This project's major objective is to develop a principled basis for constructing and scoring conceptually rich performance tasks in order to serve the goals of enhancing both the teaching and learning of science, while at the same time meeting psychometric standards needed to provide accountability information to the public. Classroom-based experimental trials will explore a set of alternative assessment models for middle and secondary school science. These trials will be carried out in schools, and will incorporate a variety of assessment activities. The activities will range from asking students to engage in "what would happen if ..." thought experiments, to extended research projects, often carried out in collaboration with other students. In addition to the creation of a variety of assessment activities, alternative rubrics for scoring the activities will be developed and tried. The Oakland and New York school sites represent different contexts for the experimental trials. We will study not only the effectiveness of the different performance assessments and scoring rubrics for enhancing the students' learning, abut also their effectiveness in improving the teachers' teaching.
