Performance Assessments

The performance assessments linked below were created by Paul Andersen and other science teachers implementing the NGSS. Many of these are first drafts and most of them have not been used with students. Electronic versions are available for all 194 performance expectations in the NGSS (K-12).

Our goal is to eventually have exemplar versions with rubrics and sample student work. Want to help us with this project? Contact me here. Thanks . -Paul

Kindergarten

K-LS1-1: Plant and Animal Needs
K-ESS2-1: Weather Patterns
K-ESS2-2: Environmental Change
K-ESS3-1: Environmental Relationships
K-ESS3-2: Forecasting Severe Weather
K-ESS3-3: Environmental Solutions
K-PS2-1: Pushes, Pulls, and Motion
K-PS2-2: Motion Design Solution
K-PS3-1: Sunlight Warms the Earth
K-PS3-2: Shade Structure Design

Grade 1

1-LS1-1: Biomimicry Design Solution
1-LS1-2: Behavior - Parents and Offspring
1-LS3-1: Plant and Animal Structures - Parents and Offspring
1-ESS1-1: Sun, Moon, and Star Patterns
1-ESS1-2: Seasonal Sunlight
1-PS4-1: Sound and Vibrating Materials
1-PS4-2: Illumination and Darkness
1-PS4-3: Light and Materials
1-PS4-4: Communication Device Design

Grade 2

2-LS2-1: Environmental Plant Needs
2-LS2-2: Seed Dispersal and Pollination
2-LS4-1: Habitats and Biodiversity
2-ESS1-1: Earth Events - Slow and Quick
2-ESS2-1: Erosion Design Solution
2-ESS2-2: Mapping Land and Water
2-ESS2-3: Water on Earth
2-PS1-1: Material Properties
2-PS1-2: Materials Testing
2-PS1-3: Objects and Pieces
2-PS1-4: Reversible and Irreversible Changes

Grade 3

3-LS1-1: Plant and Animal Life Cycles
3-LS2-1: Animal Groups
3-LS3-1: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
3-LS3-2: Environmental Influence on Traits
3-LS4-1: Fossil Evidence of Past Environments
3-LS4-2: Variation, Survival, and Reproduction
3-LS4-3: Habitats and Organism Survival
3-LS4-4: Environmental Change Solution
3-ESS2-1: Seasonal Weather Conditions
3-ESS2-2: World Climates
3-ESS3-1: Weather-Related Hazard Solution
3-PS2-1: Balanced and Unbalanced Forces
3-PS2-2: Predicting Future Motion
3-PS2-3: Electric and Magnetic Forces
3-PS2-4: Magnetic Design Solution

Grade 4

4-LS1-1: Internal and External Structures
4-LS1-2: Sensation, Processing, and Response
4-ESS1-1: Evidence from Rock Layers
4-ESS2-1: Weathering and Erosion
4-ESS2-2: Mapping Earth's Features
4-ESS3-1: Renewable and Non-renewable Energy
4-ESS3-2: Natural Hazard Design Solution
4-PS3-1: Motion Energy
4-PS3-2: Energy Transfer
4-PS3-3: Energy in Collisions
4-PS3-4: Energy Conversion Device
4-PS4-1: Wave Model
4-PS4-2: Light and Vision
4-PS4-3: Information Transfer Solution

Grade 5

5-LS1-1: Plant Requirements - Air and Water
5-LS2-1: Environmental Matter Cycling
5-ESS1-1: Stellar Brightness and Distance
5-ESS1-2: Daily and Seasonal Sky Changes
5-ESS2-1: Earth Sphere Interactions
5-ESS2-2: Water Availability and Distribution
5-ESS3-1: Protecting Earth's Resources and Environment
5-PS1-1: Particle Model of Matter
5-PS1-2: Conservation of Matter
5-PS1-3: Material Properties
5-PS1-4: Mixing Substances
5-PS2-1: Earth's Gravitational Force
5-PS3-1: Food Energy from the Sun

MS Life Science

MS-LS1-1: Cell Theory
MS-LS1-2: Cell Parts and Function
MS-LS1-3: Interacting Body Systems
MS-LS1-4: Animal Behaviors and Plant Structures - Reproductive Success
MS-LS1-5: Environmental and Genetic Growth Factors
MS-LS1-6: Photosynthesis - Matter Cycling and Energy Flow
MS-LS1-7: Food and Chemical Reactions
MS-LS1-8: Information Processing
MS-LS2-1: Effects of Resource Availability
MS-LS2-2: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
MS-LS2-3: Matter Cycling and Energy Flow in Ecosystems
MS-LS2-4: Ecosystem Interactions and Dynamics
MS-LS2-5: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Solutions
MS-LS3-1: Mutations - Harmful, Beneficial or Neutral
MS-LS3-2: Asexual and Sexual Reproduction
MS-LS4-1: Fossil Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
MS-LS4-2: Anatomical Evidence of Evolutionary Relationships
MS-LS4-3: Embryological Evidence of Common Ancestry
MS-LS4-4: Natural Selection
MMS-LS4-5: Artificial Selection
MS-LS4-6: Adaptation of Populations over Time6

HS Life Science

HS-LS1-1: Genes, Proteins, and Tissues
HS-LS1-2: Interacting Body Systems
HS-LS1-3: Feedback Mechanisms and Homeostasis
HS-LS1-4: Cellular Division and Differentiation
HS-LS1-5: Photosynthesis and Energy Transformation
HS-LS1-6: Formation of Carbon-Based Molecules
HS-LS1-7: Cellular Respiration and Energy Transfer
HS-LS2-1: Carrying Capacity of Ecosystems
HS-LS2-2: Biodiversity and Populations in Ecosystems
HS-LS2-3: Aerobic and Anaerobic Cycling of Matter
HS-LS2-4: Biomass and Trophic Levels
HS-LS2-5: Cycling of Carbon in Ecosystems
HS-LS2-6: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
HS-LS2-7: Human Impact Reduction Solution
HS-LS2-8: Social Interactions and Group Behavior
HS-LS3-1: Chromosomal Inheritance
HS-LS3-2: Inheritable Genetic Variation
HS-LS3-3: Variation and Distribution of Traits
HS-LS4-1: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
HS-LS4-2: Four Factors of Natural Selection
HS-LS4-3: Adaptation of Populations
HS-LS4-4: Natural Selection Leads to Adaptation
HS-LS4-5: Environmental Change - Speciation and Extinction
HS-LS4-6: Human Impact on Biodiversity Solution

MS Earth Space Science

MS-ESS1-1: Earth-Sun-Moon System1
MS-ESS1-2: Gravity and Motions in Space
MS-ESS1-3: Scale Properties in the Solar System
MS-ESS1-4: Geologic Time Scale
MS-ESS2-1: Cycling of Earth's Materials
MS-ESS2-2: Geoscience Processes at Varying Scales
MS-ESS2-3: Evidence of Plate Tectonics
MS-ESS2-4: Cycling of Water Through Earth's Systems
MS-ESS2-5: Interacting Air Masses and Weather
MS-ESS2-6: Atmospheric and Oceanic Circulation
MS-ESS3-1: Uneven Distribution of Earth's Resources
MS-ESS3-2: Natural Hazards
MS-ESS3-3: Human Impact on the Environment
MS-ESS3-4: Human Consumption of Natural Resources
MS-ESS3-5: Causes of Global Warming

HS Earth Space Science

HS-ESS1-1: Nuclear Fusion and the Sun's Energy
HS-ESS1-2: The Big Bang Theory
HS-ESS1-3: Stellar Nucleosynthesis
HS-ESS1-4: Orbital Motions
HS-ESS1-5: Evidence of Plate Tectonics
HS-ESS1-6: Evidence of the Earth's History
HS-ESS2-1: The Creation of Landforms
HS-ESS2-2: Feedback in Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-3: Cycling of Matter in the Earth's Interior
HS-ESS2-4: Energy Variation and Climate Change
HS-ESS2-5: Interactions of the Hydrologic and Rock Cycles
HS-ESS2-6: Carbon Cycling in Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-7: Coevolution of Life and Earth's Systems
HS-ESS3-1: Global Impacts on Human Activity
HS-ESS3-2: Cost-Benefit Ratio Design Solutions
HS-ESS3-3: Biodiversity, Natural Resources, and Human Sustainability
HS-ESS3-4: Reducing Human Impact Design Solutions
HS-ESS3-5: Climate Change and Future Impacts
HS-ESS3-6: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

MS Physical Science

MS-PS1-1: Atomic Composition Model
MS-PS1-2: Chemical Properties and Reactions
MS-PS1-3: Synthetic Materials
MS-PS1-4: Thermal Energy and Particle Motion
MS-PS1-5: Conservation of Atoms in Reactions
MS-PS1-6: Thermal Energy Design Project
MS-PS2-1: Collision Design Solution
MS-PS2-2: Forces, Mass and the Motion of an Object
MS-PS2-3: Electric and Magnetic Forces
MS-PS2-4: Gravitational Interactions
MS-PS2-5: Electric and Magnetic Fields
MS-PS3-1: Kinetic Energy of an Object
MS-PS3-2: Potential Energy of the System
MS-PS3-3: Thermal Energy Transfer Solution
MS-PS3-4: Thermal Energy Transfer
MS-PS3-5: Energy Transfer to or from an Object
MS-PS4-1: Wave Properties
MS-PS4-2: Wave Reflection, Absorption, and Transmission2
MS-PS4-3: Digitized Wave Signals

HS Physical Science

HS-PS1-1: Valence Electrons and Properties of Elements
HS-PS1-2: Simple Chemical Reactions
HS-PS1-3: Electrical Forces and Bulk Scale Structure
MS-PS1-4: Thermal Energy and Particle Motion
HS-PS1-5: Collision Theory and Rates of Reaction
HS-PS1-6: Increased Products Design Solution
HS-PS1-7: Conservation of Atoms in Chemical Reactions
HS-PS1-8: Fission, Fusion, and Radioactive Decay
HS-PS2-1: Newton's Second Law of Motion
HS-PS2-2: Conservation of Momentum
HS-PS2-3: Reducing Force in Collisions Device
HS-PS2-4: Gravitational and Electrostatic Forces Between Objects
HS-PS2-5: Electric Current and Magnetic Fields
HS-PS2-6: Molecular-Level Structure of Designed Materials
HS-PS3-1: Energy Change in Components of a System
HS-PS3-2: Macroscopic Energy Due to Particle Position and Motion
HS-PS3-3: Energy Conversion Device Design
HS-PS3-4: The Second Law of Thermodynamics
HS-PS3-5: Energy Change Due to Interacting Fields
HS-PS4-1: Wave Properties in Various Media
HS-PS4-2: Digital Transmission and Storage of Information
HS-PS4-3: Wave-Particle Duality of Electromagnetic Radiation
HS-PS4-4: Absorption of Electromagnetic Radiation
HS-PS4-5: Waves and Information Technology

Tools

3D Assessment Screening Tool
- Single page (pdf)
- How-To Screening Video
- Initial Assessment
Features Analysis Chart
Old Assessment Design Protocol