Eighteen states and the District of Columbia, representing more than a third of the U.S. student population, have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) since their release in 2013, and more are expected to follow. To make the most of NGSS, teachers need three-dimensional assessments that integrate disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices.

We are delighted to collaborate with the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago and UChicago STEM Education on a new grant funded by the National Science Foundation to build teacher capacity and develop and test classroom assessments for formative use that will promote high-quality science instruction and student learning in grades 3-5. These assessments will enable students to put their scientific knowledge into use through engaging in science practices and provide teachers with insight into students’ ability to address specific three-dimensional NGSS standards.

The project will work with teachers and other experts to co-develop formative assessment tasks and associated rubrics, and collect data for evidence-based revision and redesign of the tasks. As teachers are using the assessment tasks in their classrooms, the project will study their usage to further refine teacher materials and to collect evidence of instructional validity. The project will also develop teacher support materials and foster a community around use of the assessment tasks. The goal is to build the capacity of teachers to implement and respond formatively to assessment tasks that are diagnostic and instructionally informative.

The project will seek to answer two research questions:

• How well do these assessments function with respect to aspects of validity for classroom use, particularly in terms of indicators of student proficiency, and tools to support teacher instructional practice?
• In what ways do providing these assessment tasks and rubrics, and supporting teachers in their use, advance teachers’ formative assessment practices to support multi-dimensional science instruction?