West Irondequoit presented results May 8 from its participation in New York State's Plan Pilot, an action-research initiative to develop performance-based assessment and project-based learning aligned to a district's Portrait of a Graduate.

Kim (Plan Pilot lead) told the board the district focused on two units this year and piloted performance tasks in ninth-grade global history. In one task students wrote a letter to a contemporary leader analyzing the rise and fall of Rome; in a later unit students will address the question, "What is gained and lost when cultures collide?" and may produce essays, op-eds, presentations or documentaries. The district used the state's pilot supports and a mentor school for professional guidance.

Teachers and special-education staff reported strong student engagement and creative responses to performance tasks. Kim said teachers noted students with disabilities completed the tasks given appropriate scaffolds and that the class response was more enthusiastic than some traditional essays. "The kids actually enjoyed it," Kim reported after the pilot debrief; teachers also cited higher student willingness to conduct additional research and refine work.

School leaders emphasized the pilot is not a replacement for state assessments but an expansion of the district's assessment toolbox. The pilot team retained traditional common assessments aligned to the Regents exams while adding performance tasks to assess deeper learning, civic literacy and collaboration skills aligned with district graduate outcomes. Staff said they will gather student feedback from the pilot, refine rubrics and scale the work to more courses in the coming years.

District officials said New York State will collect pilot feedback to inform policy, exemplars and state-level supports for performance assessment statewide; West Irondequoit will continue building teacher capacity and recruit additional course teams to the pilot during summer work.