Social Studies AIR Testing - Stefanie Hatfield

Recently, ODE decided to remove the 4th and 6th grade SS AIR test requirement. This is not the first time they have done this - back in the OAA days, 6th grade students were required to take a social studies standardized test but it was eliminated to save costs (along with the 4th grade writing test).
When those tests were eliminated, the focus on social studies instruction in many schools dropped dramatically. Because of the high stakes associated with the reading and math tests (and to some extent the science, though not as much), schools, especially elementary schools, began to focus almost completely on those subjects, leaving social studies to be taught "when there's time".  As a result, I saw students going in to middle and high school with a significant lack of background knowledge needed to be successful in high school social studies courses.
I worry that the same will happen again, now that Ohio has once again eliminated the test.  While I don't agree with the exorbitant amount of testing our students go through, I wonder how we can continue to ensure students gain the background knowledge needed without the high-stakes testing to drive us there. I have seen teachers use informational text to teach reading/ELA skills while learning about the social studies concepts, but not often enough to quell my worry.  Has anyone seen a successful program or curriculum that does this?

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 9, 2017 at 6:16 PM

    Hey Stefanie, I definitely understand the plight of social studies as a former HS history/government teacher....it was always hard to feel like my class/subject was "as important" as math and ELA when the state didn't even bother to have a common assessment for it. The recent changes for Ohio communicate a lot of the same. I agree that reducing assessments and testing for students overall is important, but it can bring unintended consequences, especially as non-tested classes get pushed more and more to the side.

    As for your question about ELA-heavy social studies curricula or programs, one that came to mind for me was the DBQ project. I'm not sure if you're familiar, but the DBQ (Document Based Questions) was a really cool resource that helped students use sources to respond to questions and write strong responses using textual references, etc. It definitely incorporated a lot of ELA skills....I used them a lot in my classes, as they were considered the gold standard of social studies response questions.

    https://www.dbqproject.com/

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