Or retention decisions and classifying test takers according to defined performance categories, such as “basic,” “proficient,” and “advanced” (levels often used in score reporting) (Andrade and Cizek, 2010, p. They are designed to provide evidence of achievement that can be used in decision making, such as assigning grades making promotion Assessments used for summative purposes may be administered at the end of a unit of instruction. They may be used to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, assist educators in planning subsequent instruction, assist students in guiding their own learning by evaluating and revising their own work, and foster students’ sense of autonomy and responsibility for their own learning (Andrade and Cizek, 2010, p. Assessments used for formative purposes occur during the course of a unit of instruction and may involve both formal tests and informal activities conducted as part of a lesson. We combine these ideas with our analysis in Chapter 3 of current approaches to assessment design as we consider key aspects of classroom assessment that can be used as a component in assessment of the NGSS performance objectives.ĪSSESSMENT PURPOSES: FORMATIVE OR SUMMATIVEĬlassroom assessments can be designed primarily to guide instruction (formative purposes) or to support decisions made beyond the classroom (summative purposes). Our starting point for looking in depth at classroom assessment is the analysis in Chapter 2 of what the new science framework and the NGSS imply for assessment. The latter chapter argues that an effective assessment system should include a variety of types of internal and external assessments, with each designed to fulfill complementary functions in assessing achievement of the NGSS performance objectives. We discuss external assessments in Chapter 5 and the integration of classroom and external assessments into a coherent system in Chapter 6. We present example tasks that we judged to be both rigorous and deep probes of student capabilities and also to be consistent with the framework and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In this chapter, we illustrate the types of assessment tasks that can be used in the classroom to meet the goals of A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (National Research Council, 2012a, hereafter referred to as “the framework”) and the Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Such external assessments and their monitoring function are the subject of the next chapter. Left Behind Act or other accountability purposes (called “distal assessments”), as well as national and international assessments: the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the Programme for International Student Assessment (called “remote assessments”).
This category includes such assessments as the statewide science tests required by the No ChildġThis terminology is drawn from Ruiz-Primo et al. They are typically given at a time that is determined by administrators, rather than by the classroom teacher. They may be based on the content and skills defined in state or national standards, but they do not necessarily reflect the specific content that was covered in any particular classroom. External assessments are usually more distant in time and context from instruction. In contrast, external assessments are designed or selected by districts, states, countries, or international bodies and are typically used to audit or monitor learning. 1 This category may also include assessments created by curriculum developers and embedded in instructional materials for teacher use. They may also include formal classroom exams that cover the material from one or more instructional units (called “proximal assessments”). This category of assessments may include teacher-student interactions in the classroom, observations, student products that result directly from ongoing instructional activities (called “immediate assessments”), and quizzes closely tied to instructional activities (called “close assessments”).
They are given during or closely following an instructional activity or unit. The term classroom assessment (sometimes called internal assessment) is used to refer to assessments designed or selected by teachers and given as an integral part of classroom instruction. Assessments can be classified in terms of the way they relate to instructional activities.