The High Performance Toolbox: Succeeding With Performance Tasks, Projects, and Assessments

Spence Rogers and Shari Graham have put together an excellent book that is teacher friendly. The High Performance Toolbox is a practical guide that assists teachers in creating multiple assessments for their students. I have used the Performance Toolbox for years especially for assistance in creating interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary lessons and projects. I will continue to refer to this book for planning purposes because it is a real time saver. The bottom line is that High Performance Toolbox is an outstanding reference for all teachers concerned with student success. Two thumbs up for Spence and Shari.

Using this resource in my classroom has truly increased student learning, student accountability and motivation as well as improved the significance of what my students are learning. The High Performance Toolbox contains numerous easy to use organizers and templates which are invaluable to teachers and staff developers. These tools keep educators focused on the purpose of instruction and targeted learning. The hundreds of practical ideas for student performances and practices along with the tools for assessment keep me excited about presenting new and meaningful learning. THANKS!

As a New York teacher of 20 years, I was finding it more difficult to get quality work out of my students. I kept seeing fluff from them,and I was frustrated. Then I read High Performance Toolbox. I was then able to design projects for the classroom with a clear set of criteria for both the student and I. We then set our course for quality work! Since then I have used the guidelines offered in the book, and have been immensely impressed with the QUALITY work from my students. This is not a book that can be read in a fortnight and be expected to meet the student's needs. One must delve into this with a right attitude, and clear understanding of the philosophy behind the message. But once you have implemented these tools, you will be amazed at the performance of your students! A must for any young professional!

As a middle/high school teacher of 20+ years I now have a resource to help guide me in developing my student projects. This resource is filled with helpful designers, planners, rubrics, and examples of each to help educators design quality student performances. Chapter 5 has helped me the most by showing me a quick and easy performance designer that has produced quality results in my classroom. I use the other chapters as references when I need help with rubrics or planning. Curriculum coordinators and staff developers should love this resource as well. I highly reccommend this book to any educator at any level to help them develop quality performances and rubrics. Thank you Spence and Shari!

The HIGH PERFORMANCE TOOLBOX demystifies performance assessment and performance learning. It is designed for the teacher who wants high-level AUTHENTIC performance. Forged from the best research on teaching and learning, these are real and teacher-friendly TOOLS which, beyond talking about theory, can be used actually to BUILD a high performance learning environment and curriculum. A must for all builders of tomorrow's classrooms and minds!