developing great social studies test items
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Developing Great Social Studies Test Items
Nancy Hester, RESC XIII
nancy.hester@esc13.txed.net
You should attempt to write these types of items to include on every test:
Lower Level Easy (LLE)
Lower Level Difficult (LLD)
Higher Level Easy (HLE)
Higher Level Difficult (HLD)
United States History - LLE
The policy of acquiring colonies and building empires is known as:
A. Isolationism
B. Industrialism
C. Anti-colonialism
D. Imperialism
United States History - LLD
Which of the following would describe the foreign policy of the U.S. immediately after the Spanish-American War?
A. Imperialism
B. Isolationism
C. Militarism
D. Socialism
United States History - HLE
Which of the following actions by the U.S. Government would have been endorsed by imperialists?
A. Building the Panama Canal
B. Granting independence to the Philippine Islands
C. Passing low protective tariffs
D. Reducing military forces
United States History - HLD
Imperialism : ________ :: Isolationism :________
A. Spanish-American War Period – 1920’s
B. Gilded Age – WWI Period
C. Spanish-American War – WWI Period
D. Gilded Age – 1920’s
Plan Your Test
70 % Easy to Medium30% Difficult50% Lower-Level Content50% Higher-Level Content
Test Specification Chart
Content
Obj. LLE LLD HLE HLD
1 / / //
2 // //
3 / //
Examples of Higher Level Stems
Which is an example of…..
Who would most likely have written (asked, said…) followed by a quote
Analogies
Fill in the missing part of this graphic organizer
Sequencing by Roman numeral
Who would have been helped by (law, invention, organization, reform)
Test Item Development
Direct word associations in the stem and distracterIndirect word associations in the stem and distracterTrue, but doesn’t fit the time period or specified geographic areaTrue, but not true in this case – doesn’t answer this particular questionAm I teaching and assessing in my classroom at the same level that is expected in the TEKS?
DistractersNever make a distracter a throw-awayIf you use ALL, none, or except, do not capitalize, italicize or use bold face.Make all distracters parallel (verb phrases, nouns, proper nouns, etc.)Do not let one distracter stick out farther than othersDo not repeat the same verbiage at the beginning of distracters. (They all had….They all had….)
Distracters
Be sure if you are asking for a generalization all of the distracters are, in fact, generalizations and not simple inferences or main ideas. This is true of all of the skills to be tested.Be sure there is not more than one plausible answer.Avoid “Best Answer”
Distracters
Distracters
Skills Prompts
Cause/EffectWhy did/would….?
If you removed…..?
Infer/ConcludeThe manufacturers must have…..
SummarizeWhich best describes…..?
Skills Prompts
What do you see? What does it mean?
See Mean
Skills Prompts
Low-Level Map SkillsDirectionKeyLocationIdentification of Physical Feature
High-Level Map SkillsCause/Effect - Impact of above on lifestyle, work, climate, war, commerce, culture
Skills Prompts
High-Level Map Skills, cont’d.Develop general conclusions supported by details from the map (You can tell by looking at this map that it must be [place] because……
Main Ideas/Summaries – break maps into parts; Describe and infer about each part…
Skills Prompts
Graphs, Charts and DataSimple to complex
Comparisons (more, less, most, least)
Conclusions/Generalizations (based on the data, you can tell that)
Predict from trends (line graphs)
Main Idea/Inference – What do you think this graph is about?
Skill Prompts
Graphs, Charts, and Data, continued….Make justified decisions based on data (I would prefer to open a business in [place] because….)
Connect cause/effect to trends or phenomena shown
Transfer information from one form to another (chart to graph)
Study Item Types
Study samples of items to get ideas. Include
PromptsGraphic OrganizersReadingsDirect Content Questions
Do not try to use one type of item over and over. Vary the stems.
Sources:
Jan Moberly, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Region 10 ESCKosovo War Crimes – http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest.htmlNational Archives and Records Administration – http://www.nara.govLibrary of Congress American Memories – http://www.loc.gov/ammemTexas A & M University Department of Education Empowerment Zone – http://empowermentzone.tamu.edu/MA/viewinfo.html?id=16
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