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…3D Energy Explanation Assessment (Herrmann-Abell & DeBoer, 2017)
Expert NotesStrengths:Integrates multiple dimensions of learning (science practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts) within coherent, phenomenon-based tasks, allowing students to demonstrate deeper, three-dimensional understanding rather than isolated knowledge.
Cautions:Requires more time to administer compared to traditional content assessments.
Topics: Student LearningThis assessment consists of a set of tasks designed to measure elementary students’ ability to explain energy-related phenomena using three-dimensional science learning. The tasks present real-world scenarios followed by a combination of constructed-response and multiple-choice items that require…Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) 3-5
Expert NotesStrengths:Explicitly designed as three-dimensional assessments that integrate disciplinary core ideas, science practices, and crosscutting concepts
Cautions:Often embedded within specific digital tasks and contexts, so student performance may reflect familiarity with the platform or task format rather than purely their underlying science understanding or practices.
Topics: Student LearningThe Next Generation Science Assessment elementary assessment tasks are a set of online, scenario-based performance assessments designed to measure students’ progress toward Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations. These assessments are organized by grade band (3–5) and are…Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) 3-5
Expert NotesStrengths:Explicitly designed as three-dimensional assessments that integrate disciplinary core ideas, science practices, and crosscutting concepts
Cautions:Often embedded within specific digital tasks and contexts, so student performance may reflect familiarity with the platform or task format rather than purely their underlying science understanding or practices.
Topics: Student LearningThe Next Generation Science Assessment elementary assessment tasks are a set of online, scenario-based performance assessments designed to measure students’ progress toward Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations. These assessments are organized by grade band (3–5) and are…Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) 3-5
Expert NotesStrengths:Explicitly designed as three-dimensional assessments that integrate disciplinary core ideas, science practices, and crosscutting concepts
Cautions:Often embedded within specific digital tasks and contexts, so student performance may reflect familiarity with the platform or task format rather than purely their underlying science understanding or practices.
Topics: Student LearningThe Next Generation Science Assessment elementary assessment tasks are a set of online, scenario-based performance assessments designed to measure students’ progress toward Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations. These assessments are organized by grade band (3–5) and are…Progression of Understanding Matter (PUM)
Expert NotesStrengths:Cautions:Topics: Student LearningThe Progression of Understanding Matter (PUM) is an assessment instrument designed to measure students’ conceptual understanding of matter across elementary, middle, and high school grade levels. The instrument consists of three linked forms tailored to different grade bands (grades 3–6, 7–9, and…Tennessee District Science Network Task Library
Expert NotesStrengths:Explicitly aligned to NGSS three-dimensional expectations and include clear connections to specific performance expectations
Cautions:Require significant instructional time to administer and discuss.
Topics: Student LearningThe elementary assessments developed through the Tennessee District Science Network (TDSciN) are a set of performance-based science tasks designed to measure students’ three-dimensional learning aligned with current science standards. Each assessment is structured around a phenomenon- or problem…