Assessment in Science Middle School (6-8)

“Assessment and instruction often become indistinguishable because the assessment activities are an immediate and integral component of instruction.”
– Alaska State Frameworks 1996

This section provides information for teachers about using assessments in a standards-based curriculum. For specific information about Alaska’s Assessment programs (Benchmarks, HSGQE, TerraNova, etc.) go to http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/assessment/.

Standards-based assessment program should provide information about the attainment of critical educational goals to a variety of audiences, students, teachers and parents, but also the school, the district, and the state.
No one indicator or type of assessment tool is adequate to meet all of the potential needs for information or to demonstrate the attainment of the Alaska content standards.
High quality, classroom-based assessments provide useful information that can clarify and guide instructional decisions.
Teachers must use multiple measures and diverse avenues of expression to continuously assess the current knowledge of students.
Teachers need to know exactly when a student becomes confused, and they need to be committed to providing alternative experiences to help the student understand.

Science is more than a body of facts. Science is a structured and directed way of asking questions. The process standards are valued by scientists as much as the facts and theories and need to be assessed in a purposeful way.

Observing, communicating, classifying, inferring, predicting, making models and collecting data are all skills to be mastered by middle school students at their complexity.
The assessment of the progress of the students’ ability to recognize between explanation and evidence should be on-going.
Students that know what the standards they need to master will be better able to participate in their learning and the demonstration of that knowledge.
Living systems, the structure of the earth system, abilities of technological design, personal health and global issues and the difference between scientific questions and other questions are all specific standards that require multiple assessments and evidence.
Students should be treated as scientists that must defend what they discover.
At this age, students need to be challenged to perceive evidence that does not agree with their beliefs.
As they engage in active inquiries with complicated investigations, they will be able to provide evidence of their progress towards meeting the standards.