Note: This WestEd project was completed in 2019.
WestEd’s Standards, Assessment, and Accountability Services (SAAS) program is providing assessment design and development services to the Washington state as part of a three-year contract in support of the state’s full transition to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) assessments.
SAAS supports the State of Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in all aspects of assessment development, including:
- Consulting in test design, blueprint development, and achievement-level descriptors
- Providing technical assistance on optimizing computer-administered delivery of the assessments
- Developing of innovative, multidimensional stand-alone items and item clusters aligned to the NGSS Performance Expectations and associated Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts
- Developing detailed Performance Expectation specifications and other documentation to guide assessment development and to inform the Washington education community
- Training and facilitating item cluster development workshops, content reviews, and bias and sensitivity reviews with Washington educators at key points in the development process