Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Subject Area: Science

An Initial Learning Progression in Chemical Design

This resource is one of a series of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-based projects funded by the National Science Foundation. It is a document from the collection at the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, describing a two-year (2012-2014) exploratory project in which science educators at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and the University […]

How Can Simulations Be Components of Balanced State Science Assessment Systems?

This policy brief offers guidance and recommendations on how simulation-based science assessments can be included in the next generation of state science assessment systems. The authors report on research conducted on the simulation-based science assessment module SimScientists. The reported research focused on the technical quality, feasibility, and utility of simulation-based science assessments. The brief provides […]

Assessment Literacy Webinar

The Assessment Literacy webinar provides guidance for middle and high schools that are attempting to ensure their assessment system is balanced and aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA/Literacy. The webinar focuses on the roles that formative, interim, and summative assessments serve in the instructional cycle. The webinar is broken into 4 […]

Focusing Formative Assessment on the Needs of English Language Learners

How can formative assessment enhance the teaching and learning of English language learner (ELL) students? What, if anything, from our experience with summative assessment of ELL students can inform effective formative assessment practices? And finally, what are the opportunities and challenges inherent in integrating formative assessment into instruction for ELL students in this era of […]

READi (Reading, Evidence, and Argumentation in Disciplinary Instruction)

This resource highlights the work of the Strategic Literacy Initiative at WestEd, and its correlation to the goals and vision of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), through a collaborative study with the University of Illinois at Chicago and others from 2010-2015. READi (Reading, Evidence, and Argumentation in Disciplinary Instruction) is engaging teachers to understand […]

Seeds of Science Roots of Reading

The Learning Design Group of the Lawrence Hall of Science, co-directed by Dr. Jacqueline Barber and Dr. David Pearson, is a research-based curriculum development project for educational K-8 science programs that offers 33 effective strategies on how to incorporate science text into the classroom. The Learning Design Group supports the implementation of the Next Generation […]