Alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is essential in efforts to interpret the standards and to compare curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment efforts with respect to the standards. However, relatively little work has explored the alignment implications of NGSS. This article is a conceptual analysis that gives an overview of…

The purpose of this article is to address a major gap in the instructional sensitivity literature on how to develop instructionally sensitive assessments. We propose an approach to developing and evaluating instructionally sensitive assessments in science and test this approach with one elementary life-science module. The assessment we developed…

Because textbooks have the potential to be powerful catalysts for improving science teaching and learning, having reliable methods for analyzing important textbook features, such as their coherence, is essential. This study reports on the development of a method in which trained reviewers, following a set of guidelines defining the ideas to be…

We investigated how student understanding of complex science topics was impacted when 27 teachers switched from typical to inquiry instruction in a delayed cohort comparison design study. For the same set of science topics, the teachers used typical methods of instruction in the first year and online, visualization rich inquiry units in the second…

Summarizes major findings of the Harvard Project Physics research and evaluation activity, including data gathering techniques, descriptions of teacher characteristics, information about student responses and learning environments, and final evaluation year results. Indicates that the evaluation program is characterized by considerable research on…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to identify factors that influenced prospective and experienced secondary level science teachers' reasoning as they evaluated or selected tasks to formatively assess their students' understanding of scientific concepts. The analysis of the coded written responses revealed two categories of…

Discusses methodological concerns raised by Kesidou and Roseman (2002) regarding textbook evaluations and the training of rating teams. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/YDS)

Responds to the comments of Holliday on the analysis of middle school science textbooks with regard to the methods used in the evaluation of curriculum materials. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/YDS)

Some early results are reported of a study to examine trends of student evaluations in college level physics courses. Higher ratings were consistently given for higher level courses. (PS)

Proposes a multilevel-multifaceted approach to evaluating the impact of education reform on student achievement that would be sensitive to context and small treatment effects. Uses a different assessment based on students' proximity to the enacted curriculum. Indicates that close assessment were more sensitive to the changes in students' pre- to…

Describes a Q-sort type instrument useful in obtaining descriptive information about teaching methods and curriculum materials used in the science laboratory, including information for, among others, developing operational definition of constructs (inquiry), diagnosing problems in curriculum development or implementation, and monitoring the effect…

Lays out an agenda for developing assessment tools and researching their effectiveness. Series of design tasks is proposed, with related research questions. Needed theoretical research includes studies of the effects of alternative assessment on policy and practice as well as the development of new psychometric techniques. Influences of new…

Argues that science educators often face the problem of abnormal distributions when conducting large-scale assessments or evaluating national curriculum projects that require complex sampling plans. Examines the precision of science test scores. (DDR)

Describes the development of a systematic instrument for assessing the impact of an environmental science course on students' behavior outside school. Students in an inquiry-oriented experimental curriculum significantly increased their leisure time activities in environmental science over students in traditional classrooms. (DS)

This study has two purposes: (a) methodological--to design and test a new instrument able to reflect changes in attitudes toward science over time, and (b) investigative--to find out the effect of two similar curricular treatments on the attitudes of two classes. Items about the relevance of science to students' lives were developed,…