How do you standardize administration and scoring of a project-based assessment? Yesterday we heard some answers to this question at the annual PACE Conference at Sanborn Regional High School in New Hampshire. Teachers from across the state come together to design assessments that can be used in competency-based education – an approach in which students must prove mastery of topics and skills before advancing to the next unit or the next grade level.
In the assessments teachers design, called Performance Assessments of Competency Education (PACE), students complete real-world tasks instead of standardized tests. Teachers from multiple districts collaborate to write project instructions, create rubrics, and calibrate scoring.
It was great to see teachers’ enthusiasm both for their work and for the collegiality of the conference, which is hosted in part by the New Hampshire Learning Initiative. They are already planning next year’s Competency-Based Learning Design Studio Conference.