Rating: 
Summary: A great resource!
Review: As a Staff Development Specialist, serving 14 school districts in Western NY, I have found The High Performance Toolbox incredibly useful. As educators in our area continue their work to raise student achievement, Rogers' & Graham's masterful book has assisted our study by providing templates and examples for designing classroom based performance assessments.The High Performance Toolbox has also assisted me in my work as an Assessment Liaison concentrating on creating "parallel tasks" for our NYS Assessments. Teachers I work with find the Toolbox's explicit and extensive information on rubrics particularly applicable. The rubric framing process, the examples, duplicating masters for grading and rubric forms, as well as the rubric for rubrics have provided wonderful implementation information. "The Toolbox's" layout enables users to pick and choose topics of interest throughout the book to pursue.
Rating:
Summary: A great resource!
Review: As a Staff Development Specialist, serving 14 school districts in Western NY, I have found The High Performance Toolbox incredibly useful. As educators in our area continue their work to raise student achievement, Rogers' & Graham's masterful book has assisted our study by providing templates and examples for designing classroom based performance assessments. The High Performance Toolbox has also assisted me in my work as an Assessment Liaison concentrating on creating "parallel tasks" for our NYS Assessments. Teachers I work with find the Toolbox's explicit and extensive information on rubrics particularly applicable. The rubric framing process, the examples, duplicating masters for grading and rubric forms, as well as the rubric for rubrics have provided wonderful implementation information. "The Toolbox's" layout enables users to pick and choose topics of interest throughout the book to pursue.
Rating:
Summary: WOW! A Book That Works!
Review: As an Integration Specialist, I assist teachers with designing classroom projects that are aligned with the New York State Standards. We use a format called a Learning Experience Outline. This format contains all the components of a multidisciplinary project: the NYS Standards and performance indicators being addressed; the learning activities the students will be engaged in; classroom management options; a collaborative component with other teachers and the multimedia specialist; modifications and/or enrichment activities being used; technological support that will be needed; teaching and learning strategies that will be used; and assessment strategies. However, when we asked ourselves, are we really assessing what we are teaching? We found we were not. The High Performance Toolbox has become a valuable resource for aligning our projects and the, ever important, assessment pieces. The practical application strategies in Chapter 6 have given us the understanding and tools we needed to accomplish this alignment. We have also discovered the "power of rubrics." We learned that a rubric is used whenever Quality needs to be consistently judged or attained. Students actually enjoy developing their own rubrics. Learning to develop rubrics by using examples of student work has had a powerful, positive, impact on student achievement. By using the 8 step process in the "toolbox" (pages 222-224) students identify the characteristics that distinguish different levels of work in a given product, performance or process. In other words, "mystery learning is eliminated!" By understanding what is expected in their assignments, students' achievement increases. The project approach is a great way to engage students in the learning process. Nevertheless, as teachers we need to make sure projects are aligned with the standards, the core curriculum and meeting our goals and objectives. Thanks Spence and Shari for designing a usable tool.
Rating:
Summary: WOW! A Book That Works!
Review: As an Integration Specialist, I assist teachers with designing classroom projects that are aligned with the New York State Standards. We use a format called a Learning Experience Outline. This format contains all the components of a multidisciplinary project: the NYS Standards and performance indicators being addressed; the learning activities the students will be engaged in; classroom management options; a collaborative component with other teachers and the multimedia specialist; modifications and/or enrichment activities being used; technological support that will be needed; teaching and learning strategies that will be used; and assessment strategies. However, when we asked ourselves, are we really assessing what we are teaching? We found we were not. The High Performance Toolbox has become a valuable resource for aligning our projects and the, ever important, assessment pieces. The practical application strategies in Chapter 6 have given us the understanding and tools we needed to accomplish this alignment. We have also discovered the "power of rubrics." We learned that a rubric is used whenever Quality needs to be consistently judged or attained. Students actually enjoy developing their own rubrics. Learning to develop rubrics by using examples of student work has had a powerful, positive, impact on student achievement. By using the 8 step process in the "toolbox" (pages 222-224) students identify the characteristics that distinguish different levels of work in a given product, performance or process. In other words, "mystery learning is eliminated!" By understanding what is expected in their assignments, students' achievement increases. The project approach is a great way to engage students in the learning process. Nevertheless, as teachers we need to make sure projects are aligned with the standards, the core curriculum and meeting our goals and objectives. Thanks Spence and Shari for designing a usable tool.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Toolbox for the classroom
Review: It is difficult to find a resource that effectively blends research, theory and practicality. The High Performance Toolbox does just that. This book should be in every classroom of the United States. Because the authors have extensive classroom experience, the ideas, explanations and examples given are REAL and easily used by classroom teachers. The book clearly outlines the characteristics of performance tasks and assessment designs and effectively articulates ways to identify quality in student work. It is a vertible treasure chest of ideas and practical advice.
Rating:
Summary: High Performance Toolbox
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: High Proformance Tool Box
Review: The High Performance Tool Box is an practical, easy to read, hands-on book for the educator. The information provided in the book is common sense materials that require very limited funds to implementresulting in immediate positive and visible results that can be doucmented for student success both at the classroom and district level.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable and Practical
Review: This resource is at the top of my professional library list. Its easy to use format and comprehensiveness allows our teachers to design assessments that align with rigorous state assessments. Spence and Shari sure do "know their stuff" and have been instrumental in moving our district forward!
Rating:
Summary: Practical and Meaningful
Review: This resource tool serves as a practical, easy to use guidebook for the work our teachers do designing performance assessments that parallel State assessments. Spence has the ability to take complex concepts and translate them so that practitioners can make sense of the research and best practices. This is a "must read" for teachers striving to increase academic achievemnet for all students.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING RESOURCE!
Review: 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!
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