ABSTRACT

This chapter describes current practices and future trends in large-scale science assessment in the United States. It provides an overview of current large-scale science assessment practices in the United States, noting a recent trend toward adopting more End-Of-Course (EOC) exams for accountability purposes. The chapter focuses on the design of assessment systems and the constraints involved in gathering reliable information about students, teachers, and schools with respect to the demanding breadth and depth of the new standards. The National Research Council (NRC) framework and the next generation science standards emphasize life science, physical science, and earth and space science in roughly equal thirds across all grade levels. Although this balance is similar to the traditional balance in elementary school and middle school. Large-scale assessment of physical and earth and space science is both rapidly expanding, as states develop new high school EOC exams to support student and teacher accountability programs, and dramatically shifting in form and content.