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…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…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…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…