2026 Performance Assessment Institute

• Two days of learning about and designing a performance task

• Optional support and coaching from MCIEA staff and teacher leaders

• Piloting the performance task in your classroom

• Reconvening to score, refine, and plan next steps for performance assessment in your classroom

• Contributing a performance task to the MCIEA Task Bank

A performance assessment is a rigorous, open-ended task that asks students to apply knowledge and skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration, in real-world contexts to produce an original product, performance, or solution. Expanding the use of performance assessment in your school or district can:

• Provide more equitable opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and can do

• Increase engagement and support deeper learning by developing 21st-century skills in authentic contexts

• Make student thinking visible, helping educators understand how students approach problems and develop ideas

• Provide meaningful information about student learning for students, teachers, families, and communities

This professional learning experience will allow participants to:

• Collaborate with educators from your school and/or across the Commonwealth

• Build expertise in designing, teaching, and scoring performance tasks

• Use resources such as the MCIEA Task Bank and Performance Assessment Review Checklist

• Develop proficiency in scoring and calibration to support consistent assessment practices

• Learn from district and national efforts to use performance tasks to enhance and celebrate student learning text goes here

There is no cost to participate in the institute.

For additional information or to discuss this opportunity, please contact Performance Assessment Director Nikki Holland at snholland@umass.edu.