Formative Assessment Bundling Literacy and Elementary Science (FABLES): Supporting Instruction Aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards 

Though afforded less instructional time among core subjects during early education, science is important particularly for students with backgrounds underrepresented in scientific fields. 

Renewed interest in early science instruction and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emphasis on scientific oral and written communication skills necessitate high-quality formative assessments for understanding students’ progress.

Purpose

WestEd, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, is leading a cross-institutional research and development team that includes experts from the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the Concord Consortium. The team is developing a formative assessment program called Formative Assessment Bundling Literacy and Elementary Science in the NGSS (FABLES). FABLES is a suite of innovative NGSS-aligned assessment tasks with accompanying rubrics for interpreting student performance, teacher practice guides informed by student learning to support classroom instruction, and professional support for teachers to learn about science assessment and NGSS instruction. 

Audiences Served

The FABLES project is developing and piloting classroom-based online assessment resources with accompanying professional learning for elementary teachers. The resources are intended to support teachers in monitoring and enhancing their students’ integrated science and literacy learning. Currently, the resources are being developed and piloted for 3rd grade classrooms.

Project Activities

The project team is following a design–implement–revise cycle in which the resources are iteratively developed, tested in classrooms, and revised over multiple rounds. The research and development plan entails using a design process that builds from the Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) approach, which has been used successfully in prior efforts to create assessment tasks for NGSS classrooms. The NGSA approach has been modified to enable literacy and science integration in elementary classrooms. 

Project Director

Christopher Harris

Christopher Harris works as a Senior Project Director with the Science and Engineering team.

Funder

The FABLES project work is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A210290. 

Project Duration

07/01/2021–06/30/2025