Implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the shift to a more inquiry-based classroom requires a clear vision of the assessment opportunities and processes classroom teachers will need to engage in and administrators will need to support and review.

Based on the work of Andrew Ho and Margaret Heritage, this session will outline the four major “quadrants” of the assessment matrix and review the nature and the stakeholders for each. We focus then on the formative or “classroom” quadrant and define the process of moving from a structured Formative Assessment Process to an Invisible Formative Assessment Process, and benchmarks for delivering high quality assessment alongside high quality instruction.

Lastly, we will focus on the NGSS specific requirements for classroom-based assessment and align it to the Herron scale of inquiry to ensure that our assessment process is inclined in the same direction as our instruction.