Written assessments include a broad range of assessments in which students show their understanding with paper and pencil. These assessments fall into two general categories: (1) selected response, in which students choose the best answer from several possible options (in a multiple choice, true/false, matching format); and (2) constructed-response (or open-ended), in which students generate their own answers.
Exemplary middle-school instructional materials offer a diverse array of written assessments, which are used throughout a unit of study, not just at the end. For example, students might record their “pre-instruction” ideas on an introductory questionnaire. They might also record what they think they know in a quick-write in their science journals. In the midst of a lab activity, students might respond to open-ended questions in their journals to record their emerging hypotheses. At the end of a unit, students might communicate their understanding by writing a letter, creating an advertisement or a cartoon, or developing a game (these types of written assessments are often called products/projects). Finally, students might answer selected-response or constructed-response questions on a post-unit test or a mid-unit quiz.
The written assessments in exemplary materials reflect the range of knowledge and skills that these programs target. Putting pencil to paper in diverse ways provides teachers with rich evidence of student learning, and enables a wide range of students, with myriad talents and abilities, to demonstrate their understanding.
Learn more about the types of written assessments used on standardized tests.
The following vignettes are fictionalized classroom accounts of real assessments from real middle school curricula.
Introductory Questionnaire
Before Ms. Malika's sixth-grade class starts their Insights unit on human body systems, all of her students complete a pre-unit questionnaire. Students answer 10 open-ended questions about the organs and process of digestion, the components of the circulatory system, and interactions among various systems in the body. Ms. Malika does not expect her students to correctly answer all these questions—after all, they haven't started the unit yet! But she plans to use their responses to “take a pulse” of students’ current knowledge and skills: What do they already know about body systems? What naïve conceptions do they have? Using the pre-unit questionnaire, Ms. Malika will focus and adapt the module to fit the particular experiences and conceptions her students bring.
Learn more about this example of an Introductory Questionnaire, a pre-instruction assessment from the Insights curriculum.
Quick Write
As part of a FOSS/MS unit, Gabriel has kept a moon log for the past 30 days and has talked with his family and classmates about what he has observed. He now has a few ideas about why the moon seems to change shape. Before modeling and explaining moon phases in class, his teacher (Ms. DeMarco) wants to first find out about Gabriel’s ideas and those of his classmates. Ms. DeMarco asks the class to do a quick write; in their science journals, students write down everything they know and think about the phases of the moon and why they occur. Before instruction, Ms. DeMarco examines these papers closely, noting student ideas that she can refer to and address during the upcoming lessons. After instruction, she will return these quick writes to students; she will ask them to revise their answers, and to explain how their thinking has changed (“I used to think this…but now I think this because…”).
Learn more about this example of a Quick Write, a pre-instruction assessment from the FOSS/MS curriculum.
For more about Gabriel and the moon phases, see "Observational Checklist" in the Observation, Interviews, and Discussions section.
Open-Ended Question
In the midst of a BSCS unit on natural selection, Mr. Lewis wants to find out if his eighth-grade students can apply their understanding to a new situation. He gives them a brief reading that introduces students to the giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands. One type of tortoise has a short neck and a domed shell. The other type of tortoise has a long neck and a shell that flares up in front, enabling the tortoise to raise its neck up high. In their science journals, students must write an explanation of how these two different tortoises might have developed from a common ancestor. They must justify in their explanation how natural selection may have influenced the development of the two species. Mr. Lewis will use student answers to inform his future instruction: Are students ready to move on? Where is their understanding shaky? What further investigations could firm it up?
Learn more about this example of an Open-Ended Question, an embedded assessment from the BSCS Middle School Science and Technology curriculum.
Post-Unit Test
After a three-week STC unit on the characteristic properties of matter, it is now time for seventh-grader Keyvan to show what he knows on a unit test. The test consists of two components: a performance assessment and a multiple-choice test. On the written test, Keyvan is not answering simple recall questions; instead, he is using what he has learned about density and phase changes to analyze new experimental data that he has never seen before. Multiple-choice questions include “How long from the start of the experiment was the substance (represented in the graph) heated before all of the substance turned to gas?” and “Of all the liquids and objects in the pictured graduated cylinder, which has the greatest density?” Keyvan’s ability to apply his knowledge to new situations will give his teacher a solid sense of his achievement.
Learn more about this example of a Post-Unit Test, a post-instruction assessment from the STC/MS curriculum.
For more about Keyvan and characteristic properties of matter, see "Hands-On Task" in the Performance Assessments section.
Product
What would happen to cargo onboard a ship after 50 years at the bottom of the ocean? Seventh-grader Dominique knows; she is now an expert following a FACETS unit on undersea ship salvage. She has modeled the ocean and ocean floor, and investigated the effects of pressure and salt water on various materials. Now, she must pull her knowledge and findings together to prepare a proposal to a funding agency, requesting money to support her own salvage operation. In her proposal, Dominique must detail the scientific procedure for the salvage operation step-by-step, and link the procedure to an itemized budget.
Learn more about this example of a Product, a post-instruction assessment from the FACETS curriculum.
For more about Dominique and the salvage operation project, see "Presentation/Demonstration" in the Performance Assessments section.
