This report takes stock of what we currently know as well as what we need to know to make classroom assessment maximally beneficial for the teaching and learning of STEM subject matter in K–12 classrooms. It draws inspiration from the cumulative body of research on assessment in STEM education that has accrued over the last two decades, with particular emphasis on work funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through its Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) funding program. The program has long held that: “For assessment to be a driving knowledge engine that moves STEM education forward it must be integrated with systems of learning and teaching, with specific attention paid to the needs of practitioner communities and how assessments would be used in formal education settings.” The major sections in this report, individually and collectively, focus on critical issues regarding assessment integration and use at the classroom level.
Report Sections:
- Connecting Classroom Assessment with Learning Goals and Instruction through Theories of Learning
- Assessment for Learning
- Equity and Justice in Classroom Assessment of STEM Learning
- Teacher Knowledge and Practices for Assessment
- Technology-Based Innovative Assessment
The report concludes with a summary and recommendations for classroom-based assessment as well as an appendix with a sampling of DRK-12 classroom-based assessment projects. An executive summary and the report's recommendations are also available as standalone documents.
CADRE would like to thank the Committee on Classroom-Based Assessment and the reviewers listed below for their contributions to this work.
Steering Committee:
- Christopher J. Harris,
WestEd - Eric Wiebe,
North Carolina State University - Shuchi Grover,
Looking Glass Ventures - James W. Pellegrino,
University of Illinois Chicago
Committee Members:
- Eric Banilower,
Horizon Research, Inc. - Arthur Baroody,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Erin Furtak,
University of Colorado at Boulder - Ryan “Seth” Jones,
Middle Tennessee State University - Leanne R. Ketterlin-Geller,
Southern Methodist University - Okhee Lee,
New York University - Xiaoming Zhai,
University of Georgia
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Margaret Heritage, University of California, Los Angeles; Maria Ruiz-Primo, Stanford University; and Amelia Gotwals, Michigan State University
Suggested Citation:
Harris, C.J. Wiebe, E., Grover, S., & Pellegrino, J.W. (Eds.) (2023). Classroom-Based STEM assessment: Contemporary issues and perspectives. Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE). Education Development Center, Inc.