Assessment Item Specialist, Science - Project Based Freelance Contributor (Remote, US)

Why You'll Love This Role:

As an Assessment Item Specialist for Science (Project Based Freelance Contributor), you will play a key role in expanding the Newsela Item Bank, ensuring students have access to high-quality, inquiry-based assessments. You will leverage your scientific expertise to create rigorous, standards-aligned content that helps educators deliver data-informed instruction. This role offers a collaborative, remote environment where your commitment to quality and scientific accuracy directly supports academic success in classrooms nationwide. You will enjoy the flexibility of a freelance contract while contributing to a platform that is a staple in K-12 digital learning.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Create original, standards-aligned Science assessment items, tasks, and stimuli that are precisely mapped to NGSS or state-specific standards.

• Transfer and format existing Science assessments and items from district and state sources directly into the Formative platform.

• Produce and configure technology-enhanced items (TEIs) within the platform, ensuring accurate metadata tagging and flawless technical functionality.

• Conduct systematic quality assurance reviews of Science content to ensure all items are unbiased, scientifically accurate, and meet strict editorial standards.

• Validate content alignment and cognitive rigor by accurately evaluating the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) for every assessment item.

• Provide expert platform feedback and recommendations regarding content tools and item bank features to continuously improve development workflows.

About You:

• You are a professional assessment author with at least one year of direct experience writing and reviewing Science assessment items on a commercial scale, such as for a reputable EdTech company, testing vendor, or educational publisher.

• You are an assessment methodology expert who possesses a comprehensive understanding of educational assessment design, including formative, common, and summative assessments.

• You are a standards and framework specialist with deep familiarity with NGSS and state-specific science frameworks, along with a proven ability to apply strict standards alignment principles.

• You demonstrate a mastery of rigor and Depth of Knowledge (DOK), allowing you to accurately classify and create items that meet specific cognitive rigor requirements.

• You are skilled in technical item production, bringing prior experience authoring technology-enhanced items (TEIs) and comfortably navigating digital assessment platforms.

• You exhibit editorial excellence through a thorough grasp of established style guides and best practices, including critical quality control elements such as fairness, bias, and accessibility.

• You are a reliable content producer with a proven track record of delivering high-quality work under tight deadlines with meticulous attention to detail.

• Legally authorized to work in the US.

Compensation:

• This role is compensated on a per-project basis, with rates scaled to the scope and complexity of the assigned work. Contributors are always provided with comprehensive project details and pricing upfront to review before accepting an assignment.

• Please note that given the nature of the position, this role will not be eligible to participate in company-sponsored benefits.

Why you’ll love working at Newsela:

• Work From Home: We are a fully remote company!

• Make A Difference: No matter your role or department, the work you do each day helps share the future of education and improves the lives of students and teachers.

About Newsela:

Newsela takes authentic, real world content from trusted sources and makes it instruction ready for K-12 classrooms. Each text is published at five reading levels, so content is accessible to every learner. Today, over 3.3 million teachers and 40 million students have registered with Newsela for content that's personalized to student interests, accessible to everyone, aligned to instructional standards, and attached to activities and reporting that hold teachers accountable for instruction and students accountable for their work. With over 15,000 texts on our platform and multiple new texts published every day across 20+ genres, Newsela enables educators to go deep on any subject they choose.

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