Incentives and Trade-Offs in Designing Assessments That Prioritize Instruction

• In Event: Anchoring Assessments in Instruction: Lessons From States Implementing Instructionally Relevant Assessment Design Principles in Science

Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives
Standardized tests have significant impact on science teachers’ instructional practices, often in ways that run counter to the practice-focused, multi-dimensional science teaching that is featured in the NGSS and reflects current knowledge of how students learn (Aydeniz & Southerland, 2012; Boesdorfer & Staude, 2016). Teachers across the country continue to use antiquated approaches to science instruction that do not align with these nearly decade-old standards, often concentrated in schools that serve students from historically marginalized racial and socioeconomic communities.

To encourage the adoption of the type of instruction that provides each student with a rich and rigorous science learning experience, states will need to foreground this type of teaching and learning in summative assessments (Blazar, D. & Pollard, C., 2017). Moreover, this report finds that there are elements of assessment design that can support increased instructional relevance, including: shifting assessment systems toward teaching and learning; clarifying the role of state standards; prioritizing instructional shifts and balancing known tradeoffs; providing assessment information that can inform a range of instructionally-relevant actions; considering instructional materials in conjunction with assessments; positioning assessment data as a value-add for students, teachers, and families; and acknowledging the emerging role of artificial intelligence in learning and assessment. These elements are a prerequisite for the design principles and inform their development.

This presenter will provide an overview of how she developed the design principles with stakeholders and partners. Then, she will present the design principles and highlight how they have evolved. Finally, she will provide some brief examples of how these principles are already being used in states.

Data and Methods
This report draws from interviews with researchers, practitioners, assessment and curriculum designers, and state leaders, as well as feedback from stakeholders who piloted these design principles, collected over the course of three years. The author identified relevant stakeholders from professional organizations focused on science and assessment, as well as state leads and experts on state policy implementation. The author also engaged in some snowball sampling to expand the range of qualitative data. Feedback sessions were iterative, with various stakeholders weighing in on the emerging principles at least once a month before revising to reflect that data.

Emerging learnings and significance
By considering curriculum and assessment together, states can provide assessments that are more easily used by educators and leaders and ultimately have a stronger and more positive influence on curriculum implementation for students (He, Chen, Touitou, Bartz, Schneider, & Krajcik, 2023). Done well, these curriculum-anchored state assessments can measure knowledge, skills, and abilities in ways that attend to what and how students have had the opportunity to learn in science. These same assessments can also (1) incentivize the use of high-quality curriculum approaches and materials by making clear that these approaches will help students be successful on state assessments, and (2) provide robust and ongoing support for connecting student progress to instructional decisions—ultimately acting as a tool to support local implementation of high-quality curriculum in ways that support every learner across diverse contexts.

Authors

• Aneesha Badrinarayan, Education First Consulting

• Charlotte Thompson, Learning Policy Institute