Investigating the alignment between the fourth-grade Lebanese science curriculum and classroom assessments -

Abstract

This study focused on the alignment between summative assessments and the Lebanese curriculum. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to investigate the alignment between the fourth-grade summative classroom assessments and the fourth-grade ‘Matter and Energy’ unit in the Lebanese science curriculum using: content and cognitive level. Summative assessments regarding the science unit ‘Matter and Energy’ were collected from a sample of 17 schools (5 public and 12 private) for analysis. The alignment between the classroom assessments and the Lebanese science curriculum were examined using three instruments: Curriculum Coding Sheet (CCS), Items Coding Sheet (ICS), and Item Analysis Sheet (IAS). The curricular learning objectives were used for matching the test items to the learning objectives in terms of content. The cognitive levels in Bloom’s original taxonomy were used to first classify each learning objective to a cognitive level, and then match the cognitive levels of test items to the cognitive level of learning objectives and assess the alignment between them both. Findings showed moderate content alignment; further analysis revealed that public schools had higher content alignment than private schools, and they also covered a wider range of topics than private schools. In terms of cognitive level, there was a low alignment between the assessments collected in the study and the curriculum; however, there were items that were higher in cognitive level compared to the cognitive level of the learning objective they were matched. Recommendations for curriculum developers and future research are discussed in light of these findings.