Contents
Science
In May 1996, the New Jersey
State Board of Education adopted Core Curriculum Content Standards
that define New Jersey 's expectations for student learning. These
standards, along with their Cumulative Progress Indicators (CPIs),
define expected achievement in seven core content areas:
In addition, all areas of instruction include the following cross-content workplace readiness standards:
Since public education must prepare all students for the world of work, all content areas need to address these cross-content workplace readiness standards. To gauge student progress toward meeting the Core Curriculum Content Standards, the New Jersey Department of Education is developing a comprehensive set of assessments that measure knowledge and skills at grades four, eight, and eleven. The eleventh-grade High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) is the third component of the state 's assessment program, which also includes the fourth-grade Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) and the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA). Since not every indicator can be assessed through a statewide, standardized, written examination, individual districts will be involved in measuring the attainment of some performance expectations outlined in the standards. This Directory of Test Specifications and Sample Items in Science for the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) delineates the specifications used to develop the eighth-grade and eleventh-grade science assessments. The Core Curriculum Content Standards for Science (Appendix A) reflect the belief that all students can acquire an understanding of fundamental scientific principles and develop science-related skills. The standards emphasize that learning science is a progressive activity that begins in kindergarten and continues throughout life. They are clustered around three grade levels (fourth, eighth, and twelfth) to inform all teachers about what their students should learn during their grade cluster. These standards do not include all of science, but they do include the fundamental concepts in the life, physical, and earth sciences. Since August 1996,a committee of thirty-two New Jersey educators has been meeting regularly to define the content and skill boundaries based on the Core Curriculum Content Standards for the eighth-grade and eleventh-grade science assessments. The Directory of Test Specifications in Science is the product of their work. Curriculum specialists and teachers may use these specifications, along with the New Jersey Science Curriculum Framework and the standards themselves, to improve instruction at the district, school, and classroom levels. The purpose of New Jersey 's statewide assessment program is to measure what students at specific grade levels know and are able to do. Student knowledge in science can be broken down into cognitive skills (including conceptual understanding, history of science, and systems) and process skills (including problem-solving, mathematics, and technology). The matrices portrayed on the next two pages provide the structure for the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). The GEPA and the HSPA assess skills in three content areas -Life, Physical, and Earth -which are subdivided into related topics as shown on the matrices. The emphases and priorities of the science test are reflected in the percentages shown at the ends of the rows and columns of the matrices. The percentages on the right side of each matrix show what proportion of the test will cover Life, Physical, and Earth sciences. The percentages at the bottom show, for example, what proportion of the test will cover Problem-Solving. The column marked "Conceptual Understanding "is different from the others in that it does not represent a "Macro Statement "as such. Questions falling under the category of Conceptual Understanding assess basic knowledge. |
