Designing State and Local Systems of Assessment That Prioritize Equity in Science

• In Event: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives and Tensions in Developing 3-D Classroom Assessment That Promote Equity

Abstract

Purpose:
This presentation focuses on the implementation of new assessment systems designed for three-dimensional science standards that intentionally include equitable approaches to surfacing student learning as a core design principle.

Perspective:
Since the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013, over 43 states have adopted the NGSS or similar standards based on A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Both the NGSS and the Framework revolutionized what we expect from teaching, learning, and student performance by elevating authentic sense-making and problem solving connected to real-world situations. This is a bold vision for science education, and its success for all students hinges on assessments in the classroom, district, and state-levels that equitably surface student thinking from a wide range of learners. For many systems, this is a fundamentally different approach to science assessment, and one that presents unique tensions. In this presentation, I will explore current state and local approaches to science assessment systems that prioritize equity, emphasizing tradeoffs, tensions, and possible resolutions that are being explored at scale.

Methods:
This presentation draws on landscape analyses of the current systems of assessments, expert analysis of individual tasks that comprise those systems using the Science Task Screener and related tools, and survey data about developer and user perspectives in three-dimensional assessment.

Date sources:
Key sources of data in this presentation include state and local assessment system documentation, planning, and communication resources; assessment tasks drawn from a variety of classroom, district, and state contexts, and assessment developer and user responses to a survey designed to elicit attitudes and perspectives about assessment design and use that can inform how systems are designed and implemented

Results/points of view:
Based on the series of analyses described here, I argue that:
1) Although an increasing number of states are implementing systems of assessments in science in various ways, features of equitable assessments are often prioritized at the classroom level and de-emphasized in larger-scale initiatives. This creates both incoherence and inconsistent signaling and feedback.
2) Evidence from classroom-based and large-scale assessments suggest that when features of equity are intentionally designed into assessment tasks, tasks are found to be of higher-quality and better aligned than those tasks where equitable features that go beyond reducing bias are considered out-of-scope;
3) Systems that prioritize and elevate traditional approaches to large-scale assessments as the state’s signal for and major feedback about student performance are unlikely to be supporting the kinds of teaching, learning, and performance that are expected by the standards, even when classroom assessments are more intentionally designed. This demands a reconceptualization of both the kinds of evidence that should be used to make judgements about students’ science progress as well as the goals for “alignment” of large-scale assessments.

Scholarly significance
This presentation highlights both the challenges and opportunities inherent to using systems of assessment as a lever for equity.

Author

• Aneesha Badrinarayan, Achieve, Inc.