Building a New Document-Based Assessment for Historical Thinking

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: Classroom Assessment Research and Practice

Abstract

In recent years, history education scholars have attempted to design assessments that capture disciplinary historical reasoning. In this paper, we propose a new document-based assessment of historical thinking that resolves many of the issues and challenges previously encountered. The assessment was designed to prompt students to build a Documents Model by reading a set of four documents sequentially, evaluating each in turn. Each form of the exam focuses on a central question. The rubric posits a progression of mastery of the historical thinking demanded by each item, providing an interpretative framework for assessors. We share results from a pilot administration of the exam with secondary students (N=375).

Authors

• Abby Reisman, University of Pennsylvania

• Emily Anne Brimsek, National Center on Education and the Economy

• Claire Hollywood, NCEE