National Assessment Program--Science Literacy Year 6 School Release Materials, 2006

Abstract

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce (PMRT), a nationally representative body, to undertake the national assessment program. The PMRT established a number of national committees to advise it on critical aspects of the study and ensure that the assessments and results were valid across the States and Territories. The main function of these committees was to ensure that the scientific literacy assessment domain was inclusive of the different State and Territory curricula and that the items comprising the assessments were fair for all students, irrespective of where they attended school. The National Assessment Program--Science Literacy measures scientific literacy. This is the application of broad conceptual understandings of science to make sense of the world, understand natural phenomena and interpret media reports about scientific issues. It also includes asking investigable questions, conducting investigations, collecting and interpreting data and making decisions. The first national assessment of science literacy was conducted in October 2003. The Primary Science Assessment Program (PSAP)--as it was then known--tested a sample of Year 6 students. PSAP results were reported in 2005. In October 2006, a consortium of Educational Assessment Australia and Curriculum Corporation conducted the second national science assessment. The National Assessment Program--Science Literacy tested a sample of Year 6 students. The findings describe the scientific literacy of Year 6 Australian students. Some assessment items from the 2006 National Assessment Program--Science Literacy have been released, to enable teachers to administer these items under similar conditions and gauge their own students' proficiency in relation to the national standards. These are the Science Literacy School Release materials. The released items required to conduct the Science Literacy School Assessment, which analyse the performance of students and gauge their proficiency against the national science literacy standards, are all provided in this document and may be reproduced freely. The print assessment materials include: (1) two assessment tasks--objective assessment and practical task; (2) Assessment Administration Guidelines; (3) marking guidelines for the objective assessment and practical task; (4) class record sheet; (5) item analysis sheet; and (6) class analysis sheet. Appended are: (1) National Assessment Program--Science Literacy, Year 6, 2006: Level Descriptors; (2) National Assessment Program--Science Literacy, Year 6, 2006: Assessment Domain; and (3) National Assessment Program--Science Literacy, Year 6, 2006: Major Scientific Concepts. (Contains 12 tables and 1 figure.) [For main report, "National Assessment Program--Science Literacy Year 6 Report, 2006," see ED534659. For technical report, "National Assessment Program--Science Literacy Year 6 Technical Report, 2006," see ED534660.]