WGU C914: Teacher Performance Assessment in Mathematics Education

WGU C914, Teacher Performance Assessment in Mathematics Education, is the capstone performance task you complete near the end of a WGU mathematics teaching program. Rather than sitting a timed multiple-choice exam, you plan, teach, and analyze a multi-week, standards-based unit of mathematics instruction in a real classroom during your demonstration (student) teaching placement. The written product you submit is commonly called a Teacher Work Sample: a documented, research-based unit that shows you can move a group of students from where they start to measurable learning gains, and then reflect honestly on what happened.

Direct answer: You pass C914 by treating it as a project, not a test. Read the task prompts and the scoring rubric line by line before you plan anything, build a coherent math unit where your goals, assessments, instruction, and data analysis all point at the same standards, and write your reflection with specific evidence rather than generalities. Submit early enough to use evaluator feedback and revise.

If you are in the Bachelor of Science or Master of Arts Mathematics Education track (secondary or middle grades), this task is where the theory from your methods and content courses meets a live group of learners. It matters because it is direct evidence, reviewed against a rubric, that you can do the actual job of a mathematics teacher: diagnose needs, design instruction, assess fairly, and adjust. That evidence also supports your path toward licensure, so a thoughtful submission is worth the effort.

What the Performance Assessment Asks You to Produce

C914 is a performance assessment (PA), not an objective assessment. There is no question bank and no passing percentage to chase. Instead you document a full instructional cycle. WGU's Teacher Work Sample is organized around a well-established set of components, and your submission is expected to address each one for a mathematics unit:

• Contextual factors — the school, class, and individual learner characteristics that shape how you teach the math content.
• Learning goals — clear, standards-aligned objectives for the unit, tied to your state or Common Core mathematics standards.
• Assessment plan — pre-assessment, formative checks, and a summative assessment that actually measure the stated goals.
• Design for instruction — a sequence of lessons, activities, and mathematical tasks matched to your goals and your learners.
• Instructional decision making — evidence that you adjusted teaching in response to what students did during the unit.
• Analysis of student learning — data (often charts or tables) showing growth from pre- to post-assessment, disaggregated for subgroups or individuals.
• Self-evaluation and reflection — an honest look at what worked, what did not, and what you would change.

Because these are the graded dimensions, your work is scored on alignment and evidence, not on how impressive the topic sounds. A modest unit on fractions or linear equations that is tightly aligned beats an ambitious unit that drifts.

How Demanding Is It, and How Long Should You Budget?

The difficulty of C914 is unlike a content exam. Many students report that the challenge is not the mathematics itself but the volume of documentation, the need to align every section, and the fact that it depends on a real classroom and a cooperating teacher's schedule. It is a writing- and evidence-heavy task layered on top of the daily work of teaching.

Plan for it to run alongside your demonstration teaching placement rather than as a quick sprint. Because you have to teach the unit, collect student data, and then write it up, the calendar is driven by your placement, not by how fast you type. A realistic approach is to draft the planning sections (contextual factors, goals, assessment, design) before or as you begin teaching, capture data as you go, and reserve dedicated writing time afterward for the analysis and reflection. Students who underestimate the write-up, or who wait until the unit is over to start documenting, tend to struggle most. If you want to sharpen the assessment-design muscle this task leans on, the concepts in D184 Standards-Based Assessment map directly onto the rubric here.

A Practical Study and Preparation Plan

Preparing for a performance assessment means preparing artifacts and habits, not memorizing facts. Adapt these tactics to C914's rubric:

• Reverse-engineer from the rubric. Before planning your unit, list every scored component and write one sentence describing what evidence you will provide for each. This is your checklist and your outline in one.
• Build backward from the summative assessment. Decide how students will demonstrate mastery first, then design lessons that lead there. This keeps goals, instruction, and assessment aligned — the single biggest driver of a passing score.
• Use active documentation. Keep a running log during teaching: what you planned, what you changed mid-lesson, and why. Your "instructional decision making" section is far easier to write from real notes than from memory.
• Rehearse your data display. Set up your pre/post data table or chart before you teach so you know exactly what numbers to collect. Practice interpreting sample data so your analysis section reads like evidence, not summary.
• Space the writing. Draft one component, step away, and return to check alignment with the others. Reflection and analysis benefit from a day's distance.
• Anchor the math in strong unit design. If your placement is secondary, the content thinking in C882 Geometry for Secondary Mathematics Teaching and the planning frameworks in D630 Designing Curriculum and Instruction I give you the vocabulary evaluators expect.

Common Mistakes That Cost Students a Pass

Most returns on C914 come from a handful of avoidable issues:

• Misalignment. Goals reference one standard, the assessment measures something else, and the lessons teach a third thing. Evaluators look for a straight line through all seven components.
• Thin data analysis. Reporting scores without interpreting them. You need to explain what the data mean for learning and for specific students or subgroups.
• Vague reflection. "I would manage time better next time" without evidence. Tie every reflective claim to something that actually happened in your unit.
• Ignoring context. Describing the class generally instead of connecting concrete learner characteristics to instructional choices.
• Not following the exact prompt structure. Skipping a required subsection or answering a different question than the one asked. Address each prompt explicitly, in order.
• Submitting a single draft. Waiting until the deadline leaves no room to act on evaluator feedback if the work is returned.

C914 Readiness Checklist

• Can you name the mathematics standards your unit targets and state your learning goals in measurable terms?
• Can you show how your pre-assessment, formative checks, and summative assessment each measure those goals?
• Can you point to specific contextual factors and explain how they shaped an instructional decision?
• Can you present pre-to-post student data in a clear table or chart and interpret the growth?
• Can you cite at least one mid-unit adjustment you made and the evidence that prompted it?
• Can you write a reflection that connects outcomes to concrete, specific next steps?
• Have you checked every submitted section against the scoring rubric's language?
• Have you left enough time to revise if the task is returned with feedback?

C914 FAQ

Is C914 an objective assessment or a performance assessment?

It is a performance assessment. You submit a written Teacher Work Sample documenting a taught mathematics unit; there is no proctored multiple-choice exam and no passing percentage to hit.

How many competency units is C914 worth?

WGU sets competency units by program version, and the value for this task can differ across the mathematics education programs. Confirm the exact number for your program in your official WGU Degree Plan rather than relying on a figure quoted online.

Do I need to be in a real classroom to complete it?

Yes. C914 is built around demonstration teaching, so you plan and teach the unit with actual students during your placement and use their learning data as evidence. It cannot be completed as a purely theoretical paper.

What is the single most important thing evaluators look for?

Alignment. Your contextual factors, goals, assessments, instruction, data analysis, and reflection should all point at the same standards and reinforce one another. Tight alignment matters more than an ambitious topic.

How long does C914 usually take?

Because you teach a multi-week unit and then document it, the timeline is set by your placement schedule. Many students report the write-up itself is substantial, so budget dedicated time for the analysis and reflection sections rather than expecting to finish them in a single session.

What should I do if my submission is returned?

Read the evaluator's comments closely, address each cited component directly, and resubmit. Returns are a normal part of a performance assessment and usually point to a specific alignment or evidence gap that is fixable.

For more study guides in this program area, visit the School of Education hub or browse the full index of WGU course guides. You can also review official program details on WGU's Mathematics Education program pages.