Assessment of academic performance is a major influence on the lives
of children and on every level of the educational system. Aligning
tests with the specific ideas and skills we expect students to learn is
vital, but what does alignment really mean? With support from the
National Science Foundation (NSF), Project
2061 is developing strategies and tools for evaluating the alignment of
K–12 assessments in science and mathematics with national and state
standards and benchmarks.
Linking Science and Mathematics Assessments to Standards
In a five-year NSF-funded effort, Project 2061 is
using its experience in analyzing assessment to develop a
collection of high-quality middle- and early high-school science
and mathematics assessment items, including multiple choice and open-response
questions. The resulting bank of items will be accessible online and linked
to state and national science content standards.
Read the proposal to
learn more.
In developing science assessment items for its online collection, Project
2061 researchers first clarify and elaborate the relevant content standards and
identify the key ideas students are intended to learn. As items are developed to
target the key ideas, the researchers use a set of alignment criteria to guide
their work. They also use research on student learning to design distractors to
diagnose student misconceptions. Eventually, they try out the items with students
to gather more information on how students think through their answer choices.
Feedback from the students is used to revise the items.
The following articles provide additional information on this project:
Do You Have Assessment Items Linked to Science Learning Goals?
Project 2061 is seeking test items that are
aligned with learning goals selected from Benchmarks for Science
Literacy and National Science Education Standards. Find
out how to contribute!
Project 2061’s Approach to Assessment Alignment
With funding from the NSF, Project 2061 has
developed an assessment analysis procedure to determine the alignment
of K–12 science and mathematics assessment items to national and state
standards. Using the innovative procedure, educators can
establish what specific learning goals an assessment task targets
and then judge the likely effectiveness of the task in probing student
achievement of those goals. Some of the questions asked in the procedure
are:
- Is the exact knowledge specified in the standard(s) needed to
make a satisfactory response?
- Is the exact knowledge specified in the standard(s) enough by
itself to make a satisfactory response or is additional knowledge
needed?
- Are students likely to comprehend the task?
- Are students likely to understand what they are expected to do
and what sort of response is considered satisfactory?
- Is the task’s context appropriate?
- Could students respond satisfactorily to the task by guessing
or employing other general test-taking strategies?
- Is the task’s scoring guide adequate and accurate?
Project 2061’s assessment analysis procedure is currently
being used by developers of instructional and assessment materials;
by districts and states that create, select, and administer large-scale
testing programs; and by classroom teachers who create their own tests.
View a prototype version of Project
2061’s assessment analysis utility.
The following articles provide additional information on the analysis
procedure:
- Aligning Assessment to
Content Standards: Applying the Project 2061 Analysis Procedure
to Assessment Items in School Mathematics (A presentation
given at the AERA annual meeting in Montreal,
Canada, on April 12, 2005)
- Aligning Student Assessment
to State and National Content Standards (A
presentation given at the NSTA national convention
in Dallas, TX, on April 1, 2005)
- Accountability
and Assessments (RBS Currents, Fall/Winter
2002)
- Aligning
Assessment with Learning Goals (ENC Focus,
2000, Volume 7, Number 2)
Related Project 2061 Tools
Elsewhere on the Web
