Assessing Teacher Learning About Science Teaching (ATLAST) teacher assessments designed to measure teacher knowledge in a specific content area. Assessments exist in the following content areas: Flow of Matter and Energy in Living Systems; Force and Motion; and Plate Tectonics. All questions are set in instructional contexts, with some items requiring teachers to analyze student thinking or to choose among instructional responses to student thinking. The measure has been used as a pre- and post-test to assess the effects of professional development programs. There are also corresponding student written assessments.
Content
Domains
Subdomain
Topics
Teacher Knowledge
Grades
K-8
Languages
English
Respondent
Teacher
Administration information
Length
30 multiple-choice items for each test form
Price
Free
Administration
Individual,
Self-report
National Sample
No
Access and Use
Contact
Instrument Use in Peer-Reviewed Studies
Heller, J. I. (2012). Effects of Making Sense of SCIENCE™ professional development on the achievement of middle school students, including English language learners. (NCEE 2012-4002). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Psychometrics
Scoring
Computer scoring
Manual scoring
Open Access
No
Resources on Psychometric Properties
Smith, P.S. and Banilower, E. R. (2006) Measuring teacher’s knowledge for teaching force and motion concepts Presented at the 2006 NARST Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
Smith, P. S. (2009) Exploring the relationship between teacher content knowledge and student learning. Presented at the 2009 NARST Annual Conference, Garden Grove, CA.
Smith, P.S. (2010) New Tools for Investigating the Relationship between Teacher Content Knowledge and Student Learning. Presented at the 2010 NARST Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.