Analysis of students' assessments in middle school curriculum materials: Aiming precisely at benchmarks and standards

Abstract

Assessment influences every level of the education system and is one of the most crucial catalysts for reform in science curriculum and instruction. Teachers, administrators, and others who choose, assemble, or develop assessments face the difficulty of judging whether tasks are truly aligned with national or state standards and whether they are effective in revealing what students actually know. Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has developed and field-tested a procedure for analyzing curriculum materials, including their assessments, in terms of how well they are likely to contribute to the attainment of benchmarks and standards. With respect to assessment in curriculum materials, this procedure evaluates whether this assessment has the potential to reveal whether students have attained specific ideas in benchmarks and standards and whether information gained from students' responses can be used to inform subsequent instruction. Using this procedure, Project 2061 had produced a database of analytical reports on nine widely used science middle school curriculum materials. The analysis of assessments included in these materials shows that whereas currently available materials devote significant sections in their instruction to ideas included in national standards documents, students are typically not assessed on these ideas. The analysis results described in the report point to strengths and limitations of these widely used assessments and identify a range of good and poor assessment tasks that can shed light on important characteristics of good assessment. ß 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 889-910, 2002 Assessment of student performance exerts extraordinary influence on the lives of children and their families and on every level of the education system. If used properly, good assessment can be a powerful catalyst for improving both curriculum and instruction. Poor assessment practices, on the other hand, can impoverish our expectations for learning science, focusing teachers' and students' efforts on less important concepts and skills or on test taking as an end in itself.

An Analysis of Misconceptions in Science Textbooks: Earth science in England and Wales

“…During the survey a total of 453 instances of 'error/ oversimplification' were noted. This poor situation is mirrored in the US where the Project 2061 textbook survey Stern & Ahlgren, 2002;Stern & Roseman 2004) also reported poor content, particularly for the earth sciences. Sellés-Martinez (2007) has found a similar situation in Spanish textbooks used in Argentina.…”

Development and validation of an instrument to assess secondary school students’ perceptions of assessment tasks

“…Thurlow et al (2001) noted the importance of inclusiveness, so that diverse student groups can participate fully in assessment practices. Stern and Ahlgren's (2002) review of assessment in science curriculum materials employed three assessment criteria: the extent to which assessment tasks align with the goals of the materials; the extent to which the items focus on student understanding; and the extent to which assessment informs instruction.…”

Developing a Fine-Grained Learning Progression Framework for Carbon-Transforming Processes

“…However, current science curriculum and instruction have not yet been successful in teaching students this topic. Curriculum materials used in secondary schools often address reactants and products of carbon-transforming processes, without articulating the big ideas of how matter and energy transform (Stern & Ahlgren, 2002). As a result, students' ability to construct scientific explanations about carbon-transforming processes is very weak.…”

“…Meanwhile, although carbon-transforming processes have long been highlighted as the central focus of the secondary curriculum, they have not been taught in ways that either connect to climate change or promote scientific practices. School curriculum tends to address carbon-transforming processes in a fragmented manner and often fails to articulate disciplinary big ideas (Stern & Ahlgren, 2002). Existing instructional approaches have not yet been successful in preparing students to construct scientific explanations of carbon-transforming processes (Canal, 1999;Carlsson, 2002aCarlsson, , 2002bLin & Hu, 2003).…”