LINKS TO ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT RESOURCES

The Office of Assessment at the Illinois State Board of Education, under the direction of John Craig, has produced two excellent Websites that are alternative assessment rubrics for social studies. While I advocate standards for learning, I am not endorsing what is being done in many states and districts in the development of endless lists of testable content that does not expect students to engage in decision-making, discussing current events and issues, or considering moral dilemmas and social relations (test your knowledge with the examples of the fourth or seventh grade test in IL). Nonetheless, the assessment approach below can be a worthwhile tool and I am proud that a number of colleagues from Illinois State University and Unit Five School District participated in the original development of the rubrics.

The first rubric is designed around the State of Illinois Goals for Social Sciences. It includes a rationale, guidelines for alternative assessment and critical thinking, as well as assessment items and student examples. The second rubric is designed around the National Standards for Geography and coordinated with the Illinois Goals. There are links to both of these as part of the rubric; it also includes assessment items and student sample responses.

Social Sciences Alternative Assessment

Geography Alternative Assessment

Any visitor to either assessment rubric would be welcomed to contribute multimedia samples of student work in response to a prompt and thus continue the development of this WWW site. Contact me through e-mail and I will coordinate things with John Craig's Office.

I also have developed rubrics that I use in my social studies course. One is a very detailed rubric that I use to get students thinking about the "details" of effective Websites for social studies. I also use this same rubric when evaluating student developed Websites. The other rubrics are used as scoring guides for assignments that are part of the Walkabout model around which I structure my course assignments.

Social Studies Website Rubric

Resource Box Rubric

Reading Response Rubric

Logical Inquiry Rubric

A finally, here's a rubric that teachers can use for those moments when a good laugh is needed.

Whining Rubric