EAGER: Seeding an Assessments Hub and Catalyzing a Community of Educators for Student Success in CS (SUCCESSinCS)

Looking Glass Ventures, Llc, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project launches crucial exploratory research and development activities to (1) birth a Community of Practice of K-12 CS teachers in the US centered on a shared need for quality assessments and building CS teachers' assessment capabilities and (2) lay the foundation for a sustainable technology hub (created for and by teachers along with researchers and technologists) of rich, innovative assessments organized by CS standards, grade, concepts, curriculum, and other relevant criteria for intuitive use by teachers of all experience levels. The project will be carried out by an interdisciplinary leadership team from Looking Glass Ventures, LLC (creator of the National Science Foundation funded assessment authoring and delivery platform "Edfinity") and Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), in collaboration with K-12 CS teachers, the CSForAll community, and experts in the field (as advisors). Key activities include: (a) bringing together teacher experts to aggregate, create, taxonomize CS assessments; (b) creating a classroom assessment training module for use in teacher training and workshops; (c) planning and conducting multiple teacher workshops co-located at conferences and other venues where the K-12 CS community convenes; and (d) conducting research on the development of a community of practice and classroom use of CS assessments on Edfinity. The research and development activities will be guided by the following questions: (RQ1) To what extent does the Edfinity platform and its features support development of an assessments hub of rich formative and summative CS assessment that covers CS standards, grade levels, and topics, and can be created and used by teachers for sharing and classroom teaching? (RQ2) What is the value of the workshops and the assessments hub for teacher community engagement and for supporting shifts in teachers' vision for, and participation in, an assessment-driven community of practice of CS teachers? (RQ3) (a) To what extent does the use of the assessments hub and the classroom assessment training help teachers' confidence around, and understanding of, formative assessments of CS? (b) How do teachers' classroom practices change with the use of formative assessments? (c) How does the use of formative assessments in the hub help teachers better track student understanding and their ability to get timely feedback about students? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.