Toward a Framework for Justice-Centered Science Classroom Assessment

• In Event: Culturally Sustaining Approaches to Classroom Assessment

Abstract

Purpose. Efforts to reform science classroom assessment have focused on adapting existing materials for diverse populations of students (e.g., students of color, students in poverty, multilingual learners, students with disabilities). Building on and extending conceptions of equity and justice in science curriculum and instruction, we argue for shifting classroom assessment toward the purpose of justice to transform science classrooms.

Theoretical Perspectives and Significance. Contemporary movements in science education lie at the intersection of two major shifts away from traditional practice (Lee & Grapin, 2022): first, toward a new vision of science learning that is three-dimensional, engaging students in science and engineering practices as they apply crosscutting concepts and learn disciplinary core ideas (NRC, 2012); and second, toward more equitable learning opportunities that center the ideas, experiences, and cultural and linguistic practices of students historically held at the margins in school science (NASEM, 2022; NRC, 2012).
These movements are present in multiple elements of science classroom practice. They are anchored by curriculum materials that are centered on real-world phenomena and problems relevant to students’ lives (e.g., Edelson et al., 2021; Tzou, Bang & Bricker, 2021). They are enacted and supported by classroom instruction in which teachers create ample opportunities for students to share their thinking, engage in sensemaking, and co-construct meaning with each other (e.g., NRC, 2015; Windschitl, Thompson & Braaten, 2018). These experiences are supported by ongoing assessment embedded in curriculum and instruction that helps create space for students to show what they know and can do as well as make meaningful connections to their lives and experiences at home and in community (e.g., NRC, 2014).
While progress has been made in developing curricula aligned with the vision for science learning and equity, as well as ambitious instructional approaches to promote student engagement in those curricula, science assessment as it is currently conceived has not caught up with this vision. If assessments continue to center dominant paradigms, they will ‘enforce’ the dominant ways of knowing, doing, and being on which they were conceived. They may also compromise progress that has been made toward more justice-centered science curriculum and instruction. This paper contributes critical perspectives to the ongoing discussions of shifting the goal of science assessment reforms toward justice.

Mode of Inquiry and Warrants for Arguments. We propose a framework for justice-centered science assessment that distinguishes between, on the one hand, existing assessment approaches that seek to broaden access for all learners and, on the other hand, justice-centered approaches that look toward different possible futures and seek to fundamentally transform classroom assessment for learners whose interests and identities have not historically been centered (Author, 2023). We apply the framework to analyze examples of embedded classroom assessments. Finally, we articulate steps that can help the field of science education (as well as other fields and disciplines) push assessment toward justice that sustains the knowledge, language, and cultural practices of historically marginalized learners.

Authors

• Erin Marie Furtak, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Scott Grapin, University of Miami

• Okhee Lee, New York University