NES Principal Subtest II (812) Diagnostic Test

Case: Juniper Middle School: assessment results

The principal is reviewing a six-week grade 7 science initiative. Two sections use a new investigation routine; two continue their existing approach. Students were scheduled before the initiative was chosen. The packet contains simulated records collected for a planning decision, not a randomized evaluation.

Document: Assessment results

The same 120 students completed both assessments. Each condition contains 60 students. An external scoring team, unaware of classroom assignments, applied the same rubric.

The new-routine group included 18 multilingual learners; 7 of these students met the investigation-design benchmark. Of the other 42 students, 29 met the benchmark. Group-specific baseline design results have not yet been analyzed.

Document: Student work and assessment conditions

The design task required a plan for testing an unfamiliar claim, including a comparison condition and a way to control competing explanations. In both instructional conditions, many students identified variables correctly but changed several variables between comparison groups. In separate interviews, 12 students who made this error repeated the same design reasoning with familiar materials. Eight other students whose written responses lacked a comparison condition described a suitable comparison orally. These students had written correct variable labels. The interviews were purposefully selected to investigate different error patterns; they were not a representative sample.

The written task used a paragraph response format. Students could use the vocabulary glossary routinely available in class. Records linking glossary access, English proficiency, written omissions, and interview responses have not been assembled.