Teachers of science systematically gather, analyze, and use all relevant data to measure student academic progress, guide instructional content and delivery methods, and provide timely feedback to both students and parents throughout the school year.
The purpose of the standard for assessment of and for student learning is to ensure that teachers acknowledge student comprehension of material and use data to inform instructional strategies and goals. The primary goal of the standard is to provide students with learning opportunities that reflect their background knowledge, abilities, and understanding of content, and to help teachers establish baseline and ultimate learning goals that are tailored to the needs of their students. The central objective of the standard is to support the collection and analysis of learning data, as well as to support the use of that data to guide student learning goals.
Student Learning Data
In order to deliver lessons which reflect students current understanding of a topic, it is essential to assess knowledge prior to beginning the unit. Prior to beginning the unit on evolution, students were asked to write a brief narrative describing understanding of the topic based on previous science classes. 
A rubric based on the essential understanding, knowledge, processes, and skills was developed which allowed assessment based on students’ responses before instruction. The same writing prompt was used toward the end of the unit and student responses were compared to gauge learning. Instructional time was allotted after the second writing assessment to address any misconceptions and reinforce key concepts before administering the summative assessment. Student responses to the pre-assessment and post- assessment writing prompts are available to view through the links.