A Review of Assessments in Citizenship and Social Studies by the National Council for the Social Studies. National Assessment and Social Studies : The Setting / Jean Fair.

This document introduces a study conducted by the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) to review, interpret, and disseminate findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments in citizenship and social studies. The study represents an investigation funded by the Education Commission of the States and coordinated by a special Steering Committee working under the auspices of NCSS. Six tasks were identified by the committee to examine NAEP: methods and procedures; the validity of the exercise; interpretation of the findings; consistency of the exercises with NCSS Social Studies Curriculum Guidelines, desirability, and realistically satisfactory performance levels; the assessment model; and dissemination. Also included in this document is background information on the NAEP, the purpose of which was to make available to those interested in education the attainments of students in citizenship and social studies. A major portion of this document focuses on NAEP decisions on a host of issues; for example, in considering objectives, who was to decide what was to be assessed in social studies and, moreover, what the basic criteria should be for the objectives. The latter portion of the document points out that the NAEP assessment in itself is neither an evaluation nor explanation, but is a collection of data provided in national percentages for performance of each exercise, by age, regions, sex, race, parental education, and size and type of community. (DE) Primary type of information provided by report: Results (Interpretation).

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.