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performance tasks

The city of Springfield is deciding whether to implement a tax on junk food. Some citizens of Springfield believe that junk food is the cause of the obesity epidemic in their city. Others believe that individuals have the right to consume whatever foods they choose and citizens should not be taxed for purchas-ing foods that are high in fat, sugar, or sodium. The representa-tives in Springfield’s senate are deciding whether to implement this tax.

As an intern for one of the senators, you have been asked to write a memo that addresses whether the Springfield senate should implement a tax on junk food. Draw evidence from the following documents:

An abstract from a study reporting a relationship between obesity and junk food consumptionA political cartoon depicting how taxing junk food affects the under-priviledgedA blog posting for people that support healthy eating

The Newmont School Board is deciding whether or not to build a new gymnasium for Newmont High School. There has been some controversy in the community regarding whether resources should be spent to build the new gymnasium. The School Board, which is responsible for making this decision, has collected several documents to help them make their decision. Some board members feel this is an unnecessary expenditure, particularly given Newmont’s limited resources. Other members feel that there are considerable benefits to building the new gymnasium.

As the chair of a special committee on the board, your task is to write a recommendation that addresses whether the Newmont School Board should build the new gymnaisum. Draw evidence from the following documents:

A survey of townspeople reflecting a belief that the district cannot afford to build the gymA cost analysis to build the gymnasium, including a budget for the townAn engineer’s report on the structural status of the current gymnasiumA blueprint showing the specfications of the new gymnasium

Are grades in college and overall productivity in college negatively affected by a student’s use of social networks? A group of researchers hypothesized that students who use social networks on a regular basis get lower grades in college than students who do not.

In order to test this hypothesis, researchers collected data from students at a large university. The researchers stood on a popular corner of campus and asked 50 students to answer a few questions.

Researchers found that 75% of the students said that they did not think that spending time social networking interfered with their grades. The researchers decided to compare the average amount of time that students spend on social networks each week with each student’s GPA.

Based on the results, researchers conducted that their hypoth-esis is correct: students who use social networks on a regular basis do worse in college than students who do not.

The researchers would like to conduct another study to see if their hypothesis holds true. Which of the following research designs will best test their hypothesis?

(A) Ask the same questions at the same university but to a different group of people.(B) Ask the same set of questions but at a different large university.(C) Ask a different set of questions at a different large university.(D) Ask the same questions but at numerous universities of varying sizes.

selected response


sample prompts

Students take 60 minutes to complete a single Performance Task, designed to, among other things, measure their ability to problem solve, analytically reason, write effectively and exhibit standards of writing mechanics.

Students are alloted 30 minutes to take 25 selected response items, designed not to assess their mastery of content, but rather their ability to scientifically and quantitatively reason, read and evaluate information with a critical eye, and critique faulty arguments.

ductivity in collllege

cla+

your overall performance


university college institutional report cla+Thank you for participating in the CLA+. We hope your institution finds the below information helpful in your larger educational improvement efforts. CLA staff welcome any questions you may have about interpreting this report. Further, feedback on the usefulness of the report itself is also always welcome.

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total cla+

performance taskanalysis & problem solvingwriting effectivenesswriting mechanics

scientific/quantitative reasoningcritical reading & evaluationcritique an argument

1100 1184 1214 1245

national performance

fres

hmen

soph

omor

es

juni

ors

seni

ors

1047 1088 1125 1170

1102 1178 1216 1254 1052 1089 1124 1173

2.6 3.1 3.6 3.9 2.4 2.9 3.3 3.52.5 3.2 3.6 4.1 2.5 2.7 3.4 3.72.7 3.3 3.8 4.3 2.4 2.9 3.3 3.5

3.2 4.0 5.1 6.8 3.1 4.0 4.8 6.33.4 4.2 5.4 6.5 3.2 4.3 5.1 6.41.9 2.3 3.6 3.9 1.4 2.2 2.9 3.2

selected response 1096 1190 1213 1236 1043 1085 1126 1168

666

10105

tota

l pos

sibl

e

666

10105

value-added analysis note: available only for institutions that assess freshmen & senior cohorts

effect size vs. freshmen 0.25 0.54 0.89 0.19 0.49 0.77

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total cla+

perf

orm

ance

leve

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performance taskselected response

2.01 96 1180 1240 + +

1.46 93 1201 1254 +2.25 97 1172 1236 + +

explainthis to meThe total CLA+ score is determined by students’ combined performance on a Performance Task and a set of Selected Response items. These scores are further informed by student traits, as represented by the subscore categories of analysis & problem solving, writing effectiveness, etc. You may choose to compare your scores to the national norms to get a sense for how well your students compare against other students across the country.

If your institution assessed both freshmen and seniors, we are able to provide both effect size and value-added metrics, which take into consideration the varying characteris-tics of students when they entered your (and other) institutions. Thus, comparisons across institutions can be made on an even playing field.

Value-added scores are reported in standard deviations, percentile ranks, and performance levels. The compari-son of observed versus expected scores allows us to take into consideration the varying entering academic abilities of students at different institutions. Expected Mean Senior CLA Score

Obs

erve

d M

ean

Seni

or C

LA S

core

900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400

900

1000

1100

1200

1300Other CLA institutions

Your institution

Observed performance equal to expected performance

your overall performance


jane doe student report cla+Thank you for participating in the CLA+. This assessment--unlike more common tests--focuses on the general outcomes of your education; namely, your ability to think critically, problem-solve, and write. These are the types of higher-order skills that are increasingly necessary for success beyond college.

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out o

f pos

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etotal cla+

performance taskanalysis & problem solvingwriting effectivenesswriting mechanics

scientific/quantitative reasoningcritical reading & evaluationcritique an argument

1381 1245 1170

1343 1254 1173

4 3.9 3.55 4.1 3.74 4.3 3.9

9 6.8 6.38 6.5 6.44 3.9 3.2

selected response 1418 1236 1168

666

10105

out o

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666

10105

percentile ranks explainthis to meYour total CLA+ score is determined by your combined performance on a Performance Task and a set of Selected Response items. These scores are further informed by specific traits, such as analysis & problem solving or writing effectiveness.

You may choose to compare your scores to the averages of other CLA+ students at your institution or across all institutions. For ease of intrepetation, these comparisons are provided as percentile ranks for your total CLA+ score, your performance task score and your selected reponse score (e.g. a percentile of 95% means you performed better than 95% of your classmates or all students, respectively).

We hope you’ll use this report to assess how prepared you are with the skills necessary to succeed in and beyond college. As applicable, we encourage you to review these scores with faculty and--depending on how well you feel you performed--provide them to future employers as evidence of your readiness.

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99 95

85 83

98 97

jane doe university collegeseniortotal cla+: 1381 performance task: 1343selected response: 1418

performance task

selected response

cla+

percentile rank among students at your institutionpercentile rank among students at all institutions

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