Create a Standards-Based Integrated Performance Assessment Unit Step-by-Step

Step 6: Connect Integrated Performance Assessment to Common Core for English Language Arts

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects provide learning goals that all students need to achieve in order to be prepared for college, career, and life. The ELA Standards include Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language. These goal areas align with the three modes of Communication in the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. ACTFL created a crosswalk to show the alignment between the World-Readiness Standards and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. As you plan your unit and how you will assess learning, it is helpful to identify how the performance tasks support the Common Core Anchor Standards.

The Anchor Standards are the following:

Reading

Key Ideas and Details:
R1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
R2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
R3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Craft and Structure:
R4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
R5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.
R6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
R7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.1
R8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
R9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
R10: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Writing

Text Types and Purposes:
W1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

Production and Distribution of Writing:
W4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
W6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
W7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
W8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Range of Writing:
W10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Speaking and Listening

Comprehension and Collaboration:
SL1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
SL2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
SL3: Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:
SL4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
SL5: Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.
SL6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Language

Conventions of Standard English:
L1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
L2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Knowledge of Language:
L3: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
L4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
L5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
L6: Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression.

Common Core Anchor Standards can be found at: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/