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Standard 2 Sample Assessments

This is an excerpt from PE Metrics 3rd Edition by SHAPE America - Society of Health and Physical Educators.

Standard 2: The physically literate individual applies knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies and tactics related to movement and performance.

The Grade-Level Outcomes under Standard 2 focus on applying knowledge in physical activities that students can use over a lifetime. Students should leave high school knowing the terminology, rules and etiquette of the activities that they are likely to pursue over their lifetimes. They also should be able to use biomechanical principles to analyze their skills and techniques, and demonstrate the ability to devise and implement practice plans for improving their performance in those activities. Those skills are essential if students are to maintain and improve long-term personal health and realize longer life expectancies. As the teacher, you will need to teach related lifetime career- and college-readiness skills such as problem solving, analyzing resources critically, and demonstrating effective written and oral communication skills. The sample assessments provided here will help you measure those transferable skills, in addition to students' knowledge and understanding of selected lifetime activities.

Research conducted over the past two decades is clear: the best indicator of continued participation in a movement activity over a lifetime is the perception of competency (Barnett et al., 2008; Stodden et al., 2009; Stuart et al., 2005). By high school, students recognize which activities they enjoy and want to become better at through practice and continued instruction. Student choice, then, is an essential component of any high school physical education curriculum. Not only do students need the freedom to choose the activities in which they want to improve their competency, but they also should be able to choose how they wish to demonstrate their competency.

Assessments intended to measure high school students' progress toward the Grade-Level Outcomes under Standard 2 require students to apply their knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies and tactics to demonstrate their command of a self-selected lifetime activity, dance or fitness activity. The sample assessments for Standard 2 are comprehensive, requiring students to solve problems and think critically, and some involve others in group assignments and/or projects. You also can employ more traditional assessment tasks such as quizzes, end-of-unit examinations, worksheets, activity logs, and student reflections or journals. All are appropriate assessments and can provide valuable insights about what your students are learning and are able to apply to the activities they pursue after leaving high school.

We suggest providing students with a list of options for demonstrating competency and allowing students to select the assessment that they believe would best demonstrate their competency. The suggested assessments include group projects as well as individual projects, providing students with a range of choices. Research (Assor et al., 2002; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Fisher et al., 1975; Ryan & Deci, 2000) has shown that providing some student choice increases student engagement and sense of autonomy.

Pre-Assessment

We recommend that you conduct pre-assessments for all lifetime, dance and rhythm, and fitness activities. This will provide you and the students with baseline levels of competency and allow for differentiation of instruction, communication of student progress over time, and instructional decision-making. Students can use the baseline data to determine their progress, determine areas of strengths and weaknesses, and set performance goals for each unit of instruction.

• You can use surveys or other forms of written pre-assessments. Gathering data before beginning the unit will guide instructional decision-making specific to scope and sequence, determining ability groupings, and designing differentiated practice tasks. You can survey students on their experience with the activity or their foundational knowledge of it. For example, students who have participated in weight-training activities through competitive sport will have a higher baseline of performance than students who have not participated in weight training. Likewise, students who have aquatics certifications through American Red Cross, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, or the YMCA will have a higher baseline of performance than those students who don't pursue those certifications. You can use written pre-assessments to determine students' knowledge in the upcoming unit. For example, you could ask students to match dance steps or yoga positions to the names of the steps or positions. For a weight-training unit, you could ask students to match weight-lifting techniques to the muscle groups that they target. That will provide you with valuable information on students' baseline knowledge.
• Examples of skill pre-assessments are provided under Standard 1.

Formative Assessments

• Quizzes allow you to have checks for understanding throughout the unit. Quizzes cover topics such as rules and etiquette for the activity, terminology, and/or concepts and principles related to the activity.
• Checklists are valuable as formative assessments. Checklists allow students to self-evaluate their performance by identifying essential criteria for movement competency. Checklists are also constructive in identifying key elements to be included in a summative project or assignment. This allows students to "check" that they have included key parts of a comprehensive project or assignment. In addition, peers can provide specific, corrective feedback based on identified criteria on a peer evaluation checklist. This allows students to provide each other feedback on performance using objective criteria based on critical elements of the skill or technique. Examples of peer checklists are found under Standard 1.
• Checks for understanding should occur during each class. These are quick checks on the students' comprehension and provide students with the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarifications. The advantage of using checks for understanding is that it takes place in real time, allowing you to adjust or modify practice tasks or instruction based on student needs.
• Worksheets are another type of formative assessment and can take many forms. Worksheets can be used to assess students' understanding of scoring in tennis, identify poses in yoga, or calculate target heart rate, to name just a few. An example of how to calculate target heart rate can be found under Standard 3. Additional examples can be found in Appendix U specific to target heart rate and FitnessGram results.
• Logs are useful to students for tracking such things as amount and length of time spent in physical activity, food intake, number of repetitions and lifts during a fitness unit, scores over time in target activities such as archery and bowling. Logs provide both you and your students a record of their progress over time. A sample nutrition log is provided in Appendix V.

Note: Units at the high school level will involve many combinations of formative assessments. Developing competency in a specific lifetime, dance, or fitness activity is a complex process crossing all learning domains. Using just one type of formative assessment provides you with a limited picture of student progress; therefore, a variety of assessments should be used. This requires multiple assessments that include all learning domains.

Individual Summative Assessments

• Portfolio: This is a comprehensive assessment that has multiple parts. Students can select examples of their work and include them in their portfolio specific to their self-selected lifetime, dance and rhythm, or fitness activity. Each section of the portfolio is assessed and aligned to goals or objectives of the overall unit. Formative assessments (listed above) could be included in the portfolio as evidence. Assessment rubrics for a portfolio assignment align with a complete description of the assignment. It is essential that students have a clear outline of specific requirements for their portfolio. An example of a fitness portfolio is provided under Standard 3.
• Develop and implement an improvement plan: For Standards 2 or 3, students develop and implement an improvement plan specific to their self-selected activity. All improvement plans should have goals, pre-, mid- and post-measures, and specific practice tasks. Students create a plan based on their pre-assessment data. This includes any of the lifetime activities or the development of a fitness plan for a specific sport based on the demands of the activity. A description of the assignment provides specific requirements and a rubric would align with the requirements identified in the description of the assignment. A sample of a description of the assignment along with the assessment rubric are found under Standard 2. For an example of a fitness plan format see Appendix W.
• Journals provide you with insight on how students are feeling about their participation in the unit, specific challenges they are facing, and their social interactions within the context of the unit. Journals provide you with a deeper understanding of the social and emotional context of the student's experiences in the unit. Guidance on the use of journals is provided under Standard 4.
• Final examination: Students take a comprehensive written final examination specific to terminology, rules and etiquette, application of concepts and movement principles, and tactics and strategies. See Appendix X for sample written examination questions.
• Research paper or biomechanical analysis: Students select a movement skill or sequence to analyze using principles from biomechanics and physics. In a research paper, students present their findings. This assignment requires students to investigate research findings and apply this research to human movement. Specific parameters identified on the description of the assignment are aligned with the rubric used to assess the project. A sample description of assignment and rubric are provided under Standard 2.

Group Summative Assessments

• Flipped classroom: One way students can demonstrate their understanding and competency in self-selected activities is through a flipped classroom assignment. Students in small groups (no more than 3 students) would create instructional videos on selected skills and/or techniques for self-selected activities. These videos are posted on the physical education website and used by other students to refine their skills. An example of a flipped classroom assignment and assessment rubric are provided under Standard 2.
• Creation of dance, yoga, or fitness routines: Based on a description of the assignment, students in small groups (no more than four) create a routine. The created routine follows the parameters established in the description of the assignment. For example, students could demonstrate their competency in square dance by creating a square dance using hip hop or break dance movements in combination with more traditional steps such as do-si-do and promenade. The parameters for the dance would be set based on traditional squares (eight in a set, everyone must start and end with the same partner, everyone must switch partners at least twice, etc.). This will require students to apply their knowledge in the creation of the dance. Students could either create a video demonstrating the dance or teach the dance to classmates. The same type of assignment could be used in the creation of routines for step aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, etc.

At the high school level, students should have a choice of how they demonstrate their competency regarding the Grade-Level Outcomes under Standard 2. You can provide them with two or three choices and let them select the assessment that works best for them. For example, you might have a group of students who want to flip a classroom, while others are more interested in completing a research paper and biomechanical analysis. As you provide students with choice, ensure the projects are equal in rigor. You also can have one required assessment and a second assessment that provides choice. For example, all students might take the written examination, but the second assessment can be one of three choices.

Learn more about PE Metrics, Third Edition.

More Excerpts From PE Metrics 3rd Edition

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