Standard based assessment and reporting (sbar) in social studies

[Michael Kaechele]

I am planning to use sbar in my World History class in the fall. I am looking to connect with others who have used sbar in the social studies classroom who will share their successes and pitfalls.

 

I am also looking for people interesting in sharing their list of standards. Mine are a work in progress here.

[Mary Lou Buell]

I do standards reporting, but differently. My standards are the 13 "skills" that I keep assessing using different content that I teach. When I give a test each question has a note under it that explains what skill is being tested. When kids get their tests back they note their "skills progress" on a chart (honors kids keep chart in binders, I keep for lower level and hand back and collect as needed). It's really helped students see areas where they are weak...like identifying key historical people, or drawing on knowledge of history to understand a current world event. It gives them a sense of how to study better going forward. Looking at the skills makes them realize where they fell short and shows areas that they are successful at...no matter how poorly a student does there is usually at least one skill section that they mastered. Then I get to say to them "you can do well, but it's up to you to practice more in these areas."  The skills progress don't go on the report card, but I use them in parent conferences and they are very helpful when doing Ed assessments for IEP reviews.

 

Unfortunately, my shared drive at school isn't working today for me to copy you the list...and it's really too long to type, but hopefully soon I can show you what I mean.

 

Your list is what I would consider content...I've always been confused by the term standards in social studies frameworks....there are more of them than school days, how could you possible assess each one?  That's why I made my own, and consider standards to be the recurring themes that many different content areas could fit into. Perhaps, I am not being helpful at all...but I think your post is worthy of discussion.

[Michael Kaechele]

I like hearing your approach. My school assesses a few skills separately from content (work effort, communication, and collaboration are 10% each of total grade) and the content is 70%. I want to/need to assess them specifically on the content standards from my State, but I think you have a great alternative approach.

[Jamie Josephson]

Mary Lou - I'd love to see that list if you have access to it now. We're going to teach backwards from the Haitian Revolution to "world religions" so I think doing a skills list grading system would be awesome. Thanks!

[Miss Teacha]

@ Mary Lou,  do you mind sharing your 13 skills/documents associated with SBG?  I'm wanting to see how I could implement SBG in my classes this year.  my email is [e-mail]

[Penelope Millar]

I'm reviving this topic- is anyone using SBG in social studies that has more to share?

I like the idea of skills, it makes sense to me. I've long struggled to try and implement SBG (and actually gave up for a couple of years) because of exactly the problem that Mary Lou mentioned- how in the world do you assess all the standards? In VA my world class has 15 major standards, some of which have as many as 6 substandards.

[Mary Lou Buell]

I will look and see if I can find that old list. But I have to confess, you are bringing up a sore subject for me. After a decade on the job, I thought I have finally hit on a great system. The skills. the skill progress chart, etc. made the subject so much more meaningful for me and the students. I used the world history subject content to assess the overarching skills which were like "explain how economics is a driving force in history." So, it put events from the Opium War, to the Unification of Germany, to the Persian Gulf War into perspective. It really gave the students some direction and focus, instead of just learning "facts" about the events. It was a great way to generate discussions too. And the best part was that just like in life there were no "wrong" answers on tests, only unsupported answers.

Unfortunately, due to pressures from RTTT and the new evaluation system our department needed to standardize the curriculum. We have no state history test, and if we ever do get one it won't be in world history. So the department took a vote and my way lost out to multiple choice tests with questions copied from old NY state regents exams, and I believe the AP world history test. We also have new department "standards" with things like "attainment of rights" and "democracy" and "industrialization" which I don't mind as much, but there are only a few of them and they are broad it's hard for the students to really focus. We also have standardized essential questions which are great (well, ok...I had my own that I like better, but these are ok)---BUT the multiple choice tests don't really address the EQs. 

I really struggled last year, and am having a hard time this year getting my planning going. Sorry to be a downer, but I am not looking forward to another year of this curriculum and not being able to teach it how I want. I will go through my old files and see if I can find some helpful examples of what I used to do.

[Michael Kaechele]

Mary Lou,

Thanks for sharing your story. It is terrible, but I believe needs to be shared. Could I have permission to share this on my blog? I will quote you unless you would prefer to be anonymous. I think people need to hear the negative effects of standardization movement at the classroom level.

Thanks,

Mike

[Penelope Millar]

I'm sorry to hear that. I get so focused on the negatives of dealing with the standardized test that we have in almost every subject here in VA that I never thought of standardization in a place that doesn't have state history tests. Ugh.

[Ed McGovern]

Mary Lou, I just came across this old thread, and am sorry to hear that you lost out on something that you love and something that seems like it was a good measure of actual student learning and progression.

I think I might try to implement something similar to this since my colleagues and I keep coming back to he need to assess and work on social studies skills that come up over and over again, even if they aren't in the state standards (although I think you could argue they are a big part of the CCSS