mam Trentis Social Studies Assessing Civic Discourse Walter C. Parker pencil assessments with perfor- mance assessments continues at full speed in social studies. Paper-and- pencil tests remain valuable, of course: even advocates of newer approaches recognize that these have their place in a student's portfolio. Such tests can help teachers gather data on how well students understand important concepts and their ability to recall key informa- tion, To most teachers and parents, this, kind of assessment matters Performance assessments serve a different purpose: They help teachers, find out whether and how well students can translate this knowledge into action (Airasian 1994). Here, students are asked to carry out a real task—for example, to map the play- ground, or to present a closing state- ment in a trial, In doing so, they use and apply information, understand- ings, and abilities in a specific context—for example, deciding where to locate a swing set, or persuading jurors to acquit Socrates. In combination, paper-and-pencil tests and performance assessments can provide rich information about student learning, I: trend to complement paper-and- Social studies teachers who are devel- oping performance assessments face two vexing problems: (1) the need to correlate assessment tasks with the curriculum, and (2) the need to devise scoring rubrics to determine how well students have performed. ‘The challenge in correlating the tasks with the curriculum is to make sure the assessment is not designed for its own sake, irrespective of the curriculum, but to help students and their teachers find out how well a [EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP —— rloUae Performance Criteria for Civie Discourse SUBSTANTIVE | (© States and identilies issues © Uses foundational knowledge © Stipulates claims or definitions O Elaborates statements with explanations, reasons, or evidence © Recognizes values or value conflict © Argues by analogy PROCEDURAL Positive (© Acknowledges the statements of otners © Challenges the accuracy. logic. relevance, or clay of statements Summarizes points of agreement | and disagreement O lmvites contrioutions trom others | _ Negative Makes irrelevant, distracting statements © Interrupts © Monopolizes the conversation ‘© Engages in personal attack students hae learned, or are learning, essential subject matter. This problem also arises with paper-and-pencil tests, of course; indeed, they are notorious for having little to do with valued curriculum objectives. As for devising scoring rubrics, the problem is to decide on both the criteria and the standards to be used in assessing student performance. Bear in mind that a rubric is “a predetermined set of criteria that will be used to score a student's performance” (McCollum 1994). The criteria, which correspond to performance standards, are the specific aspects of a task—the specific behaviors—that are most important to its successful completion. Standards are gradations of performance based oon that criteria. On a rating scale, each criterion inthe set will be worth three, four, or five points Oakland County's Approach Among the most valued outcomes of social studies curriculums is the students” ability to understand—and practice—democracy. To assess @ student's grasp of the concept of democracy—its history, variants, and the conditions that support it and undermine it—teachers can use tradi- tional paper-and-pencil tests. But how can teachers evaluate students” ability to put democratic principles into action? In particular, to discuss public issues in small hetero- geneous groups in a reasonable, informed, and civilized way—in other words, to engage in civie discourse? This is where performance assess- Some of the best work in using performance assessments 10 see how ‘good students are at civic discourse is being done in Oakland County, Michigan. County soc‘al studies specialists David Harris and Michael ‘Yocum identified 14 performance criteria (fig. 1) on which to assess students, 6 of which are substantive and 8, procedural. They then devel- oped a four-point rating scale (fig. 2), Students are given one score for the substantive criteria and another for the procedural criteriaFIGURE 2 Scoring Rubric for Assessit Civic Discourse | Exemplary (3) Weighs multiple perspec- Adequate (2) Demonstrates knowledge of ‘Minimal (1) Makes statements about Unacceptable (0) Remains silent, or tu tives on apolcy issue and important ideas related tothe ice that exprese only _contibutos no thought of = considers the public good; the issue, or explicit states personal attitudes, of his orher o#m, or makes | © crusesrelevantknowledge anissve forthe group to mentions a potentially only irelevant comments Z toanalyzeanisove:or consider or presente more important doa but does not = empoys a higher order than one viewpoint, or pursue itin a way that iscussion strategy, such supports @ postion with advances the group's S asargument by anaiogy, reasons or evidence. Understanding. ‘stipulation, or resolution of a valve contict. Engages in more thanone Engagesin an extended Invites contributions implic- Makes no comments “4 suslained interchange, or interchange with atleast ily or explicit, or esponds that facile dalogue, or summarizes and assesses ono other person, or para- constructively to ideas makes statomonts that | © me progress of he discus: ptvases important state- expressed by at loast one are prmarly nogative in 3 sion. Makes no comments ments as atranstion or other person, Tends not to character. tmat inhibit others contibu- summary, or aks another make negative statements S tons, end intervenes person for an explanation or | © onersdo is clarfcaton germane tothe discussion, Does not inhibit, ‘Teachers may assess students” performance based on these criteria by directly observing a small group discussion, or by videotaping the discussion for later viewing. Based on field tests Harris and Yocum conducted, they recommend a group of five or six students and a discussion that lasts 15-20 minutes. Before assessment can be mean- ingful, the learning target—civie discourse—must be clarified for both teachers and students. To help teachers use the rubric, inservice education is needed. Teachers then need to intro- duce the rubric to students Sixth grade teachers in Oakland others’ contributions County are using this scoring rubric to assess their students’ achievement of 1 of the 13 curriculum objectives for that grade: Students will participate constructively in substantive discussions of contempo- rary public issues faced by people living in Canada and Latin America, Eighth and eleventh grade Amer- an history teachers can use the same rubric for improving their students” ability to discuss public issues. It should also be a good resource for helping students think and talk about current events. ‘A detailed description of this rubric will appear in Handbook on Teaching Social Issues (Evans and Saxe), to be issued by the National Council for the Social Studies in 1996. m References Alrasian, P. W. (1994), Classroom Assess ‘ment, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill McCollum, S. L. (1994). Performance ‘Assessment in the Social Studies Class- ‘room. Joplin, Miss.: Chalk Dust Press, p. ld, Walter C. Parker is Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Washington, 122 Miller, DQ-12, Seattle, WA 98195, May 1995 a