Released Test Items: Grade 8 Social Studies

Released Test Items:

Sample Student Work Illustrating LEAP 21

Achievement Levels

July 2005

Grade 8

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President 3rd District Mr. Walter Lee Vice President 4th District Ms. Linda Johnson Secretary-Treasurer 8th District Ms. Penny Dastugue 1st District Ms. Louella Givens 2nd District Dr. James Stafford 5th District Ms. Polly Broussard 6th District Mr. Dale Bayard 7th District Mr. Edgar Chase Member-at-Large Ms. Leslie Jacobs Member-at-Large Ms. Mary Washington Member-at-Large Ms. Weegie Peabody Executive Director

For further information, contact Scott Norton or Claudia Davis

Division of Student Standards and Assessments 225-342-3406,[email protected]

225-342-3393, [email protected]

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Louisiana Educational Assessment Program for the 21st Century (LEAP 21)

GRADE 8 SAMPLE ITEMS AND STUDENT WORK

2004–2005

LEAP 21 is an integral part of the Louisiana school and district accountability system passed by the state legislature and signed into law in 1997. The

primary purposes of the accountability system are to raise expectations for achievement for all Louisiana public school students and to improve public education in the state.

In March 2005, students in grade 8 took LEAP 21 English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies tests. The test scores are combined with other relevant data to create school and district accountability scores, which serve as a means of measuring educational quality and improvement in educational programs over time.

This document is part of a series of materials meant to promote understanding of knowledge and skills students must have and the kinds of work they must produce to be successful on the LEAP 21. A list of other documents providing background and further information on the LEAP 21 tests can be found on the Louisiana Department of Education Web site at www.louisianaschools.net. LEAP 21 Reports

Louisiana’s grade 8 students are tested each year in March. Individual student, school, district, and state test results are released in phases in May and July. School and district accountability results are reported in the fall.

For LEAP 21, student scores are reported at five achievement levels: Advanced, Mastery, Basic, Approaching Basic,and Unsatisfactory. The percentage of

students scoring at each level is reported for individual schools, districts, and the state. General definitions for achievement levels are given on page 2. Specific definitions of achievement levels for the Social Studies test were published in the 2000 Released Items documents. The achievement level definitions for all content areas can be found on the Louisiana Department of Education Web site at www.louisianaschools.net. Click on the “Testing” link below the tabs at the top of the page, then on the “Achievement Levels” link at the left of the page.

LEAP 21

General Achievement Level Definitions

Achievement Level Definition

Advanced A student at this level has demonstrated superior_{performance beyond the level of mastery.}

Mastery A student at this level has demonstrated competency overchallenging subject matter and is well prepared for the next level of schooling.

Basic A student at this level has demonstrated only thefundamental knowledge and skills needed for the next level of schooling.

Approaching Basic A student at this level has only partially demonstrated thefundamental knowledge and skills needed for the next level of schooling.

Unsatisfactory A student at this level has not demonstrated thefundamental knowledge and skills needed for the next level of schooling.

Purpose of This Document

This document presents student work in the Social Studies test, which was completed as part of a LEAP 21 assessment. The document includes

multiple-choice and constructed-response items that exemplify what students scoring at specified achievement levels should know and be able to do. A discussion of each item highlights the knowledge and skills it is intended to measure, as well as strengths and weaknesses in the student work on the item. As you review the items, it is important to remember that a student’s

achievement level is based on his or her total test score (cumulative score for all questions in the test) in a content area,not on one particular item or section, and that sample items included in this report represent a small portion of the body of knowledge and skills measured by the LEAP 21 tests. Additional items will be released in future years of the LEAP 21.

Social Studies

The grade 8 LEAP 21 Social Studies test is composed of sixty multiple-choice and four constructed-response items. A student earns one point for each correct answer to a multiple-choice item and from 0 to 4 points for the answer and work shown for each constructed-response item.

The general scoring rubric for constructed-response items is:

Score Description

4

S The student’s response demonstrates in-depth understanding of the relevant content and/or procedures.

S The student completes all important components of the task accurately and communicates ideas effectively.

S Where appropriate, the student offers insightful interpretations and/or extensions.

S Where appropriate, the student uses more sophisticated reasoning and/or efficient procedures.

3

S The student completes most important aspects of the task accurately and communicates clearly.

S The student’s response demonstrates an understanding of major concepts and/or processes, although less important ideas or details may be overlooked or misunderstood.

S The student’s logic and reasoning may contain minor flaws.

2

S The student completes some parts of the task successfully. S The student’s response demonstrates gaps in conceptual

understanding.

1 S The student completes only a small portion of the task and/or_{shows minimal understanding of the concepts and/or processes.} 0 S The student’s response is incorrect, irrelevant, too brief to_{evaluate, or blank.}

Note: It is important to recognize that score points for constructed-response items and LEAP 21 achievement levels do not share a one-to-one

correspondence. For example, it should not be assumed that a student who scores at the Advanced level in the test has earned a score of 4 on each constructed-response item.

It is possible for a student to earn a total of 76 points on the grade 8 LEAP 21 Social Studies test. The number of raw score points that a student would have to achieve to reach each achievement level may change slightly from year to year given the difficulty of that particular form of the test. The spring 2005 raw score range for each achievement level is listed on the following page.

Spring 2005 Social Studies Test, Grade 8

Achievement Level Raw Score Range

Advanced 68 – 76 points

Mastery 55 – 67 points

Basic 36 – 54 points

Approaching Basic 28 – 35 points Unsatisfactory 50 – 27 points

The following section of this document presents four multiple-choice items, one from each of the four strands in the social studies assessment

framework—Civics, History, Economics, and Geography.In addition, the items were selected because they illustrate results from four of the five

achievement levels used to report LEAP 21 results—Advanced, Mastery, Basic, and Approaching Basic.Examples of Unsatisfactorywork are not included; by definition, work classified as Unsatisfactoryexhibits a narrower range of knowledge and skills than work classified as Approaching Basic. In addition, one constructed-response item with its scoring rubric and sample student responses at score points 0 to 4 is included. Each student response is annotated to explain how the score was derived and the strengths and weaknesses of the response.

This section of the document presents items that students completed as part of a LEAP 21 assessment. The information shown for each item includes

S the correct answer,

S the achievement level or score point,

S the standard and benchmark each item measures, and S commentary on the skills/knowledge measured by the item.

Note: Items may have been reduced in size for this document. Font size on the LEAP 21 assessment is typically 12 point.

Grade 8—Social Studies Multiple-Choice Items

Strand: Civics

Benchmark C-1D-M1: Explaining the meaning of citizenship and the

requirements of citizenship and naturalization in the United States

Achievement Level: Advanced

*

A naturalized citizen of the United States is a person who

A. was born in the United States or on United States soil.

B. has legally become a United States citizen.

C. was born abroad to parents who are United States citizens.

D. has come to the United States to work permanently.

* correct answer

This Civics item would most likely be answered correctly by students who are at the Advanced level. The standard it measures requires students to explain the requirements for citizenship and for naturalization. The Constitution provides a means by which persons not born in the United States can achieve citizenship. This item requires the students to recognize the specific

circumstances leading to naturalization among several examples of United States residency and/or citizenship.

Strand: History

Benchmark H-1B-M6: Explaining the causes and course of the American Revolution and the reasons for the American victory Achievement Level: Mastery

Put the number for each of the following events in the correct box on the time line below to help answer the following question.

1. The American Revolution began.

2. The British passed the Stamp Act in 1765.

3. The colonies signed the Declaration of Independence.

4. The colonists protested against British laws by throwing tea into Boston Harbor.

Which answer below lists the four events in the correct chronological order? A. 2, 3, 1, 4 B. 2, 4, 1, 3 C. 2, 1, 4, 3 D. 2, 1, 3, 4

*

This History item would most likely be answered correctly by students who are at the Mastery level and above. The standard it measures requires students to explain the causes and course of the American Revolution. The item’s visual stimulus is a timeline of several events in the thirteen original colonies. Students must use their historical knowledge as well as apply the concept of cause and effect to determine the correct sequence of events.

Strand: Economics

Benchmark E-1C-M1: Explaining the meaning of economic indicators that help to describe economics

Achievement Level: Basic

*

When a news report says that the consumer price index has risen, it means that the

A. stock market has experienced a profitable period. B. cost of many goods and services has increased. C. gross domestic product has decreased.

D. economy has experienced deflation.

* correct answer

This Economics item would most likely be answered correctly by students who are at theBasic level and above. The standard it measures requires students to recognize and apply economic indicators to explain the role of supply and

demand in a competitive market system. The item’s stem establishes a scenario within which such an indicator—the Consumer Price Index—has risen. The item measures the students’ ability to identify the cause of this rise.

Strand: Geography

Benchmark G-1A-M1: Identifying and describing the characteristics,

functions, and applications of various types of maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies

Achievement Level: Approaching Basic

Use the graph below to answer the following question.

Which featuremustbe added to the Louisiana map to make the information it presents understandable?

*

B. a distance scale C. a compass rose D. a date

* correct answer

This Geography item would most likely be answered correctly by students who are at theApproaching Basic level and above. The standard it measures

requires students to identify and describe the characteristics of geographic representations. The item’s stimulus is a product/resource map of Louisiana. Students answering the question must identify which map tool must be added in order to make the map usable. The legend, or key, explains the symbols used to represent information on a map.

Grade 8—Social Studies Constructed-Response Item

A social studies constructed-response item for a LEAP 21 test may require students to write an extended answer in response to a question, direction, or other prompt. Frequently, constructed-response items are multipart items; in addition to writing, students are asked to work with graphics or other

materials.

The item, scoring rubric, and sample student responses are shown on the following pages. Student responses at each score point (0 to 4) are annotated to explain how each score was derived and the strengths and weaknesses of the responses.

Strand: Geography

Benchmark G-1A-M2: Interpreting and developing maps, globes, graphs, charts, models, and databases to analyze spatial distributions and patterns

A. Choosetwoof the resources that are important to Louisiana’s economy and write them in the space below.

B. For each resource you listed, explain the geographic factors that make it possible for the resource to be produced or collected.

C. Identifyonenon-renewable resource from the chart.

Scoring Rubric

Score Description

4

The response accurately identifies two resources from the map (part A) AND

thoroughly explains two geographic factors that make the production of them possible (part B)

AND

correctly identifies one non-renewable resource from the chart (part C) AND

correctly states a way in which non-renewable resources in Louisiana can be preserved (part D).

3 The response correctly answers three parts of the question.

2 The response correctly answers two parts of the question.

1 The response correctly answers one part of the question.

0 The response is incorrect, irrelevant, or too brief to evaluate. Scoring Notes:

Maximum points to be awarded per section:

Part A—no points awarded for this section but it must be completed in order to get a total score point of 4. Also, if the student does not answer part A but identifies the resources in part B, the maximum total the student can receive shall be a score point of 3 if all of the other parts are correct.

Part B—2 points Part C—1 point Part D—1 point

Possible responses (not inclusive): Part B

Geographic factors include:

Location, climate (temperature, precipitation), landforms, and bodies of water Part C

Non-renewable resources from the chart include: Natural gas, oil, salt, sulphur

Part D

All parts of the question have been accurately answered. Part A accurately identifies “sugarcane” and “seafood” as two resources from the map. Part B earns 2 points for thoroughly explaining two geographic factors that make the production of sugarcane and seafood possible (bodies of water for catching seafood and fertile soil for growing sugarcane). Part C earns 1 point for correctly identifying one non-renewable resource from the chart (“sulphur”), and part D receives 1 point for correctly stating a way that Louisiana can preserve its non-renewable resources (“find positive alternatives”).

This response correctly answers three parts of the question. Part A identifies “rice” and “sugarcane” as two resources from the map, but since no points are awarded for answering part A, parts B and D earn the 3 points in this

response. Part B earns 2 points by thoroughly explaining two geographic factors that make the production of rice and sugarcane possible (rich soil/proximity to water for growing rice and fertile, flat land for growing

sugarcane). Part C receives no credit because it incorrectly identifies tobacco as a non-renewable resource. Finally, part D receives 1 point for correctly stating a way that Louisiana can preserve its non-renewable resources (“not sell as much . . . and store them away”).

Score 2

Two parts of the question are answered correctly in this response. Part A identifies “beef” and “rice” from the map, but the response to part B gets no

Score 1

In this response, only one part of the question is correctly answered. Part A receives no points, and part B receives no points because it is irrelevant. In part C, 1 point is received for identifying “salt” as a non-renewable resource. Part D does not receive credit because the response does not address the question posed.

Score 0

Louisiana Department of Education Office of Student and School Performance Division of Student Standards and Assessments