Surfacing Brilliance Through Meaningful Science Assessment
Shifting Practice to Reflect Today's Students and Today's Standards
- Aneesha Badrinarayan - Learning Policy Institute
Science education is evolving–and our assessments should, too.
The Next Generation Science Standards and similar standards based on A Framework for K-12 Science Education ushered in a bold vision focused on figuring out phenomena and problems, sensemaking that mirrors how scientists work, and real-world relevance. Although instruction has started to shift, assessment has too often lagged behind—failing to capture or support the depth, complexity, and creativity of meaningful science learning.
Surfacing Brilliance Through Meaningful Science Assessment: Shifting Practice to Reflect Today’s Students and Today’s Standards is the essential guide for educators and leaders ready to rethink how we understand, evaluate, and support K-12 science learning. Written by Aneesha Badrinarayan, a leading voice in science education and assessment, this book offers a clear roadmap for designing assessments that surface the brilliance of young people in ways that are meaningful, equitable, and grounded in the lived realities of today’s classrooms.
Drawing on four core priorities—sensemaking, relevance, assets, and opportunity—this book empowers educators to move beyond traditional tests to create assessments that reveal what students truly understand and can do.
Bridging cutting-edge research and practical implementation, this book offers:
- Concrete strategies for using phenomena, problematizing strategies, and purposeful prompts to drive authentic sensemaking
- Frameworks and tools to develop relevant, asset-based assessments that reflect students’ strengths and experiences and are specific to a given classroom context
- Approaches to using data for targeted feedback and deeper learning
- A forward-looking chapter on how to meaningfully integrate AI into science assessment in an age of rapidly evolving technology
Whether you’re a K–12 teacher, instructional leader, or assessment designer, Surfacing Brilliance Through Meaningful Science Assessment will transform how you think about using assessment to understand, evaluate, and support student learning. This guide ensures that educators and leaders assess students in ways that center student brilliance, embrace innovation, and inspire learners to achieve ambitious learning goals in science.
Surfacing Brilliance Through Meaningful Science Assessment is the assessment guide we’ve been waiting for. Aneesha Badrinarayan offers a clear, compassionate, and visionary roadmap for designing assessments that affirm student brilliance, honor cultural assets, and spark real sensemaking. Grounded in both research and practice, this book translates equity into action—making it an essential companion for educators, leaders, and developers who believe science learning should be rigorous, relevant, and relentlessly student-centered.
This book is grounded in 'the fierce belief that all students are capable of brilliance.' Badrinarayan’s passion, expertise, and humility shine through her writing. She expertly balances providing practical strategies for assessment design and carefully crafted opportunities for deep personal reflection. Her thoughtful approach to assessment inspires educators to see and nurture the potential in every learner.
This book is an essential resource for anyone involved in designing science assessments. It presents a clear, accessible approach that makes complex concepts easy to understand and apply. Unlike other resources, it bridges the gap between theory and practice, offering valuable insights and practical strategies for realizing a better future for students through improved assessment practices. A must-read for science educators and designers.
Rooted in how we learn, Badrinarayan masterfully weaves together research, practical tips, classroom scenarios, design examples and non-examples in a book that is sure to become a foundational text for assessment developers, teachers, and anyone interested in creating meaningful learning experiences. Anchored in science, Badrinarayan's advice will engage, push, and excite anyone working to understand and build upon student's brilliance.
After years of wrestling with science assessments, this book is the one-stop shop we’ve all been waiting for. Whether you’re designing tests, analyzing data, or looking to make assessments more equitable and engaging, this book covers it all. Packed with actionable insights, real-world examples, and practical tools, it’s the ultimate guide to transforming every aspect of classroom science assessments. If you’re serious about improving science education, start here!
Badrinarayan is somehow both visionary and practical in ways that will challenge the reader and help them to advance their practice forward. This book will serve as an anchor point as we claw our way forward toward better teaching and learning experiences for all students.
Surfacing Brilliance Through Meaningful Science Assessment is Aneesha Badrinarayan’s “love letter to science assessment,” and it is a refreshing and insightful read. Based on her two decades of expertise, she proves science assessment can be meaningful for students and approachable for educators. Her book will help science educators better understand assessment systems for the Next Generation Science Standards, including innovative uses of GenAI, and put this knowledge into practice.
Given contemporary expectations for students’ science achievement, no one has thought more deeply about science assessment design and use than Badrinarayan. She elevates the discussion by emphasizing the role of assessment in surfacing student brilliance. She details what that implies and the many challenges that need to be overcome to attain that vision, while simultaneously providing examples of tasks and design principles to advance the effort.
This book is designed to impact how we surface brilliance in our students, and I think at the same time it helps surface brilliance in its readers, making it both immediately useful and something educators will come back to again and again to spur important conversations about what science assessment can and should be now and into the future.
This book shows what high-quality three-dimensional science assessment can and should be. In doing so, it sets the standard for all future development efforts. It summarizes, synthesizes, and builds on the varied efforts in the field, including the authors’ own pioneering work. This book is a must read.
Sample Materials & Chapters
Badrinarayan Surfacing Brilliance Through Meaningful Science Assessment_Look Ins
