6th Grade Social Studies Essay Rubric
Leigha Keplinger
The link below leads to sample student papers for the Part III Civic Literacy Essay Question. It includes Part IIIA and Part IIIB of a new Civic Literacy Essay Question along with rubrics for both parts and an anchor paper and practice paper at each score point on a 5-point rubric. These materials were created to provide further understanding of the Part III Civic Literacy Essay Question and rubric for scoring actual student papers. Also included are Scoring Worksheets A and B, which can be used for training in conjunction with the practice papers. The 5-point scoring rubric is the same rubric used to score the Document-Based Question essay on the current United States History and Government Regents Examination.
There will be an increase in the number of cross-curricular informational passages that reference content aligned to the TEKS for other subject areas (e.g., social studies, science, mathematics, fine arts, etc.). While the cross-curricular passages on reading language arts (RLA) test will include topics from other subject areas, the questions will only assess RLA TEKS; students will not be scored on their understanding of TEKS for other subject areas.
Based on research and educator feedback, the essay component will shift from a standalone prompt to writing in response to a reading selection. Students will write in one of three possible modes: informational, argumentative, or correspondence and will be scored using a 5-point rubric. The rubric will include two main components: idea development and language conventions.
The Tennessee writing rubrics are designed to score the student responses from the writing portion of the TNReady assessment. Each rubric is aligned to the appropriate grade-level standards in the Writing and Language strands. Though the rubrics are not explicitly designed to be used as instructional resources, the department provides the writing rubrics in advance so that educators can prepare students for the writing portion of the TNReady assessment.
The Social Studies Contest consists of 45 objective questions and an essay. Students are expected to master primary reading selections, as well as specific documents, and to be familiar with general-knowledge social studies concepts and terms. Each year, the contest focuses on a different topic area and a reading list that is provided by UIL.
Below is what we created based upon the Common Core State Standards for History/Social Studies for 11-12th Grades. (Todd will be launching the rubric for the 9-10th grade on his blog later this week.)
Each online ILEARN assessment consists of a computer-adaptive test segment and a performance task, and fixed-form test segments for social studies and U.S. Government. Fixed-form tests are not adaptive and available only as an accommodation for students with formal accommodations.
Analytic rubrics are much more complex and generally take a great deal more time up front to design. They include specific details of the expected learning outcomes, and descriptions of what criteria are required to meet various performance ratings in each. Each rating is assigned a point value, and the total number of points earned determines the overall grade for the assignment.
Rubrics are multidimensional sets of scoring guidelines that can be used to provide consistency in evaluating student work. They spell out scoring criteria so that multiple teachers, using the same rubric for a student's essay, for example, would arrive at the same score or grade.
Great social studies and language arts teachers understand that open-ended assessment questions can have multiple correct answers, as long as they are supported with evidence. But some teachers struggle with how to grade these.
Cox shared multiple rubric templates for teachers to use in any grade. With a little customization, these rubrics can help teachers formulate rubrics that work for any type of open-ended question or assessment. The website, Teachers Pay Teachers, also has many free templates to help elementary teachers implement rubrics in their classroom.
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES (NCSS) first published national curriculum standards in 1994. Since then, the social studies standards have been widely and successfully used as a framework for teachers, schools, districts, states, and other nations as a tool for curriculum alignment and development. However, much has changed in the world and in education since these curriculum standards were published. This revision aims to provide a framework for teaching, learning, and assessment in social studies that includes a sharper articulation of curriculum objectives, and reflects greater consistency across the different sections of the document. It incorporates current research and suggestions for improvement from many experienced practitioners. These revised standards reflect a desire to continue and build upon the expectations established in the original standards for effective social studies in the grades from pre-K through 12.
The approach originally taken in these curriculum standards has been well received in the United States and internationally; therefore, while the document has been revised and updated, it retains the same organization around major themes basic to social studies learning. As in the original document, the framework moves beyond any single approach to teaching and learning and promotes much more than the transmission of knowledge alone. These updated standards retain the central emphasis of the original document on supporting students to become active participants in the learning process.
What Is Social Studies and Why Is It Important?
National Council for the Social Studies, the largest professional association for social studies educators in the world, defines social studies as:
What is the Purpose of the National Curriculum Standards?
The NCSS curriculum standards provide a framework for professional deliberation and planning about what should occur in a social studies program in grades pre-K through 12. The framework provides ten themes that represent a way of organizing knowledge about the human experience in the world. The learning expectations, at early, middle, and high school levels, describe purposes, knowledge, and intellectual processes that students should exhibit in student products (both within and beyond classrooms) as the result of the social studies curriculum. These curriculum standards represent a holistic lens through which to view disciplinary content standards and state standards, as well as other curriculum planning documents. They provide the framework needed to educate students for the challenges of citizenship in a democracy.
The themes represent strands that should thread through a social studies program, from grades pre-K through 12, as appropriate at each level. While at some grades and for some courses, specific themes will be more dominant than others, all the themes are highly interrelated. To understand culture (Theme 1), for example, students also need to understand the theme of time, continuity, and change (Theme 2); the relationships between people, places, and environments (Theme 3); and the role of civic ideals and practices (Theme 10). To understand power, authority, and governance (Theme 6), students need to understand different cultures (Theme 1); the relationships between people, places, and environments (Theme 3); and the interconnections among individuals, groups, and institutions (Theme 5). History is not confined to TIME, CONTINUITY, AND CHANGE (Theme 2) because historical knowledge contributes to the understanding of all the other themes; similarly, geographic skills and knowledge can be found in more than (Theme 3).
The thematic strands draw from all the social science disciplines and other related disciplines and fields of study to provide a framework for social studies curriculum design and development. The themes provide a basis from which social studies educators can more fully develop their programs by consulting the details of national content standards developed for history, geography, civics, economics, psychology, and other fields,2 as well as content standards developed by their states. Thus, the NCSS social studies curriculum standards serve as the organizing basis for any social studies program in grades pre-K through 12. Content standards for the disciplines, as well as other standards, such as those for instructional technology,3 provide additional detail for curriculum design and development.
Who Can Use the Social Studies Standards?
The social studies curriculum standards offer educators, parents, and policymakers the essential conceptual framework for curriculum design and development to prepare informed and active citizens. The standards represent the framework for professional deliberation and planning of the social studies curriculum for grades from pre-K through 12. They address overall curriculum development; while specific discipline-based content standards serve as guides for specific content that fits within this framework. Classroom teachers, teacher educators, and state, district, and school administrators can use this document as a starting point for the systematic design and development of an effective social studies curriculum for grades from pre-K through 12.
Teacher educators can use the standards to:
Guide the development of pre-service and in-service teacher education programs and courses;
Provide professional support for the advocacy of social studies;
Introduce pre-service and in-service teachers to the nature and purpose of social studies;
Enable pre-service and in-service teachers to plan instruction consistent with long-range purposes of social studies; and
Assess instructional planning and supervise the teaching of pre-service and in-service teachers.