The New York Performance Standards Consortium is a coalition of New York State public secondary schools that has developed a proven practitioner-developed, student -focused performance assessment system for its 38 member schools in New York City and State. T The Consortium's system is to meet graduation requirements in lieu of high stakes testing. The system's main components are:
• Practitioner-designed and student-focused assessment tasks
• External evaluators for written and oral student work
• Moderation studies to establish reliability
• Extensive professional development
• Predictive validity based on graduates’ college success
Additional components include an emphasis on:
• Inquiry-based teaching and learning
• Discussion-based classrooms
The Consortium supports a wide range of professional development activities including
demonstration courses, curriculum development seminars, residencies, interschool visitations, professional development conferences, and teacher and administration led workshops, The Consortium develops inquiry-based curriculum (Teacher-To-Teacher publications) in both print and dvd format, hosts working groups that focus on developing strategies and accommodations for special education and English as a Second Language students, and initiates such projects as the Collegiate Preparatory Certification program, (in which practitioners develop DOE certified courses) and the CUNY Four Year College Pilot Program.
The Consortium works with public schools. Employment opportunities reside in the schools.