Evidence of Middle School Science Assessment Practice From Classroom-Based Portfolios

Assessments are powerful tools for informing teachers and students about where student thinking stands with relation to a learning goal. Yet, few studies provide qualitative analyses of assessment practice across a unit. This study uses a framework of nine dimensions of effective assessment practice in science classrooms to compare more and less effective assessment practice among a purposive sample of middle school science teachers. Participating teachers collected 10 days of assessment artifacts, lesson plans, and student work for a science unit. Our comparison indicated that particular dimensions, such as setting goals, aligning assessments with goals, frequency, and variety of assessment, can be addressed relatively easily by teachers whose overall collection of artifacts were rated in the top and bottom quartile. However, dimensions that take into account the quality or depth of student learning, such as the cognitive complexity of the task, the type of feedback that is provided, or how well teachers adapt instruction based on information from assessments, differ more significantly among teachers in our sample. The conceptualization of these nine dimensions along with evidence from actual classrooms across consecutive instructional days targets areas for professional development and teacher education. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.