Shifting Assessment Practices to Support English Learners in an Era of Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core

• In Event: 52.030 - Using Next Generation Science Standards to Inform and Provide Equitable Instruction, Learning, and Assessments to Diverse Students

Abstract

Purpose
Science education is undergoing a critical shift as teachers unpack and integrate Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core, and consider how to assess student learning to reflect standards and respond to non-dominant groups, including English Learners (ELs). ELs bring lived experiences, and cultural and linguistic knowledge, that can be bridged with disciplinary knowledge when learning and being assessed. Thus, this study addressed the question: In what ways do the assessment practices of secondary science teachers change after participating in PD using formative assessment to guide more responsive assessment for ELs?

Theoretical perspective
A sociocultural perspective informed this study, viewing assessment as social interactions in the classroom driven by instructional questions and problems and resembling a culture of sense-making, where student talk, writing, and other displays of knowledge allow teachers to activate students’ prior conceptions and ways of reasoning. For ELs, science learning should be contextualized and integrated with language/literacy development.

From this perspective, three interrelated dimensions guided professional development (PD) and analysis. Assessment design looked at the type of assessment activities and coherence to planned learning goals and success criteria. Assessment use looked at how the teachers used assessment formatively. Language/literacy considerations looked at how teachers addressed language demands and assessed disciplinary literacy.

Method
Fifteen secondary science teachers from one Arizona school district participated in 20 hours of PD, engaging teachers in (1) understanding formative assessment, (2) unpacking NGSS, and (3) experiencing responsive assessment approaches. The outcome was for teachers to develop and implement a plan for assessing a NGSS.

Teachers were observed and videotaped six times using an observation rubric based upon the aforementioned assessment practices. Results are based on scores from the rubric as well as video logged excerpts of teacher practice.

Results
Teachers demonstrated statistically significant improvement in one of the seven analyzed practices: coherence between assessment and learning objectives and evaluative criteria. Teachers were categorized into “high,” “medium,” and “no” overall assessment growth. When scores did improve, it typically occurred through the assessment design, regardless of the teachers’ pre implementation. For instance, Ms. I was first observed using whiteboards to make student thinking around particle diagrams visible. In post observations, students designed and carried out chemical reaction demos, accompanied by particle diagrams and written arguments. This shift increased modalities for ELs to demonstrate understand and continue to make sense of science; while promoting student interaction and disciplinary literacy. While this shift was the exception, teachers with lesser overall growth also experienced subtle shifts in their design.

Significance
The study contributes insight into what assessment practices might be taken up by teachers, and what ones might be more challenging. It highlights how change is possible for some, but that future assessment-focused PD might consider how to explicitly address responsive approaches to assessing ELs in connection with NGSS. It also advances the conversation around what exactly it means to assess responsively.

Author

• Edward G. Lyon, California State University - Sonoma