Developing, Supporting, and Aligning Classroom and Large-Scale Assessment to Substain Education Reform: Phase One

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

Standards-based reform in science education continues to move forward at the national, state, and local levels. The increasing numbers of standards-based initiatives not withstanding, a serious obstacle to continued progress is a sparseness of classroom assessment practices that both comport with the National Science Education Standards and lead to improvements in student learning. This project, therefore, investigates an innovation that has the potential to raise student achevement in science education to the level and quality espoused in standards-based reform efforts: the development of models and practices to enhance teachers' formative assessment repertoires. Using a variety of research methods, this projects investigates and develop assessment procedures that teachers can employ to promote the quality of science teaching and learning, and related areas of mathematics. While the focus initially is on formative assessment practices - paying particular attention to the impact of these types of classroom assessments on student learning, engagement, and sense of purpose -it then moves to teachers' summative judgements (assignments of grades, for example) and their link to formative work. An additional aspect of the project is to identify issues associated with broader implementation of programs for teachers that support these assessment practices, then develop and test model plans for high quality professional-development activities about classroom assessment procedures that comport with the research findings. The research also investigates the challenges associated with promulgating these models and practices to large numbers of teachers. Thus the study aims for wide dissemination of ways in which students respond to changes in science instruction and assessment that aim to enhance their roles in classroom assessment, including in peer - and self assessment. Toward the end of the initial three-year period, the study begins to probe how classroom assessment and large-scale assessment might be mutually reinforcing to raise educational quality. A second phase - to study and formulate alternative large-scale assessment systems that integrate classroom assessments with examination data for accountability and monitoring purposes - may follow if evidence warrants.