Glossary

Assessment system. The integrated components needed to implement a large-scale, complex performance assessment. Components include guidelines for student project development, scoring scale, exemplars of various levels of performance, professional development for teachers, and training for reviewers. The assessment system is built on documentation of decisions made in the development of the system and evidence of reliability and fairness.

Criteria. Statements of the knowledge and skills that are expected of students completing Grade 4 and receiving services for gifted/talented students.

Dimensions. The basis of the criteria; important ideas that the TPSP addresses.

Documentation. A record of the steps that students undertake to develop the final product and complete the planned experience. The documentation may consist of items such as field notes, early drafts of literary works, and transcriptions of interviews that highlight significant insights or turning points in the student's thinking and subsequent work.

Final product. The final product is the tangible end result of the student's TPSP project. The final product provides students with opportunities to synthesize learning, apply knowledge to a novel situation, and provide an advanced, high-quality demonstration of the student's knowledge and skills.

Grade 4 TPSP. The structure for the assessment, which includes the planned experience and final product.

Peer assessment. Evaluation and feedback provided to a student by other students who are also project participants.

Phase I. See planned experience.

Phase II. See final project.

Planned experience. TEKS-based curricular and instructional guidance for teachers, including suggested activities designed to give students an opportunity to experience discipline-based research.

Scoring form. The form each evaluator completes that gives the student's scores and rationales for each score.

Self-assessment. Each student's final evaluation of his/her project.

Statewide standards for gifted/talented students. Expectations for student performance articulated in the scoring guide for this project. Though based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) in English language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science, the performance standards for this project extend beyond the TEKS. The statewide standards represent high, rigorous levels of knowledge and skill that can be expected of students who receive gifted/talented services.

Student project. The student's entire TPSP experience from start to end, including the documentation and the final product.

Student score sheet. The criteria for formative and summative assessment of the project. The scoring guide specifies four levels of performance and incomplete. The student scoring sheet is based on the teacher scoring scale but uses age-appropriate descriptors.

Task. A comprehensive set of planned experiences that result in a final, student-developed product. Though tasks focus on the core areas of reading/language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science, they are interdisciplinary in nature.

Teacher scoring scale. The criteria for formative and summative assessment of the project. The scoring guide specifies four levels of performance and incomplete.

Texas Performance Standards Project (TPSP). An assessment system and statewide standards for gifted/talented students at all grade levels.