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Impact of the Understanding Science Professional Development Model on Science Achievement of English Language Learner StudentsImpact of the Understanding Science Professional Development Model on Science Achievement of English Language Learner Students

Key outcomes and measures

Box 1 shows the key student and teacher outcomes with their measures for the study. These outcomes will be assessed with science content tests for students and teachers, standardized achievement tests for students, and multiple teacher surveys.

Science content tests. The researchers measure student and teacher science content knowledge using tests developed and validated as part of the ATLAST project in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Project 2061 (Smith and Banilower 2006a, 2006b). Funded by the National Science Foundation, ATLAST provides rigorous and well validated measurement instruments to science education studies evaluating education programs. This study uses ATLAST's Test of Force and Motion for Students and Test of Force and Motion for Teachers. These tests measure science content using the National Science Education Standards (National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment, National Research Council 1996) and reflect the research literature documenting misconceptions related to science concepts in the outcome domains. Comprising 25 multiple-choice items, the student test is administered in one 45-minute period. Although situated in instructional practices, the teacher test also comprises 25 multiple-choice items; these are of three types: knowledge of science content, use of science content to analyze student thinking, and use of science content to make decisions on instruction (Smith and Banilower 2006b).

Science achievement tests. The scores of grade 8 students in participating teachers' classes on the California Standards Test in science are collected at the end of the 2009/10 school year.

Teacher surveys. Developed for prior evaluations of Understanding Science (Heller 2006), the teacher surveys include questions eliciting teachers' classroom instructional practices on science, attitudes about teaching science, and beliefs about science and children's learning. These are all factors that could mediate the relationship between knowledge gained from the professional development and actual classroom practice.

Box 1. Study outcomes and their measures Student outcome measures
Student content knowledge in force and motion

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