Apply your learning to designing or refining your performance assessment.

STEP 1: Evaluate your current draft

  • What depth of knowledge levels does your task emphasize?  What evidence can you use to support that conclusion?
  • What type of thinking (Bloom's) does your task ask of students? What evidence can you use to support that conclusion?
  • Does your task reach a high level of overall cognitive rigor?
  • Is the level of cognitive rigor required by this task appropriate to evaluate the content knowledge, academic skill, and/ or essential skills the task is intended to assess?
  • Do learners have opportunities to engage in tasks requiring higher levels of cognitive complexity and build their ability to engage in increasingly more challenging tasks? What evidence supports that conclusion?

STEP 2: Revise as needed

  • Use a cognitive rigor matrix as a reference to help you rethink your task.  Is there an opportunity to adjust what students are asked to do with their learning to ensure a high level of cognitive rigor?