PAST Projects & Research

The project studied the development of the science assessment practices of teachers in high-needs districts. It worked with prior participants in Noyce-funded pre-service teacher education programs, as well as in-service teachers participating in an NSF-funded professional development program. It described current assessment practices and how those had changed over time; the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political challenges negotiated by teachers as they made changes in their practices in Boston Public Schools and other high needs districts; and how assessment practices were related to student performance in those districts.

TERC provided formative and “critical friend” feedback to the project, supporting the rigor of the project’s own research study by addressing issues of design, instrumentation, sampling, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.