High School Biology Assessment Pilot

BSCS Science Learning is recruiting high school science teachers who are able to pilot test assessments with their students in April or May. The assessment tasks of this study are being designed to assess students’ opportunity to engage with science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas to figure out real-world phenomena. These assessments will be administered online and students should be given one class period to complete.

About the pilot test

Each student will be given multiple assessment “tasks”. Each task focuses on a phenomenon and asks students to use their content knowledge, science practices, crosscutting concepts, and prior experiences to make sense of the phenomenon. Tasks may include multiple-choice, short-response, fill-in-the-blank, and/or modeling questions. Each task will include follow-up questions which ask the students to explain their response and/or provide feedback on the task. Students should complete as many questions as they can in a single class period. The test will be administered through our web-based testing utility.

Our goal is to receive feedback from students with a wide range of experiences with science learning. However, we are especially interested in involving students who have experienced NGSS-aligned instruction.

These tests are not intended to evaluate teachers or students. Individual student and teacher data will remain strictly confidential and individual students will not be identifiable. Students will not be asked to provide their name, email, or any information that would allow individual students to be identified. Our only interest is to learn how students respond to these tasks to better evaluate the tasks’ ability to measure what students’ understanding of science. This data will be invaluable in helping us refine and continue to develop assessments that support high quality science curriculum and instruction.

In order to participate

• You must be a science teacher in the United States.
• Your students must be in the grades 9-12.
• Be using curriculum materials aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards this school year.
• You must obtain permission to participate from the appropriate school or district personnel. Please do not register until you obtain permission.
• Your students must have access to computers (desktops, laptops, or tablets) that have a reliable internet connection.

As a thank-you, each participating teacher will receive $100.

Participation in this study is limited, so registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. If necessary, we will also adjust our selections to achieve representation from urban, rural, and suburban schools from different parts of the country and to include students who have had NGSS-aligned instruction.

Selected teachers will be notified by email. We will work to obtain permission from your principal or district before the research activities begin if you are selected.