Rubrics for Assessing Student Achievement in Science Grades K-12

"I recommend Rubrics for Assessing Student Achievement in Science Grades K-12 to any school district that is moving toward a standards-based curriculum. It will serve as a valuable tool for assessing student learning."
Grace Cisek, Director of Mathematics and Science Curriculum
Chester County Intermediate Unit, PA

At last, science educators will now be able to use custom-made rubrics to assess and evaluate student performance in the standards-based science classroom!

Combining clarity, detail, utility, and practicality, veteran educator and author, Hays B. Lantz, Jr., offers the most complete collection of evaluation and assessment tools in science education available today. This concise handbook was designed to improve the quality and uniformity of evaluation as well as assessment of student progress. Written in language appropriate for both students and teachers in grades K-12, there are over 100 ready-to-use performance lists, holistic rubrics, and analytic rubrics that contain clear descriptions of the particular traits and qualities desired in student products and performances.

Key features distinguishing this book include:

• Scoring tools for a wide range of products and performances found in effective science classrooms and programs
• Assessment tools that differentiate by learning levels,  providing a scaffolding of increasingly complex expectations across the grades
• Years of extensive field-testing of the evaluative criteria

Rubrics for Assessing Student Achievement in Science Grades K-12 is a valuable resource that will help to measure what students know and are able to do in the science classroom. It will yield more consistent and defensible judgments, more precise feedback, and sharper student learning and performance.

Hays Blaine Lantz, Jr. is currently Director of Science for grades PreK-12 for the Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland. Prior to this assignment, he served as Supervisor of Science K-12 for the Prince George’s County Public Schools; as Supervisor of the Howard B. Owens Science Center in Prince George’s County; as a Federal Programs Director, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Title IV-C Project Director, and as a high school administrator and classroom science teacher. Dr. Lantz has either taught or supervised all grades K-16, and has been extensively involved in professional and program development in science education for more than three decades. He has successfully directed several National Science Foundation projects, most recently the Partnerships for Math and Science Achievement (PMSA). In addition, Dr. Lantz also stays active as a science education consultant for several publishers and numerous school districts. His current research interests in science education include performance-based teaching and assessment, advance organizers, and the effects of prior knowledge on learning.

Dr. Lantz received his formal education at James Madison University and at the University of Virginia. He earned his doctorate in Science Education from the University of Virginia in 1981, with supporting fields in Research & Evaluation and Supervision & Administration. When not actively engaged in his work, Dr. Lantz enjoys skiing, golfing, fly fishing, hiking, and other outdoor activities.