Our district uses the ITBS science test at 5th grade. Even though we do not think this is a good test as it does not match the curriculum or the instruction, we see an increase in student scores especially in the inquiry and physics section (5th grade has been heavy on physics in our adoption).

Last year we piloted the PASS assessment. This year we are expanding it.

We do listen to student, teacher, principal, and parent testimonials. The quantity of testimonials does catch one's attention.

We have not used the Science Notebooks for formative assessment formally yet, but they do provide evidence of change. The SRT who teaches the science notebook classes has found that the writing samples from last year are not nearly as strong as the ones from this year. We will compare the samples again next year and see if there is continued growth.

We also will eventually be at the place where the Science Notebooks can be used formally as formative assessment. We are using Paul Black's ideas.

This year we have started developing classroom based assessments. A few teachers are trying them out for the first time. We plan to complete the development next year. We are moving slowly and carefully in this area. I think we will end up with some strong formative assessments.

Elaine