1. Social Studies Not Left Behind
Large Scale Assessment Conference
June 18, 2007
Joann F. Prewitt
Preston Shockley
Delaware Department of Education
Sara Moshman
Metalogic, Inc.

2. Comprehensive Social Studies Assessment Project
Social Studies SCASS
Comprehensive Social Studies Assessment Project
CSSAP

3. Information About CSSAP
History/Background of Project
Evolution of Project
Learn about the Units
News and Updates

4. This project evolved from a discussion of the issues facing social studies in 2000.
Emphasis on teaching/assessing the recall of factual information rather than thinking and application
Standards used as topics of content to teach instead of concepts to understand
Textbooks used as the curriculum and often for the instructional strategies and the assessment
Limited or no use of technology as an instructional tool or resource
Assessments only at the end of a unit
Emphasis on assessment for grades instead of analysis of student work

5. Goal of the Project
Create a product to assist states and districts with the issues identified by the state members in 2000

6. Guidelines of the Project
Use research/best practices with a primary focus Alignment
Evidence
Integration
Create units that can be used for
Instruction of Students
Training of Educators
Supervisors of Curriculum
Teachers

7. How can districts align social studies assessment, curriculum, and instruction so that the level of expectation of the standards is reached?
How can these units be structured so they are deep in understanding, rich in resources, engaging for teachers and students, but are also clear and simple?
How can units be structured so that they are instruction-ready for the classroom and are also training tools for understanding alignment, evidence, and integration of best practices?

8. This session will show how a collaboration of states integrated research models for alignment, instructional scaffolding, and backward design of instruction and assessment to create a model for states and districts to use for alignment of formative and summative assessment, curriculum, and instruction to produce evidence of achieving the expectations of the standards.

9. Units can be used by the teacher in the classroom.
Units can be used for professional development.
Alignment
Backward Design
Scaffolding of Instruction
Integration of research models
Delivery of curriculum through technology
Use of technology in instruction
Formative assessment
Summative assessment
Use of transfer in assessment

10. Application of training and use of the units can lead to two key understandings.

11. Why is scaffolding important to instruction?
What is the relationship between formative assessment and summative assessment?
Why is alignment to a level of knowledge important to effective assessment?
Why is scaffolding important to instruction?
How does alignment of the assessment and scaffolding of instruction work together?

12. What evidence should summative assessments yield?
Why is analyzing student work important?
Why is collaborating with colleagues valuable in the process of analyzing student work?

13. To Help States Reach This Goal
Training is provided to state members
Professional Development Manual
Analysis of Student Work Model
Training products are online to state members
Future plans include adding student work and scoring commentaries to the online units

14. Design of the Units
Backward design model was used for the alignment and the structure/format of the units.

15. Planning and Designing Cycle

16. Levels/Depths of knowledge model was used with the assessments.
Level One
Recall of Information
Level Two
Processing/Basic Reasoning
Level Three
Complex Reasoning/Application

17. A level 3 summative assessment/transfer task that measures understanding will often ask students to:
Reason, think, and perform as geographers, historians, political scientists, and economists.
Solve problems, analyze issues, and make decisions.
Interpret and use social studies data.
Relate and connect events, people, places, and eras.
Provide evidence (historic, geographic, political, or economic) to support an answer.
Make predictions.
Explain why and how.

18. What are the levels of knowledge?
Assessment
What are the levels of knowledge?
How are the levels assessed differently?
How are the levels aligned to instruction at that level?
What happens to levels one and two when students are performing an assessment at level three?

19. DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE LEVELS
Recall of Information
Processing [of information]/Basic Reasoning
Complex Reasoning/Application
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 1

20. Scaffolding was used to build the instructional strategies.
How does the depth of knowledge for the assessment work with instruction?
This is an important question since alignment and integration of the best practices models are key guidelines for the project.
Scaffolding was used to build the instructional strategies.

21. Gathering Information Extending and Refining Meaning Application
SCAFFOLDING INSTRUCTION
Gathering Information
Extending and Refining Meaning
Application
STEP 3
STEP 2
STEP 1

22. Scaffolding of Instruction
What happens to steps one and two at step three?
What do the assessments look like at the different steps?
How might the strategies at each step be different?
What are the students being prepared for in the assessments at each step?

23. Key Understandings
How alignment has been used in
instructional strategies
formative assessments
How alignment and scaffolding
demonstrate integration

24. What is the source of the evidence? How should the evidence be used?
Key Understandings
What is evidence?
What is the source of the evidence?
How should the evidence be used?
When should the evidence be used?

25. Reasons for analyzing student work
To gain information about modifying the assessment
To gain information about modifying instructional methods
To gain information about the performance of students

26. Key Questions to be Answered
in the Design of Assessments
How is the evidence/information from the assessments at each step going to be used?
Should the evidence/information from each step be different?

27. Within the Instruction Cycle

28. Evidence Begins with the planning/design of the summative assessment
continues with the planning/design of the formative assessments
continues with the planning/design of the instructional strategies
continues with the analysis of student work and feedback

29. How do the units accomplish these goals?
What has been the role of our technology partner?
How will technology help the expansion of the project?