Novel and efficient methods for evaluating fusion reactor plasma performance are discussed. The approach, which is based on spectral collocation techniques for solving the particle and power balance equations, allow details in the radial profiles to be sacrificed for the sake of computational efficiency while still retaining accuracy in the globally-averaged quantities. A general outline of the new methods, extentions to include self-consistent ambipolar electric fields, and methods for calculating linear sensitivity coefficients and plasma operating contours are discussed using a stellarator reactor as an example. The feasibility of using these methods in parameteric optimization codes for simultaneous selection of design parameters and operating points is also demonstrated.