Learning progressions: significant promise, significant challenge

Over the past five years or so, the concept of alearning progression has gained traction in the United States (US) science education community. Learning progressions have been touted as a means of addressing a number of vexing and persistent problems facing science education in the US (and around the world). In particular, there is great excitement over the potential of learning progressions to provide much needed coherence to standards, curricula, and assessments. Although relatively new, this promising approach is already having a significant impact on the landscape of US science education. However, there are also concerns that this influence may be premature. A substantial challenge lies in the validation of learning progressions—how to ensure that these tools, which are rapidly being incorporated into policy and practice, have sufficient empirical justification. This paper discusses both the promise and challenge of work to validate learning progressions for use in science education reform.