Literacy and Social Studies Assessment

1. Literacy and Social Studies Assessment The Connection Between Reading, Writing, & Extended Response Items in Social Studies

2. Questions How are students doing in social studies? What is being asked of NYC students? Why focus on reading and writing in social studies? What is the link between literacy, social studies, and the health of our political system? What about all of the social studies content I have to cover? How do you engage students in social studies and literacy? • 2

3. How are students doing in social studies? • 3

4. Data on Student Performance & Social Studies Students are struggling with DBQs, thematic essays, source analysis, and other extended response items. Teachers are struggling to find time to teach all subjects. There is strong evidence that success on performance assessment in social studies leads to success in other areas. • 4

5. What is being asked of NYC students? • 5

7. Grade 8 – DBQ – Essay Guidelines In your essay, be sure to: Write about only two examples of technology Develop all aspects of the task Incorporate information from at least four documents Incorporate relevant outside information Support the theme with relevant facts, examples, and details Use a logical and clear plan of organization, including an introduction and a conclusion that are beyond a restatement of the theme • 7

9. Grade 5 – DBQ – Essay Guidelines In your essay remember to Write about the ways Peter Stuyvesant improved life in the Dutch town of New Amsterdam Include an introduction, a body, and a conclusion Use information from at least four documents in your answer Include details, examples, or reasons in developing your ideas • 9

10. What is being asked of students in Washington State? • 10

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13. OnePossible K-12 Scope & Sequence for Social Studies with CBAs • 13

14. You Decide – Excellent Position States a position on a public issue and concludes with a call to action. SampleI believe that we should not have to say the Pledge of Allegiance because of the “under God” part. We should write our school board so that they will tell teachers to tell students that they do not have to say the pledge. • 14

15. You Decide – Excellent Background Provides background on the issue by explaining: Three or more stakeholders’ positions on this issue. Sample Michael Neudow is against the Pledge because he is an atheist and he thinks his daughter should not have to say it just because she goes to public school. He also thinks the Pledge should not be said at all because of the “under God” part. • 15

16. You Decide – Excellent Reasons Reasons and evidence that includes: An explanation of how a right relates to the position on the issue AND An explanation of how the common good relates to the position on the issue. Sample The Bill of Rights says that the government cannot force people to follow one religion. The “under God” part of the Pledge forces people who don’t believe in God to deal with a religious belief. While I think we should all state a pledge together to show our unity and to build a stronger country, it does not have to have anything about God in it. • 16

17. You Decide – Excellent Sources Lists Sources including the title, author, type of source, and date of each source. Sample Klein, J. Is Neudow Right? Time for Kids. March 2003. • 17

18. Why focus on reading and writing in social studies? • 18

19. Literacy & History Wineburg Historical thinking is a powerful form of literacy that has the potential to teach us about text in ways that no other area of the school curriculum can offer • 19

20. Why integrate literacy and social studies? “75 percent of high school seniors never get a writing assignment from their history or social studies teachers.”

21. “The inability to distinguish between a myth and a grounded assertion about the past destroys the foundation for participatory democracy, because students will be susceptible to any outrageous story they may be told.” What role does analyzing sources in history play in promoting citizenship?Barton & Levstik

22. How do you engage students in social studies and literacy? • 22

23. Bellevue – Integrating Civics Into 5th Grade Writing • 23

24. Evergreen – Integrating Writing into Global History • 24

25. Engaging Programs We The People, History Day, Mock Trial, YMCA Youth in Government, Street Law, Youth Court, and several others link opportunities to develop students’ reading and writing skills while engaging them in social studies

26. Engaging Sites & Sources National Clearinghouse on Teaching History: www.teachinghistory.org Ben’s Guide: http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/election/index.html Center on Congress: http://www.centeroncongress.org/learn_about/launcher.htm Martha Ballard’s Diary: http://dohistory.org/diary/exercises/lens/index.html Diary of Opal Whiteley: http://intersect.uoregon.edu/opal/ • 26

27. Online Writing & Research Tools Thesis Builder: http://www.ozline.com/electraguide/thesis.html Awesome Highlighter: http://www.awesomehighlighter.com Note Taking: http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=722&title= • 27

28. Citations FREE • Knight Cite • http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/ • Oregon OSLIS Citation Maker • http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/secondary/index.php?page=citeSources • Citation Machine (Warlick) • http://citationmachine.net/ • Noodlebib Express • http://www.noodletools.com SUBSCRIPTION • Noodlebib • http://www.noodletools.com

29. Essay Map http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/essaymap/

30. Readability • Readability.info • Lexiles.com • Check readability in MS word

31. Questions? Feedback? • Caleb PerkinsSenior Academic OfficerEmpowerment Schools Associationcperkins@schools.nyc.gov347-497-2782

33. What is the connection between literacy, social studies, and the health of our political system? • 33

34. “The inability to distinguish between a myth and a grounded assertion about the past destroys the foundation for participatory democracy, because students will be susceptible to any outrageous story they may be told.” What role does analyzing sources in history play in promoting citizenship?Barton & Levstik

35. “…if Americans should ever find themselves coalescing around a single version of the past endorsed by the government, they are also likely to discover that they no longer have a democracy.” (Nash, Crabtree, & Dunn, 2000, p.xx, History on Trial)

36. Effects of No Child Left Behind – Center on Education PolicySurvey - July 24, 2007 Average change in instructional time in elementary schools since 2002 (minutes per week): Reading: +140 Math: +87 Social Studies: - 76 Science: - 75 Art: - 57 Gym: - 40

37. Recent Research on Civic Education (2008) Students who are more academically successful or white and those with parents of higher socioeconomic status receive more classroom-based civic learning opportunities. Schools appear to be exacerbatinginequality by not providing equal civic preparation to students in most need of civic skills and resources. (Kahne & Middaugh) • 37

38. What about all of the social studies content I have to cover? • 38

39. Essential Knowledge – Marzano, Kendall, & Gaddy It is time for educators and citizens to make hard choices about what is truly essential for students to learn. Schools cannot teach everything in depth. E.D. Hirsch’s lists are flawed because they value familiarity of knowledge over the significance of what students learn

40. Richard J. Paxton’s 2003 Meta-analysis of historical knowledge surveys:From 1917 to the present, students have answered approximately the same percentage of questions correctly on tests of history. How should we assess student’s understanding of social studies? “The biggest problem facing history students today involves the retention of decontextualized historical facts.” - Paxton

41. How should students learn civics? - CIRCLE Exposure to civics-related coursework is not enough to make more than a marginal difference for the vast majority of students. Far more important to predicting knowledge and discussion is whether students acquire a liking for the subject matter. • 41