Powerful Classroom Assessments (PCAs)

Powerful Classroom Assessments (PCAs) are produced by OSPI Science Assessment primarily for use in teacher workshops. Teachers can also use them in the classroom to help students understand how questions are scored on the state test.

The PCAs currently available match the previous Science Standards (2005 Grade Level Expectations).

PCAs are good assessment targets from which diagnostic, formative, and summative tools can be developed. PCAs are most powerful when teachers use the Templates to make classroom assessments based on the units they are currently teaching.

The following documents are part of a PCA:

• Scenario and Items: "Test" booklet containing a scenario and 10 test questions
• Scoring Guide: Contains the answer key and Rubrics for the written-response questions
• Student Response: Actual student answers to the written-response (10 examples)
• Annotations: Explanation of how the Rubric was applied to the student answers and the score each Student Response earned