Grade 5 and 8 Science and Technology/Engineering (STE) Assessment Pilot Highlights

In 2020, DESE received approval from the U.S. Department of Education under the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) to develop innovative science assessments for grades 5 and 8. During 2020–2021, DESE piloted the first prototype performance tasks with a small group of about 800 students per grade. Larger pilots in 2022 and 2023 each included approximately 6,000 students per grade. During the pilots, students took a portion of the operational questions from that year's STE MCAS test along with several performance tasks, with their official scores based only on the operational MCAS questions. A larger pilot will take place this spring (2024) with approximately 10,000 students per grade.

The rollout of the new tests will be accompanied by materials for classroom use, support to adopt curricula that are rated as high-quality, and continued guidance on deeper learning.

Who is involved in designing the new test?

The new performance tasks have been designed in close partnership with teachers and with feedback from students. Over 50 teachers have met to review test materials to make sure the tests are aligned to the standards and practices in the 2016 STE Framework, and to identify and address any potential bias or cultural sensitivity issues. Thousands of students have completed surveys after taking the performance tasks, and dozens have met in focus groups to provide feedback on the development of the tasks.

"This is teaching us to expand the knowledge and experience of our students in a way to put real-life problems in front of them." — Science teacher from 2022 science pilot test

"I liked that we were able to use our own data from our own experiments and not take them out of an article or a data table like usual." — Grade 8 student from 2021 science pilot test

Last Updated: March 18, 2024