Subject: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 7 – 8, 10
Measures Growth: Yes
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The LAUSD Periodic Assessments are designed to measure student progress at intervals throughout the year, and are aligned to the California Standards Test. Periodic Assessments in history and social science are administered in grades 7, 8 and 10.
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Assesses higher-order thinking
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data
The Short Constructed Response section of this assessment requires students to interpret primary and secondary sources and respond to questions. This type of assessment measures students' ability to do historical thinking which is appropriate for 21st century skills. However, the 15 multiple choice questions are not. Just as the CST does, these questions measure students' ability to memorize and then strategize how to respond to a multiple choice question format, not higher order thinking.
Submitted by Leigh Ann in California on April 5, 2012
Pros: Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Not aligned to the standards I teach • Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer • Results returned quickly
Cons: Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
The first Quarterly assessment portrays the Founding Fathers as failures because they didn't fix the problem of slavery in the Constitution. The questions for the SCR all focus on slavery in the Constitution even though there are only four mentions of slavery in Madison's notes on the Convention and two of those were referring to the United States being slaves to Great Britain. It is a worthless assessment. This is a waste of everyone's time.
Submitted by Brent in California on March 14, 2012
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
If students take it seriously it is a useful predictor of how they will do on their CSTs, but many of the questions do not ask for higher level thinking. They focus mostly on recalling historical events. It has many of the flaws of the CST. The data is often times not returned in a time frame that would be useful for my teaching practice. Teachers must hand grade the written portion of the test which can be very time consuming for large classes.
Submitted by Vanessa in California on February 4, 2012
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