Increasing Teacher Preparedness Through Effective Student Teaching
Category: Teacher and Leader Development
Instrument Overview
Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths
Uses both classroom observations and student work to capture what students are actually doing
Cautions
Not intended to be used as a teacher evaluation
Tested with a small sample from a single secondary school in the southeastern U.S.
Results depend heavily on which lessons or assignments teachers submit
Requires clear guidance and rater training to ensure consistent scoring
The Instructional Quality Assessment Tool for Science (IQA-Science) is designed to measure how rigorous and intellectually engaging science instruction is in real classrooms. IQA-Science combines classroom observations with teachers’ assignments and samples of student work to capture what students are actually asked to do and how teachers support that work.
The tool focuses on the instructional core—the interaction between teachers, students, and science content—and is explicitly aligned with the vision of NGSS-oriented science teaching. IQA-Science includes two complementary components: 1. IQA Science Assignment Rubrics (IQA-SAR): Used to score the rigor and quality of science tasks teachers assign, along with student work produced in response to those tasks. 2. IQA Science Observation Rubrics (IQA-SOR): Used to score video-recorded classroom instruction as teachers and students work on science tasks.
Together, these rubrics provide a structured way to examine whether students are engaging in meaningful scientific thinking, such as reasoning with evidence, working with disciplinary ideas, and participating in sensemaking, across many classrooms. The instrument was piloted in a secondary school setting and showed promising reliability, suggesting it can support both research studies and professional learning efforts aimed at improving science instruction.
Organization
Collection Category(ies)
Content
Grades
6th Grade,
7th Grade,
8th Grade,
9th Grade,
10th Grade,
11th Grade,
12th Grade
Languages
English
Respondent
Teacher
Administration Information
Length
The IQA-Science includes: 5 rigor rubrics (scored dimensions) | 4 assignment sets per teacher (recommended for stability) | 4 classroom observations across the year | Observation of entire tasks lasting 1–4 class periods (avg. 1.66 periods)
Access and Use
Open Access
No
Psychometrics (additional guidance)
Psychometric References
Tekkumru‐Kisa, M., Preston, C., Kisa, Z., Oz, E., & Morgan, J. (2021). Assessing instructional quality in science in the era of ambitious reforms: A pilot study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 58(2), 170-194.
