MEAP ITEM WRITING

HST 400-Teaching History in the Secondary Schools

The Social Studies MEAP is composed of three basic types of test item: selected response, constructed response, and extended response. The three types are similar to the multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions with which you are familiar both from your high school and college test-taking, but there are some important differences as well. The selected responses, for example, are all related to a single prompt consisting of a passage about a given historical phenomenon. Questions require that students be able to draw on prior knowledge to interpret or contextualize the passage. Constructed responses include a prompt containing data which students must interpret to reach a conclusion, and which they must support by information included in or implied by the data. Extended responses consist of a set of data which students must use to develop a brief position paper on a controversial issue. These types of item, when written well, can be very powerful tools for assessing student mastery of targeted social studies knowledge and skills.

One of the most common and avoidable impediments to student success on the MEAPs is simple unfamiliarity with the types of item used. Teachers can help students overcome this disadvantage by simply constructing items that follow the same format. In doing so they can put some powerful assessment tools to work in their own classrooms.

This assignment asks you to create one constructed response and one extended response using historical data. The data need not be the same type used on the model assessment, but it should permit a student to perform a similar historical skill.

For the constructed response, you should include one sample of data that provides sufficient information for a student to draw a valid conclusion and offer support concerning some historical phenomenon addressed in your textbook chapter. A chart or table, a map, a document such as a letter or telegram, even a political cartoon would serve. The student must be able to draw a valid conclusion from the data presented, then offer one or two reasons supporting that conclusion.

For the extended response, you should include at least three sources of primary data on a disputed issue addressed in your textbook chapter. Data may include, but need not be limited to, summary charts, graphs, tables, documents (such as letters, treaties, speeches), or visual images, in any combination. A good data set will provide the student enough information to 1) take a position on the issue in question; 2) support the position with information from the data set; 3) support information with prior historical knowledge; 4) support the position using a Core Democratic Value; and 5) offer at least one refutation of a possible opposing point of view. In other words, they must be able to yield an essay response that meets all criteria laid out in the extended response rubric.

Items will be scored according to 1) how clearly they are phrased-can the student identify the issue and understand what will constitute a successful performance? 2) the significance of the historical issue or phenomenon-is it an important issue in the period addressed by your chapter? 3) the relevance of the data set to the question or issue posed-does it provide the student all the information they will need to perform the task successfully? 4) consistency with the MEAP model-does the item target significant skills in historical reasoning and persuasive writing? Can a student meet all 5 criteria in the extended response rubric?