Promoting Equity and Research Using Adaptive Testing to Support Individualized Instruction at Scale: An Incubator Project

研究型评估(RBA)通过允许教师和研究人员衡量教学对学生结果的影响，在转变STEM教学方面发挥了核心作用。然而，现有的RBA主要是固定的评估，需要教师在上课的第一周和最后一周进行管理、评分和分析结果。执行这些步骤所需的时间和专业知识使许多教师无法使用RBAS。这些活动的独立性也阻碍了跨不同机构类型的大规模数据收集和研究。该孵化器项目将支持创建更复杂的评估，为STEM教师和教育研究人员提供优势。通过创建和主持跨STEM学科和K-16年级分数的评估，这个孵化器项目将支持STEM教学并创建一个大型数据库，可以推动新的STEM教育研究。孵化器活动包括创建八个工作组，讨论对伦理至关重要的主题，大规模数据收集和创建多样化的研究合作。前三个工作组将包括学者和教育工作者，以制定关于(1)社会身份数据的伦理收集和分析，(2)与未成年人的大规模数据收集，以及(3)有效的大规模伙伴关系模式的报告。这些工作组的报告将指导第二阶段的工作组，重点关注(4)K-12管理人员、(5)K-12教师、(6)两年制学院和(7)为少数族裔服务的机构的需求。第八工作组将利用前几个工作组的调查结果，为扩大STEM学生成果学习平台及其用户网络提出一套建议。扩大后的套索平台将产生一个大规模的、开放访问的数据库，其中包括K-16年级STEM学生对认知诊断计算机适应性测试的反应，以及一个以社区为基础的参与性研究项目的全国网络。该项目通过与比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会、施密特期货公司和沃尔顿家庭基金会的合作伙伴关系得到支持。资金也由国家科学基金会的发现研究PRE-12计划(DRK-12)和改善本科生STEM教育(IUSE)计划提供。DRK-12计划旨在通过研究和开发创新的资源、模型和工具，显著提高K-12学前班学生和教师的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Research-based assessments (RBAs) have served a central role in transforming STEM instruction by allowing instructors and researchers to measure the impact of instruction on student outcomes. Existing RBAs, however, are primarily fixed assessments that require instructors to administer them during the first and last week of class, score them, and analyze the results. The time and expertise required to do these steps prevents many instructors from using RBAs. The independent nature of these activities also inhibits large-scale data collection and research across diverse institution types. This Incubator project will support the creation of more sophisticated assessments that offer advantages to STEM instructors and education researchers. By creating and hosting assessments across STEM disciplines and K-16 grade bands, this Incubator project will support STEM instruction and create a large-scale database that can power novel STEM education research.The Incubator activities include the creation of eight working groups that will address topics critical to ethical, large-scale data collection and the creation of diverse research collaborations. The first three working groups will include scholars and educators to develop reports on (1) the ethical collection and analysis of social identity data, (2) large-scale data collection with minors, and (3) effective large-scale partnership models. Reports from these working groups will guide the second phase of working groups focused on the needs of (4) K-12 administrators, (5) K-12 instructors, (6) two-year colleges, and (7) minority-serving institutions. The eighth working group will use the findings from the prior working groups to create a set of recommendations for expanding the Learning About STEM Student Outcomes (LASSO) platform and its network of users. The expanded LASSO platform will generate a large-scale, open-access database of grade K-16 STEM students' responses on cognitive diagnostic computer adaptive tests and a national network of community-based participatory research projects. This project is supported through a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Walton Family Foundation. Funding is also provided by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) program and the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program at NSF. The DRK-12 program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.