Active-learning labs for two topics in high school biology were developed through the collaboration of high school teachers and university faculty and staff and were administered to 408 high school students in six classrooms. The content of instruction and testing was guided by State of Texas science objectives. Detailed teacher records describing daily classroom activities were used to operationalize two types of instruction: active learning, which used the labs; and traditional, which used the teaching resources ordinarily available to the teacher. Teacher records indicated that they used less independent work and fewer worksheets, and more collaborative and lab-based activities, with active-learning labs compared to traditional instruction. Inclass test data show that students gained significantly more content knowledge and knowledge of process skills using the labs compared to traditional instruction. Questionnaire data revealed that students perceived greater learning gains after completing the labs compared to covering the same content through traditional methods. An independent questionnaire administered to a larger sample of teachers who used the lab-based curriculum indicated that they perceived changing their behaviors as intended by the student-centered principles of the labs. The major implication of this study is that active-learning-based laboratory units designed and developed collaboratively by high school teachers and university faculty, and then used by high school teachers in their classrooms, can lead to increased use of student-centered instructional practices as well as enhanced content knowledge and process learning for students. ß 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 960-979, 2007

The value and effectiveness of formative assessment in the classroom has gained an increasing amount of attention during the past decade, especially since the publication of seminal work by Black and Wiliam titled Assessment and Classroom Learning. Since that time, there has been a renewed interest in describing and evaluating teacher practices related to formative assessment. Based on evidence of its effectiveness in the classroom and on improving standardized test scores, many prominent educational entities have initiated reform efforts to promote the use of formative assessment, yet these practices have not been embraced by classroom teachers. This case study investigated internally constructed and externally imposed contextual elements that constrained or facilitated the use of formative assessment by three high school science teachers. Cornett’s curriculum development model of personal practice theories was modified to include assessment, termed personal practice assessment theories (PPATs), and chosen as a framework for the study. This research revealed distinct differences among the three teachers’ PPATs and several different factors that constrained or facilitated the use of formative assessment in their instruction. Most notable of these factors were the forms of teacher knowledge that played a critical role in shaping their assessment practices and had a bearing on their ability to convert espoused theories about assessment into actual classroom practice. Other externally imposed barriers that constrained the use of formative assessment included expectations, habits, and dispositions of students; the pressure that teachers felt to “cover” all of the curriculum in order to prepare students for the end-of-year, high-stakes exam; and an instructivist rather than constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Results from this study add to the growing body of knowledge about the complex terrain teachers negotiate in making teaching and assessment decisions and provides a framework for future studies.

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