The use of technology for modeling performance standards in statistics

The goal of the Authentic Statistics Project (ASP) is to make statistics meaningful to middle school students, particularly grade 8, and to assess the progress students make in learning statistics. One way of enhancing the value of statistics to middle school students is to demonstrate how statistics can be used to answer important questions and make everyday decisions. Within this context, students learn to perceive statistics as a valuable tool rather than a bother. This paper describes how ASP uses technology to facilitate both instruction and assessment by modeling performance standards for the statistical investigation process.