Completed: Dynamic Instruction for and Assessment of Developing Expertise

Principal Investigators: R.J. Sternberg, E.L. Grigorenko
Project Director: Nancy Fredine

Description: The aim of this project is to implement within the classroom an approach to assessing students' abilities that more closely integrates the assessment process with instruction. The approach is called Dynamic Assessment and it emphasizes the importance of assessing not only what students currently know but also what they are capable of achieving with instruction. Dynamic tests are different from conventional static tests because they are designed to measure students' ability to learn, in addition to what they have already learned (static assessment focuses predominantly on the measurement of already developed skills). For many reasons, dynamic tests have been found to reveal developing expertise in under-represented minorities around the world that is not revealed by conventional static tests. They have been shown to increase equity, fairness, and accuracy in the testing of abilities and achievement in diverse student populations.

Funding Agency: U.S. Office of Educational Research and Improvement
IRB Approval By: Yale University Faculty of Arts and Science Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects
Funding Period: 2001-2004
Award Amount: $509,997