ABSTRACT Classroom assessment and the use of student performance data to inform instructional decisions have significant potential to help students meet the learning goals of science education. Research has shown that process-oriented assessment practices are challenging and sometimes ignored aspects of teaching, partly because teachers’ conceptions of assessment practice do not reflect a cycle of assessment that continually informs instruction. This study explores middle school science teachers’ conceptions of assessment practice based on drawn conceptual models and interviews that were gathered as part of a year-long professional development intervention. Results indicate that participants initially conceived of assessment practice in terms of tangible elements. Changes were seen, however, across the PD as several teachers developed conceptions that were more iterative, in which frequent assessment was used to inform future instruction. These findings raise important questions for how PD can most effectively support teachers’ adoption of research-based conceptions of quality science assessment practices.

中文翻译：

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在一年的专业发展经历中，中学理科教师的评估实践观念

摘要课堂评估和使用学生成绩数据来指导教学决策，具有极大的潜力，可以帮助学生实现科学教育的学习目标。研究表明，以过程为导向的评估实践具有挑战性，有时甚至忽略了教学方面，部分原因是教师对评估实践的观念并未反映出不断为教学提供指导的评估周期。这项研究基于为期一年的专业发展干预措施而收集的概念模型和访谈，探讨了中学理科教师的评估实践观念。结果表明，参与者最初是根据有形要素构想评估实践的。看到了变化，但是，在整个PD中，几名教师提出了更具迭代性的概念，其中频繁评估用于指导未来的教学。这些发现提出了重要的问题，即PD如何才能最有效地支持教师采用基于研究的质量科学评估实践概念。