Matching Assessment to the Curriculum in a Systemic Science Reform Project.

The North Carolina Project for Reform in Science Education, which is part of the National Science Teachers Association’s Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project, and the importance of student test scores as an evaluation tool were evaluated. Seven North Carolina schools participated in the project’s first year (1991-92), with 21 teachers, and about 1,600 sixth graders. The reform program called for science for 6 years for all students, fewer topics covered in mode depth, and a careful and coordinated curriculum with a hands-on approach and assessment examining understanding. Because the goals of the reformed curriculum differed from the curriculum on which the state-mandated science test was based, a method was developed to adjust test scores to allow for the difference and allow the test to be instructionally valid. The adjustment process protected project schools from uninformed decisions about project worth. Students in project schools performed slightly better than did students in control schools on subject matter taught more extensively in the project schools. Efforts to develop alternative assessments for the project schools are briefly described. Results highlight difficulties arising in using student testing as a program effectiveness summative criterion. Experiences show some legitimate formative functions that tests can serve. Appendix A contains a matrix of sixth grade goals by content area. Appendix B gives sample performance assessment item sets. (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.