Achieve Releases Criteria to Guide Development of Assessments for New Science Standards

Monday, March 19, 2018Printer-friendly version

Washington, D.C. — March 20, 2018 — Achieve today released a set of criteria that can be used to develop and evaluate new statewide summative assessments designed for three-dimensional science standards. The criteria were created using the research in the National Research Council's A Framework for K–12 Science Education and can be used to develop and provide feedback on assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

As states and districts across the country have begun to implement new science standards in classrooms, they have turned to the question of how to best assess student learning in order to provide actionable information to student, teachers, and families. This new document is intended to be a useful resource for anyone developing and/or evaluating statewide summative assessments aligned to their Framework-based three-dimensional science standards. The criteria balance the requirements of statewide summative assessments with the vision represented by new science standards by focusing on the most important shifts and innovations and defining qualities of three-dimensional learning and performance.

Achieve developed the criteria with extensive input from writers of the Framework and the Next Generation Science Standards. They are grounded in a collective and evolving understanding of how best to assess multi-dimensional standards; in the research that defines what all students should know and be able to do in science; and in lessons learned from early state processes in developing three-dimensional assessments.

To provide feedback on the assessment criteria, please email ngss@achieve.org and include “Assessment Criteria” in the subject line.

View the entire criteria document here, and access Achieve’s entire suite of Instruction and Assessment Supports for the Next Generation Science Standards here.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Chad Colby (202) 419-1570, ccolby@achieve.org Kelly Van Beveren (202) 745-2306, kvanbeveren@achieve.org