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