Instruction can be effective only if classroom assessments accurately reflect student achievement. For this reason, those concerned with the quality of instruction must also be concerned with the quality of assessment. Assessment should be a systematic, multi-step process involving the collection and interpretation of educational data on student progress. Student performance guides what teachers should teach, reflects what students have learned, and indicates what students need to learn.

In the past, many instructors evaluated their students’ understanding of a scientific concept with a traditional pencil and paper test. Today, teachers use a variety of classroom assessment methods to probe the extent and organization of their students’ knowledge. The choice of specific assessment methods should match the kind of knowledge – declarative or procedural – we are assessing.  Declarative knowledge refers to what we want students to understand (facts, concepts, principles) and procedural knowledge refers to what we want students to be able to do (skills, processes, strategies.)

Classroom assessment methods in science include the following:

1.  Selected Response

Student selects either the correct or best answer from among the options given. This method can assess mastery of declarative (content) knowledge, particularly factual knowledge.

     Examples of selected response include multiple 
     choice, true-false, and matching.

2.  Constructed Response

Student communicates a brief response, usually written, to questions, problems, or prompts. This response often leads to a correct answer or a limited range of responses. This method can assess big concepts, generalizations, and relationships among elements of declarative knowledge.  It can provide insight into a student's reasoning ability. A performance check list or rubric can be used to "score" the response.

     Examples of constructed response include 
     asking students to graph experimental data and
     describe the pattern or trend that is evident, 
     create a concept map or web of a science 
     topic, or make a labeled diagram to illustrate 
     and explain the role of green plants in the 
     process of photosynthesis, asking students to 
     "show their work" on a density problem, or
     make a labeled diagram to illustrate and explain
     the three ways heat is transferred.

3.  Performance-Based Assessments

A. Performance Task

Student creates a product or performs a demonstration that illustrates how he or she can apply knowledge and skills. This task is often open-ended and does not lead to one single answer. This method can assess attributes of a product or performance, as well as the process used in carrying out steps in the development of the product or performance. It can assess both declarative and procedural knowledge. Evaluations of student products or performances are based on judgments guided by criteria. Rubrics and performance checklists are often used as scoring tools.

     Examples of a performance task include 
     having students write a newspaper 
     editorial defending a position on curtailing 
     harvesting of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab; 
     design an experiment to determine the limiting 
     factors on the germination of a particular kind 
     of seed; create a trade book on using 
     the microscope to compare a plant and a 
     animal cell for a fifth grade student; create 
     a multimedia presentation for Earth Day on the 
     interdependence with the biosphere, write a 
     newspaper editorial defending a position on the 
     use of nuclear energy for generating electricity; 
     design an experiment to determine the effect of 
     different kinds of insulating materials on heat 
     loss; create a trade book on "atoms and 
     elements" for sixth grade students; conduct an 
     experiment to identify an unknown substance 
     based on its properties; create a multimedia 
     presentation for National Science and
     Technology Week on the interdependence of
     science, technology, and society in some aspect 
     of the space program.

B. Portfolio

Representative samples of student work are purposefully collected over time. This can be used to show student effort, progress or achievement in a given area.

     Example of a portfolio includes asking 
     students to keep different lab reports over time
     to see progress in ability to make qualitative and
     quantitative observations, organize information, 
     analyze information, and communicate results of 
     an investigation.

C. Teacher Observations, Questioning, and Conferencing

The teacher observes the student during an activity or asks questions to learn about a student’s thinking process. These provide valuable feedback information to teachers and to students so that adjustments to instruction can be made.

     Examples of teacher observations, 
     questioning, and conferencing include 
     observing students in a lab situation to 
     determine their ability to follow a written 
     procedure, the use of the "think aloud" 
     technique to evaluate a student’s ability to make
     a wet mount slide and focus the image under 
     a microscope or to use a triple beam balance to 
     find the mass of an object, posing oral 
     questions to assess a student’s understanding of
     a difficult section in the science textbook, 
     or conferencing with a student to learn 
     what they know about a particular concept and 
     what questions they might still have.

D. Student Self-Assessment

The student self-assesses the quality of a performance, product, or process he or she used. This method allows students to keep track of their own progress through criteria established by the student and teacher.  This also enables students to be part of the learning experience, and take ownership in understanding the goals and criteria for success.

     Examples of student self-assessment include 
     allowing students to use a check list for 
     assessing the quality of a graph they produced:
     or after completing a series of lessons 
     on heredity, asking students to write in a 
     learning log the concepts which they found 
     most understandable and those which they still 
     do not understand completely. 

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