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This proof of concept study investigated a secondary science teacher preparation intervention in six university programs across Arizona, California, and Texas. Researchers and science method instructors (SMIs) collaboratively restructured respective science method courses to hold fidelity to an interrelated set of instructional practices that attend to science learning as envisioned in a Framework for K-12 Science Education, while also creating contextualized spaces for language and literacy development targeted to English learners (ELs), but also supportive of "mainstream" students. We observed the teaching of SMIs and preservice teachers (PSTs) with observation rubrics to gauge the fidelity to which they implemented practices. Across programs, SMIs provided opportunities for PSTs to experience the instructional practices as intended, although there was less opportunity for pedagogical development around them. The strongest evidence of PST fidelity to the intervention was found for two practices: "Increasing student interaction" and "Facilitating student talk." Considerable variation was found across the programs for other practices including some evidence of negative effects. We discuss results in terms of promises for preparing novice secondary science teachers, as well as future directions to overcome challenges that researchers, SMIs, and novice teachers are likely to face when preparing novice science teachers.

Science performance assessments (SPAs) are designed to elicit a wider range of scientific knowledge and abilities than ordinarily measured by more traditional paper-and-pencil tests. To engage in SPAs and thus demonstrate abilities such as scientific inquiry, students must interact with various participants and communicate in a variety of ways. Using an analytical framework that draws on functional and interactional views of language, we analyzed video footage of one SPA, "The World Down Under," enacted in three fifth-grade classrooms. The video analysis revealed a wide variety of language demands that students encountered during the SPA, including a range of participant structures (whole class, small group, and individual), communicative modes (interpreting language, presenting language, and engaging interpersonally), and 18 different texts. Moreover, the language demands differed by classroom. A closer look at two video episodes illustrated how this more expansive communicative context afforded two English Learners (ELs) with opportunities to navigate the language demands of the assessment. However, the same language demands could present challenges for ELs with lower levels of English proficiency. The findings contribute to science education by bringing attention to the nature and role of language in SPAs, which has only begun to be described in the literature.