using the SNAP Multidimensional Rubrics to embed assessments into instruction.

Life Science (HS)

PE: Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem (HS-LS2-6).