Assignments That Measure Up

Assignments—tasks that integrate content knowledge, skills, and thinking strategies learned in a lesson or unit—are the artifacts of student understanding. And in a good way, teachers spend a lot of time analyzing student work on assignments, notes Keith Dysarz, a former teacher and current Education Trust director of K–12 practice. However, deciding what goes into an assignment can be a rushed and minor portion of planning. This can put assignments out of sync with the rigors of content and literacy standards, which sets off a cycle of low expectations and mediocre performances. Experts call the difference between what the standards require and what a teacher assigns the "assignment gap."

"Everyone has an assignment gap," says Don Marlett, a consultant with Learning-Focused, a K–12 professional development company based in North Carolina. One major study, conducted in 2009 by the South Carolina Department of Education, looked at 250,000 assignments in 326 public schools and found that as grade level advances, assignments fall further and further below standard. By the time a student gets to middle school, there's a 50 percent chance that an assignment given is not on grade level. More recently, a study by the Education Trust reported that only 38 percent of assignments are on grade level.

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