Overview

In this performance assessment, students will research a topic and write an informational essay. Students will use this knowledge to invent and market a new product and present it to an audience. 

Specifically, students will be asked to conduct research about a region of the United States to build their knowledge about the culture, preferences, jobs, and hobbies of the people who live in that region. They will use this information to write a formal informational essay. From the information they acquire, they will invent a product that people from that region would likely want to purchase. They will create and present an advertisement to an audience. Students will need to speak clearly and at an understandable pace to convey the information clearly. 

Students can create their final presentation in any suitable way, including, but not limited to PowerPoint or Google Slides (or another slideshow tool), Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or paper, using colored pens/pencils/markers. 

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Details

Big Ideas & Competencies

Big Ideas Competencies

C. Writing

Students can effectively communicate purpose to an intended audience through written language, using a variety of media.

C2

Students can write informative or explanatory texts to examine a topic and clearly convey ideas, connect their ideas with words, phrases, and clauses, and provide a conclusion that relates to the presented information.

D. Speaking and Listening

Students can listen effectively, present information appropriately given the situation, and collaborate with peers.

D2

Students can summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in various media and formats.

E. Research and Inquiry

Students can engage in research and inquiry to investigate topics, evaluate and analyze the validity of sources, and synthesize information to communicate findings.

E1

Students can conduct research to create projects using several sources, including evidence from technology, literary or informational texts.

NOTE ABOUT ASSESSMENT RUBRICS

Below are analytic teacher rubrics. The column on the left shows the dimension that is being measured in the student’s performance. The levels across the top row indicate the performance level in the dimensions. Occasionally all dimensions and performance levels are exemplified by multiple students in a single recording.

Teacher Rubric

Dimensions Not Yet Meeting Expectations Meeting Expectations Exceeding Expectations

Focus/Organization
  • Provides an unclear introduction of the topic or no introduction is included. 
  • Uses an unclear or ineffective body structure to organize the details about the topic.
  • Abruptly ends the writing without a sense of closure. 
No exemplars at this time.
  • Introduces the topic.
  • Organizes the writing by grouping information together.
  • Provides a concluding statement or section.
No exemplars at this time.
  • Clearly introduces a topic. 
  • Uses a coherent body structure to organize and group related information.
  • Provides a concluding statement or section that clearly relates to the topic and important points.
No exemplars at this time.

Organization/Purpose
  • Some ideas may be evident, ideas  are randomly ordered and have an unclear progression. 
No exemplars at this time.
  • Uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end; unclear connections between and among ideas.
No exemplars at this time.
  • Logical progression of ideas from beginning to end; strong connections between and among ideas with some syntactic variety. 
No exemplars at this time.

Evidence/Elaboration
  • Facts and details from the source are minimal, irrelevant, absent, incorrectly used, or copied. 
No exemplars at this time.
  • Some facts and details from source materials may be weakly integrated, repetitive, and vague. 
No exemplars at this time.
  • Comprehensive facts and details from source materials are integrated, relevant, and specific. 
No exemplars at this time.

Conventions
  • Infrequent use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling. 
No exemplars at this time.
  • Limited use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling. 
No exemplars at this time.
  • Adequate use of correct sentence formation, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling. 
No exemplars at this time.

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