"PALS 2.0: The Fairfax Interpersonal Speaking Assessment+Writing" Workshop Abstract: How effective are the assessments you use? How do they affect your curriculum and instructional practices? Do they really point students to eventual communicative competence? In this workshop you will learn how Fairfax County Public Schools has refined its approach to assessing performance in an exciting and relevant way, which promotes interpersonal speaking, as well as writing skills, and brings realistic communication back to the core of daily instruction. The workshop will start with a short background of the FCPS “PALS” (Performance Assessment for Language Students) and a taste of the ACTFL-based OPI training provided to FCPS teachers. The actual speaking and writing assessment instruments will be explained. A model of the FCPS inter-personal speaking assessment (looks and feels like a mini OPI) will be provided, and participants will conduct a practice interpersonal speaking assessment using the rubric and prompts. An inter-rater reliability practice will also be conducted using web tools to compare ratings by those participating remotely. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of the Fairfax County Public Schools approach to performance assessment and be ready to adapt it to their division or classroom. Workshop Leader Biography: D. Rudy Smith. Rudy attended Brigham Young University where he earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Linguistics. He has taught at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels and previously directed the Virginia Governor’s Spanish Academy. He currently works in the World Languages office of Fairfax County Public Schools on projects related to curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development. In his free time, he enjoys dating his wife and playing with his children.