Advancing Coherent and Equitable Systems of Science Education (ACESSE)

ACESSE Resources

These resources were created by the Advancing Coherent and Equitable Systems of Science Education (ACESSE, or “access”) project, a partnership of the University of Colorado Boulder, the Council of State Science Supervisors, and the University of Washington.

The ACESSE project advances equity and access in the adoption of the Framework vision, with a focus on formative assessment and culturally relevant pedagogies.

• Video overview of resources

• ACESSE Resource A: Introduction to Formative Assessment to Support Equitable 3D Instruction

Video introduction to ACESSE Resource A

• ACESSE Resource B: How to Assess Three-Dimensional Learning in the Classroom

Video introduction to ACESSE Resource B

• ACESSE Resource C: Making Science Instruction Compelling for All Students: Using Cultural Formative Assessment to Build on Learner Interest and Experience

• ACESSE Resource D: How to Craft a Three-Dimensional Formative Assessment

• ACESSE Resource E: Basing Instruction on the Range of Student Thinking Through Cognitive Formative Assessment (Facets of Student Thinking)

Video introduction to ACESSE Resource E

• ACESSE Resource G: Learning to See the Resources Students Bring to Sense-Making

• STEM Teaching Tools

• ACESSE Project Hub for project participants

Journal Publications:

• Penuel, William R.; Shaw, Sam; Bell, Philip; Hopkins, Megan; Neill, Tiffany; Farrell, Caitlin C. (2018) Building a Networked Improvement Community to Promote Equitable, Coherent Systems of Science Education: How a State-Level Team Can Support District-Level Change Efforts. AASA Journal of Scholarship & Practice, 15(1), 30-38. https://www.aasa.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/JSPSpring2018.FINAL.pdf

The Advancing Coherent and Equitable Systems of Science Education (ACESSE, or “access”) project brings together partners from educational research and practice to improve equity by building coherence in science education. The project is based on a deep collaboration between the University of Colorado Boulder, the Council of State Science Supervisors, and the University of Washington.

Educators are frequently asked to implement state and local initiatives that do not share a common vision for teaching and learning or cohere with one another. This incoherence can reinforce educational inequities. It provides an extra challenge for schools that are already struggling with accountability pressures or assessment systems. To that end, the ACESSE project is bringing together educators and researchers to collaboratively research, develop, and pilot strategies to make science education more coherent and equitable.

Resources Developed Through this Collaboration:

Introduction to Formative Assessment to Support Equitable 3D Instruction (Resource A)

How to Assess Three Dimensional Learning in the Classroom: Building Assessment Tasks that Works (Resource B)

Making Science Instruction Compelling for All Students: Using Cultural Formative Assessment to Build on Learner Interest and Experience (Resource C)

How to Craft 3D Classroom Science Assessments (Resource D) 

Selecting Anchoring Phenomena for Equitable 3D Teaching (Resource E)

Learning to See the Resources Students Bring to Sense-Making (Resource G)

How to Craft Three Dimensional Classroom Science Assessments (Resource D).

ACESSE 50 Project Hub