Developing Sample Assessment Tasks for Social Studies AGLIs

Here is an example that may be used to help teachers better understand how to approach the AGLIs and develop assessment tasks. The table contains additional sample assessment tasks that were developed for each choice component at each grade level. The AGLIs that relate to each sample assessment task are included.

Example: Teachers who developed these tasks had in mind a student who has minimal attention skills is non-verbal and has an inconsistent communication system. The student is ambulatory and has gross and some fine motor skills. The student is diagnosed with pervasive developmental delay. The Lead Special Education Teacher (LSET) initially expects that significant prompts and assistance will be required. The LSET also expects that the repetition of prompting may decrease as understanding increases.

Below is a list of steps the LSET follows in order to develop sample assessment tasks for this student.

Step 1: Review the NYSAA Frameworks. Review the AGLIs within each of the four content areas to identify the content area(s) that may be difficult when trying to think of an assessment task that would align to an AGLI. For this example, the area that was found to be most difficult was social studies.

Step 2: Gather resources. Search the web for information on how to teach particular content areas. It may be helpful to talk to a general education teacher to strategize ways to teach a particular content area. For this example, the LSET visited several web sites about how to provide students with the opportunity to learn social studies content and talked with a general education social studies teacher. The LSET identified activities that can be utilized or modified as appropriate for this student.

Step 3: Learn new vocabulary. The content areas may contain terminology, dates or concepts that are not readily familiar. Use web references or general education teachers as resources for assistance in defining new or unfamiliar vocabulary. For this example, the LSET used the resources and information posted on the SED web site (http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/social.html) and consulted with the social studies teacher.

Step 4: Create assessment tasks that use wording from an AGLI. This will help teachers create an assessment task that is aligned directly to the AGLI. It is important to keep a particular student’s knowledge, skills, and abilities in mind when developing the assessment task.

Below are additional sample assessment tasks for each choice component at each grade level in Social Studies. These samples were developed with the student above in mind. Note: The underlining in the AGLI column indicates the key links from the AGLI to the sample assessment task.

Grade	Required Component	Choice Component	Pg.	AGLI	Sample Assessment Task
5	Standard 1-US and NYS History	Unit 6	3	· identify New York as his/her state of residence (12101)	The student will respond ‘New York’ when asked what state does he/she live in, using a communication device.
5	Standard 1- US and NYS History	Unit 8	6	· identify means of transportation and/or communication today, e.g., cars, airplanes, telephones, television (15101)	Given models of a horse with a cart and a bus the student will identify what form of transportation is used today and what was used in the 1800’s to travel to school by using eye gaze.
5	Standard 5-Civics, Citizenship and Government	Unit 4	9	· recognize one important symbol of a community around the world, e.g., the American and other world community flags, an animal that represents a country, etc. (31104)	Given several objects that represent symbols from around the world, the student will recognize one important symbol representing the United States by ringing the model of the Liberty Bell.
5	Standard 5- Civics, Citizenship and Government	Unit 9	12	· identify examples of proper behaviors, e.g., honesty, cooperation, respect for others, etc. (33102)	Given images of people demonstrating appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, the student will select those that illustrate self-control and respect.
8	Standard 1- US and NYS History	Unit 7	16	· locate on a world map or globe Europe or another continent or country from where students may have come (13101)	Given a world map, the student will locate where students might have come from by putting his/her left hand on the United States and right hand on another country where students may have come from.
8	Standard 1- US and NYS History	Unit 9	21	· explore the life and/or contributions of a famous American associated with the 1920s, e.g., Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, prohibition, jazz/dance/fads, Amelia Earhart, Henry Ford, etc. (16103)	The student will explore the life of Amelia Earhart by selecting a model airplane when given models of several types of transportation.
8	Standard 5- Civics, Citizenship and Government	Unit 4	25	· demonstrate what it means to be a good citizen in the classroom, at home, and/or in the larger community (32106)	The student will demonstrate what it means to be a good citizen in the community by remaining quiet when he/she hears the Pledge of Allegiance being stated in the morning program.
8	Standard 5- Civics, Citizenship and Government	Unit 11	28	· understand that there are various ways to resolve conflict in school, home, and/or larger community (34102)	The student will understand that one way to resolve a classroom conflict is by voting on one of two solutions through a show of hands and deciding by majority rule.
HS	Standard 1- US and NYS History (US History)	Unit 2	31	· identify classroom rules (11101)	Given three images of objects, the student identifies one classroom rule, such as "raise hand to speak" by selecting the image of a hand from images of other objects.
HS	Standard 1- US and NYS History (US History)	Unit 7(B)	34	· identify the leader of a class or school (14101)	The student identifies the leader of the classroom by selecting the teacher’s picture from several other pictures.
HS	Standard 2-World History (Global History)	Unit 5	37	· recognize work on farms (21102)	Given pictures of a farmer working on a farm and a teacher working in the classroom, the student will recognize the work on the farm by touching the picture that illustrates work on the farm.
HS	Standard 2-World History (Global History)	Unit 8	40	· locate one continent or country other than the United States on a map (22101)	Given a globe and shown where the United States is located, the student will touch another country on the globe upon request.