Dynamic Interactive Formative Assessment Tasks and End-of-Unit Tests for Measuring Challenging Concepts and Skills of Diverse Middle School Students

This research aims to better assess how well middle school students learn challenging science subject matter.

WCER has partnered with Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey and Nevada to develop a set of performance-based, technology-interactive, formative assessment tasks. It also will create end-of-unit assessment modules and related teacher tools aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards.

The 12 technologically interactive, end-of-unit performance assessments use 36 extended tasks and 35-40 additional classroom-embedded extended tasks designed for convenient teacher use.

Teachers will receive:

 individualized diagnostic student- and classroom-level reports generated immediately after students complete the tasks and tests.

materials and related professional development to support and inform task use, interpretation, and differentiated learning based on individualized results.

The project seeks to identify ways to measure the science knowledge and abilities of widely diverse students, including English learners, students with learning disabilities, and mainstream students, by comparing traditional and innovative assessment item types.