Performance assessments better prepare students for success as lifelong learners by shifting the focus to critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills that will serve them well in college and throughout careers and civic life.  Quality Performance Assessment Initiative (QPA) provides professional development and tools for building the assessment literacy that enables teachers, administrators, and policy makers to create and implement performance assessment systems that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards and contribute to students' demonstrating college-and-career readiness.   

Since the fall of 2008, the Center for Collaborative Education has partnered with the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to explore the power of performance assessments to transform student learning and teacher practice. Through QPA, we have collaborated with a diverse group of 20 schools to strengthen and document local assessment systems and to implement common performance assessments across schools.  This work has led to creation of a set of Common Core aligned performance tasks with teacher materials and student work samples that have been field tested in schools.  (Click here to learn more about the QPA common tasks.)Through our work with schools we have also developed tested professional development models that support teacher assessment literacy and use of performance assessments. (Click here to learn more about QPA professional development).

The goals of QPA:

1.      Authentic learning: Supporting high quality performance assessments that require students to engage in multi-step assignments, transfer knowledge, and apply complex skills to produce deeper learning and acquisition of 21^st Century skills

2.      Quality Performance Assessments: Assisting schools and districts in creating, strengthening, and evaluating performance assessment systems of high technical quality.

3.      Professional Development: Providing professional development  and tools that build the assessment literacy of teachers and support the use of performance assessment

4.      Communities of Practice: Creating a community of practitioners that share best practices around performance assessment and use data to ensure quality

"Teachers should participate in the process of designing and using high quality performance assessments from the beginning.  They should be given support and professional training to develop the assessment literacy needed to conduct assessment with technical quality. Without such central teacher involvement and professionalism, it is unlikely the next generation of assessment will promote the desired levels of student achievement and authentic student learning."

Quality Performance Assessment: Harnessing the Power of Teacher and Student Learning Executive Summary  To be released in February 2012