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Education research and development (R&D) partnerships have the potential to develop knowledge and resources that contribute to improved student learning. Often districts and schools are asked to participate in R&D projects, and yet, there is little guidance in the field of education R&D regarding strategies to make project partnerships effective and mutually beneficial.

The mission of the DR K-12 Science Curriculum Special Interest Group (SIG) was to further explore the types of science curricula being developed by DR K-12 grantees and to better understand the types of technologies being employed.  To assist the SIG with their work, EDC and Abt Associates gathered information from various sources to provide insight into the DR K-12 science portfolio. 

This report is an overview of the projects in the DR K-12 portfolio.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) maintains a portfolio of complementary programs aimed at improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning at all stages.

The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL), supports high-quality research and development on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning and teaching. The portfolio of DR K-12 projects span what NSF has characterized as a cycle of research and development—a dynamic, ongoing process through which knowledge and products are conceived,developed, disseminated and revised.

This paper presents a framework and a procedure for developing vignette illustrations as a form of testing accommodation for English language learners (ELLs). Vignette illustrations are defined as illustrations added to test items originally created without illustrations, with the intent to provide a visual support for ELLs that increases their chances of accessing the content of those test items.

Understanding, exploring, and interacting with the world through models characterizes science in all its branches and at all levels of education.  Model-based reasoning is central to science education and thus science assessment.  Building on research in assessment, science education, and learning sciences, this report provides a set of desgin patterns to help assessment designers, researchers, and teachers create tasks for assessing aspects of model-based reasoning: Model Formation, Model Use, Model Elaboration, Model Articulation, Model Evaluation, Model Revision, and Model-Base