Maryland Integrated Science Assessments (MISA) - Practice Test
Expert NotesStrengths:Include technology-enhanced and scenario-based items aligned to science standards, which assess students’ ability to analyze data, interpret models, and apply scientific reasoning rather than just recall facts.
Cautions:Primarily designed to mirror summative test formats, so they may emphasize performance on standardized item types rather than fully capturing students’ deeper, exploratory scientific thinking or inquiry processes.
Topics: Student LearningThe MCAP science practice test assessments are a set of sample assessment tasks designed to measure students’ understanding of science content and their ability to apply scientific reasoning across grade levels. These assessments reflect the structure and expectations of the Maryland Comprehensive…Inheritance and Variation Concepts Assessment (Ibourk et al., 2018)
Expert NotesStrengths:Combines multiple-choice and constructed-response items aligned to core ideas (inheritance and variation), allowing it to capture both factual knowledge and students’ ability to explain and connect concepts.
Cautions:Rubric-based scoring may lead to variability in scoring unless raters are carefully trained and calibrated.
Topics: Student LearningThis assessment is a paper-and-pencil instrument designed to measure upper elementary students’ understanding of inheritance of traits and variation of traits. The instrument includes a combination of multiple-choice and constructed-response items that target key genetics concepts aligned with…Oral Retell Science Understanding Assessment (Faggella-Luby et al., 2016)
Expert NotesStrengths:Uses retellings of informational science texts to capture both reading comprehension and conceptual science understanding simultaneously, providing a more integrated and authentic measure of student learning.
Cautions:Relies heavily on students’ oral or written language production (retelling), which may confound results with language proficiency (especially for ELL students) rather than purely reflecting their science understanding.
Topics: Student LearningThis assessment uses student retellings of an informational science text to measure both reading comprehension and science conceptual understanding. Students are asked to read a selected passage and then orally retell what they remember, with minimal prompting, allowing researchers to capture how…Science Matters Pre/post Assessment
Expert NotesStrengths:Each NGSS aligned unit inlcudes a pre and post assessment in addition to a formative assessment for teachers to measure student learning.
Cautions:Embedded assessments are closely tied to specific instructional contexts and storylines in the Science Matters curriculum.
Topics: Student LearningThe Science Matters lesson units include an integrated system of assessments embedded within multi-lesson instructional sequences across elementary science domains, including life science, physical science, and earth science. Each unit is organized as a coherent progression of lessons connected…Energy Literacy Open-Ended Assessment
Expert NotesStrengths:Uses open-ended questions and student-generated explanations and drawings, allowing it to capture nuanced, in-depth insights into students’ conceptual understanding and misconceptions about energy systems.
Cautions:Relies on qualitative interpretation of open-ended responses, which can introduce subjectivity in coding and make results less consistent or comparable across different raters or contexts.
Topics: Student LearningThis energy literacy assessment is an open-ended survey instrument designed to measure elementary students’ understanding of energy sources, energy systems, and the environmental impacts of energy use. Items ask students to identify renewable energy sources, explain which sources should be used…NAEP Sample Items
Expert NotesStrengths:The NAEP Questions Tool provides access to authentic, nationally benchmarked assessment items. Allows for comparison with how students across the country performed on the same question.
Cautions:The NAEP Science Sample Items are released selectively and represent only a subset of the full assessment, so they may not provide a complete or balanced picture of the content domain or skills being assessed.
Topics: Student LearningThe NAEP Science Sample Items are a collection of released assessment questions drawn from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), designed to measure students’ science achievement at the national level. These items represent the types of questions used in operational NAEP…Forces and Motion Concepts Assessment (Chen et al. 2013)
Expert NotesStrengths:Uses a detailed, multi-component rubric (e.g., claim, evidence, relationships, and cohesiveness) to capture the quality of students’ scientific reasoning, allowing for deeper insight into how well students construct and connect ideas.
Cautions:Students' writing proficiency could limit their abililty to demonstrate their knowledge and thinking around discplinary core ideas.
Topics: Student LearningThis assessment consists of 20 selected-response items, each aligned with specific science concepts. These items are organized around six core content areas: force balance, force and speed, friction, force and mass, air resistance, and energy. Each question requires students to apply their…Energy Concepts Assessment (Herrmann-Abell & DeBoer, 2017)
Expert NotesStrengths:Validated with a large and diverse sample (over 20,000 students across grades 4–12). Carefully aligned to a detailed learning progression with multiple levels of conceptual complexity.
Cautions:Based primarily on multiple-choice items, which may not fully capture students’ deeper reasoning or ability to apply energy concepts in real-world or open-ended contexts.
Topics: Student LearningThis assessment is based on a learning progression framework designed to measure students’ understanding of energy concepts from upper elementary through high school. The instrument evaluates knowledge across four major categories: energy forms and transformations, energy transfer, energy…