Government High School Assessment: BCR Writing

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GovernmentHigh School Assessment BCR Writing

• Governors Academy for American Government

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Objectives

• Train accomplished educators to write fair,
  valid, and accurate constructed response items
• Prepare teachers to practice and then edit their
  own BCRs after using and collecting student
  responses

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Key Words

• Clangcues or inferences within an item or with
  other items
• Constructed Responseitems requiring students to
  compose written answers, either BCRs or ECRs

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Key Words (continued)

• Selected Responsemultiple choice items with one
  correct answer and three distracters
• Stemwhere the question or problem is stated
• Stimulusa reading or graphic that precedes an
  item

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Items on a large-scale assessment have to be
valid, fair, and accurate.

• Valida question actually measures what it claims
  to measure
• Fairall students have an equal opportunity to
  answer a question correctly
• Accuratea question has only one clearly correct
  answer

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How do MSDE and ETS ensure that a large-scale
assessment item is valid, fair, and accurate?

• Expert Item Writers
• Reviews by ETS
• Reviews by MSDE
• Content Committee Review
• Bias and Sensitivity Committee Review
• Field Testing
• Item Statistics

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Expert Item Writer

• Experienced Teacher
• Participated in Training Successfully
• Attended training workshop
• Practiced writing and editing items
• Read key documents

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What are the difficulty levels of an item

• Item difficultymeasured by P-value, an objective
  statistic easily measured
• Cognitive difficulty levelestimated by writers
  and consultants, subjective based on one of many
  taxonomies

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Cognitive Levels

• Low
• Knowledge define, identify, quote, recall, list
• Comprehension compare, describe
• Medium
• Analysis explain, summarize, construct, cause
  and effect
• High
• Synthesis arrange, create, plan
• Evaluation judge, grade, weigh, evaluate, assess

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What Are Some Differences Between Large-scale and
Classroom Assessments?

• Higher Stakes vs. Lower Stakes
• End-of-Course Test vs. Unit Test
• Bias Issues
• Sensitivity Issues

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Constructed Response (CR) Items

• Brief Constructed Response (BCR) items
• Students have approximately 6 minutes to complete
  a BCR
• Extended Constructed Response (ECR) items
• Students have approximately 25 minutes to
  complete an ECR

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Format for a BCR

• Read the information below and use it to
  complete the BRIEF CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE that
  follows.
• Directly ask students for information or an
  explanation.
• Ask a higher-level cognitive question.
• Remind students to Include details and examples
  to support your answer.

Stimulus
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Examine this sample BCR written in the old format

• Describe situations in which freedom of
  expression may be legally limited.
• Explain why limiting freedom of expression is
  justified in each of the situations you
  described.
• Include details and examples to support your
  answer.

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SOCIAL STUDIES RUBRIC--REVISION 6/01 Level
4   This response shows understanding of the
content, question, and/or problem. The response
is insightful, integrates knowledge, and
demonstrates powerful application. --The
application shows powerful evidence of higher
order thinking skills. --Concepts are accurate
and well supported. --There are no
misconceptions. --The response is
comprehensive.   Level 3   This response shows
some understanding of the content, question,
and/or problem. The response includes
appropriate application that demonstrates
evidence of higher order thinking skills. --The
application shows some evidence of higher order
thinking skills. --Concepts are accurate and
supported. --There are no interfering
misconceptions. --The response may not develop
all parts equally.   Level 2   This response
shows knowledge of the content, question, and/or
problem. The response is acceptable with some
key ideas. The response shows little or no
evidence of application.   --The response
includes some basic ideas. --The response
provides little or no support. --There are
minimal misconceptions.   Level 1   This response
shows minimal knowledge of the content, question,
and/or problem. The response is related to the
question, but it is inadequate.   --The response
includes incomplete or fragmented ideas or
knowledge. --There may be significant
misconceptions.   Level 0   The response is
completely incorrect or irrelevant. There may be
no response.  
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What do the score points look like?

• Score Level 0
• The response is completely incorrect or unrelated
  to the question/topic.
• Can state I agree, I disagree or yes and
  No.
• Restates the question rewording the prompt

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• Score Level 1
• Minimal basic knowledge
• Can be one-word statements or fragmented
  sentences that relate to the question or topic.
• May have incorrect information or basis of the
  argument is flawed with support for incorrect
  information (significant misconceptions)

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• Score Level 2
• Basic knowledge with supporting facts.
• Can have minor misconceptions.
• Little or no evidence of application. There may
  be HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), but they
  are not developed.

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• Score Level 3
• Response shows understanding.
• Applies information to a new situation
  developing the HOTS.
• There are no interfering misconceptions.

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• Score Level 4
• Response shows understanding and comprehension of
  the problem or topic.
• Applies information to a new situation
  developing the HOTS in a powerful way.
• There are no misconceptions or statements that
  are untrue or inaccurate.

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Read the excerpt below and use it to complete the
BRIEF CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE that follows.  
  Describe how the excerpt shows the concept of
due process.   Explain the importance of due
process to a democratic society.   Include
details and examples to support your
answer.   Write your answer on the lines in your
Answer Book.
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Answer Cues outlines clear procedures, appeal
process, government decision protects property
ownership, checks on government decisions,
government cannot do whatever it wants   Sample
Response The Land Use Statutes illustrate the
concept of due process by showing the steps that
can be taken by people unhappy with a
commissions decision. It explains what decisions
will be made by which commission and then
describes the appeal process. The constitutional
protection of due process is important because it
guarantees that the government cannot do whatever
it wants, whenever it wants. Only the designated
commissions can make decisions regarding land
use, not someone else. Also, there is a check
provided against the abuse of power by the
commission in the appeal process. This guarantees
that the government will not arbitrarily take
citizens property.
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Read the excerpt below and use it to complete the
BRIEF CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE that follows.  
  Explain how local government policies can
affect land usage.   Analyze why local
government is concerned with land usage.
  Include details and examples to support your
position.   Write your answer on the lines in
your Answer Book.
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Answer Cues government policy can restrict
housing developments and the impact of urban
sprawl, protect natural resources and land from
development and possible pollution affect
economic development change zoning laws for
businesses and buildings limit the size, use,
and location of buildings and land local
government is concerned with land usage to
control over development and urban sprawl, to
protect the environment from pollution and
exploitation, to help the local economy, to
collect property taxes, to minimize the impact of
population growth in a town or to maintain the
quality of life of a community   Sample
Response The government can affect land usage in
many ways. For example, the government can limit
through laws and regulations the amount of
housing developments and roads that are built in
a community in order to prevent overcrowding,
traffic congestion, and the negative impact of
urban sprawl. Governments should be able to
protect both the people of a community and the
communitys natural resources. Local governments
have a responsibility of regulating land use and
making sure citizens use land properly. Local
governments should be concerned with the effects
of urban sprawl and population growth. If this
occurs, the government must decide how it will
develop roads and allow businesses and homes to
be built. At the same time, the government must
make sure that the environment is protected and
pollution does not damage the air and water
supplies. Local governments do not want their
citizens, many who will vote in local elections,
to be upset by developing land in a certain way.
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Checklist for Constructed Response ItemsDo the
items

• Elicit a full range of responsesfrom minimal to
  complete?
• Include a model response (with a score of four)
  and answer cues?
• Use stimulus?

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Do the items

• Tell students clearly what they are being asked
  to do?
• Scaffold the questions or tasks (have bullets
  that build upon each other)?