"What grade did you give me?"...Students often ask teachers this question, as if teachers randomly assign grades. Too many students do not understand the concept of connecting grades to an earned academic performance. Improving student understanding of what teachers expect of them, how well they should be able to do what is expected, and how they should go about meeting those expectations is what this book is all about.The authors lead readers on their own personal journey, sharing what they've learned about developing and effectively assessing powerful performance tasks ranging from short and specific to lengthy and substantive. Their focus is on the practical and the do-able. You can learn from their successes as well as their mistakes.The authors discuss a four-step approach for teaching students how to acquire content knowledge—-labeled "Info In"-—and examine four "Info Out" modes through which students can make their content understanding explicit for evaluation purposes.Great Performances is filled with highly motivating examples of student projects, as well as effective assessment tools that teachers can adapt for their own classrooms. Teaching and assessing performance tasks results in the type of understanding that students will need in the real world, where "great performances" will be expected of them.