AS schools move toward more widespread use of performance assessment the need grows for additional staff development to familiarize teachers with these techniques. Performance assessment activities are designed to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skill no tasks that have inherent meaning in the real world. As an example of farm ponds, student are presented with a problem in which aquatic life in a pond is declining. The student are give some background information, including amount and type of livestock in adjacent pastures. The prevalence of predators in the pond and surrounding woods and fields, the types of plant and animal life found in the pond ,and weather conditions over a period of months. Using this information, student would be asked to propose a hypothesis to explain what might have caused the decline in aquatic life and give reasons for their answer.