Georgia Department of Education: Assessment and Scoring Instrument Report

Introduction

The academic area of Social Studies is an integral component of K-12 educational standards and curricula. However, in different states, departments of education determine their specific standards and curriculum requirements for this discipline (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). To ensure the correspondence of a formative assessment test with educational standards designed for high school students, the Georgia Department of Education was randomly selected.

Formative Assessment Instruction

A thematic educational category of the history of Egyptian society is coded as SSWH1 and included in the high school world history course in Georgia (Georgia Department of Education, 2015). Given the diversity of formative assessment forms (Gipe, 2014; Goldman & Pellegrino, 2015), a synthesis essay format was chosen to assess students’ skills and knowledge with the emphasis on the development of their creativity and critical thinking. This approach to formative assessment will allow focusing “on the faithful reconstruction of a specific historical period, event or process which happened in the past” (Mortara, Catalano, Bellotti, Fiucci, Houry-Panchetti, & Petridis, 2014, p. 319).

The instruction is formulated in the following way:

1. Synthesizing knowledge of ancient societies, explain and discuss factors contributing to the collapse of ancient Egypt from the historical, social, economic, political, and cultural perspectives.
2. Substantiate your explanations by choosing one of the following characters: an Egyptian pharaoh of the Thirty-First Dynasty, Herodotus, a vizier, a nomarch of one of the Egyptian provinces, an Isiac, a craftsman, or a farmer. Illustrate your statements from the viewpoint of a chosen character.
3. Provide specific examples, facts, data, and details by referring to the coursebook and appropriate, credible sources; at least two sources should be utilized for the synthesis of information.
4. The essay should consist of at least two pages and include an introduction, three to four body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Assessment Scoring Rubrics and Criteria

The scoring rubrics and criteria for this formative assessment are represented as a table (Table 1) in order to ensure an easily navigable format.

Table 1. Assessment Scoring Rubrics and Criteria

The final grading is based on summarized points (Table 2).

Table 2. Assessment Scale

Conclusion

Summing up, this formative assessment corresponds to the state standards and curricula. Its well-defined instruction and comprehensively explained grading criteria contribute to the applicability of this formative assessment test. After the completion of this test by students, a teacher will gain valuable insight into what should be done to enhance students’ academic performance and improve teaching and learning activities.

References

Georgia Department of Education. (2015). World history: Social studies Georgia Standards of Excellence (GES). Web.

Gipe, J. (2014). Multiple paths to literacy: Assessment and differentiation for diverse learners, K-12 (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Goldman, S. R., & Pellegrino, J. W. (2015). Research on learning and instruction: Implications for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2(1), 33-41.

Mortara, M., Catalano, C. E., Bellotti, F., Fiucci, G., Houry-Panchetti, M., & Petridis, P. (2014). Learning cultural heritage by serious games. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 15(3), 318-325.

U.S. Department of Education. (2017). Educational standards and curriculum. Web.