How teachers and university faculty perceive the need for and importance of professional development in performance-based assessment

A survey examining the extent to which performance-based learning and asses sment experiences are viewed as important and needed was administered to 19 middle school mathematics teachers and 18 school of education faculty memb ers Significant differences were found between the two groups on items rati ng the importance of understanding fundamental measurement concepts, distin guishing between different types of assessments, and knowing how to align c lassroom instruction with the goals and objectives of performance-based ass essment. In all instances, teachers attached greater importance to these it ems. Survey results guided the planning of professional development worksho ps. Based on the Talent Development school reform model, these workshops fo cused on topics specific to teachers' needs and were aimed at helping teach ers develop performance-based assessments.