Toward a Systematic Evidence-Base for Science in Out-of-School Time: The Role of Assessment
The Program in Education, Afterschool, and Resiliency (PEAR) has published a new report that reviews the state of assessments in informal, afterschool, and summer science programs. Funded by the Noyce Foundation, the report, Toward a Systematic Evidence-Base for Science in Out-of-School Time: The Role of Assessment (87 pages, PDF), found a need for foundations and leaders in the field to support the creation of valid and reliable assessment tools that can be used across programs. The report also advocates for the development of a quantitative tool consisting of student surveys to assess participant outcomes and an observation-based "qualitative-quantitative" tool to assess program quality.
