Chapter 8: Science Education Policy And Student Assessment

In recent decades, science educators increasingly have recognized the influence of local, state, and federal policy on science education programs and practices. The United States, for example, has a federal policy that all students be tested to measure their knowledge of science as defined by their state’s content standards. States have comprehensive examinations used for accountability and graduation requirements. States also have policies about how many science classes are required for graduation and whether students experience laboratories. What is the origin of policies for science education? How are science education policies developed and implemented?

To further confuse our understanding of policies in science education, some formal policies have unintended consequences for science education, for example, the emphasis in the federal No Child Left Behind Act (2001) on literacy and math has reduced emphasis on science. (See also DeLucchi & Malone, Chapter 12, this volume.) In some cases, there is a clear and directly negative influence of policies on school science programs, e.g., local boards implementing policies supporting teaching intelligent design and “alternative theories” (DeBoer, Chapter 10, this volume). In other cases, there seems to be a policy, but there is no official authority for the policy, for example, many in the science education community embrace a “policy” for inquiry-based instruction. Finally, there are formal national documents recommending policies. These national documents are voluntary but still directly influence state and local policies, e.g., the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council [NRC], 1996) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1993).