MUNCIE, Ind. – As part of a national education grant, Ball State University elementary education professor Melinda Schoenfeldt took part in developing new ways to assess social studies achievement for students in grades K-12.

Schoenfeldt was one of 130 educators from 22 states to participate in the National Social Studies Assessment Project. Funding came from the U.S. Department of Education and the project was conducted by a partnership of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Council of Chief State School Officers, ACT and 22 other state departments of education.

For her part of the project, Schoenfeldt developed teaching modules and performance assessments that dealt with civics for middle school students. The assessment models were then put on CD-ROM and will eventually be distributed to teachers in participating states.

"By developing the teaching modules and performance assessments we cut out a lot of work when it comes to assessing student performance," Schoenfeldt said. "This provides teachers with the information they need to teach the lessons and also gives them an assessment scale for their students."

She also said there is a movement away from traditional paper and pencil assessment tests in the United States and a movement toward performance assessments. Performance assessments allow students to demonstrate knowledge of a subject using issues that apply to their lives.

Students are challenged to examine important citizenship issues and present their findings through some type of performance or demonstration.

In addition, students are presented with a variety of other assessment activities that are not limited to traditional research papers.

When performance assessments are conducted, students are provided with the evaluation criteria before the assessment begins, unlike the traditional assessments where students are only told their answers will be judged right or wrong.

"This type of assessment is designed to meet students’ individual needs," Schoenfeldt said. "It provides enough flexibility to allow students to use their strengths to demonstrate their knowledge of a specific area."

The scoring mechanism constructed by Schoenfeldt and the other educators provide those scoring the students with a way to standardize the grading of the various projects. After the project is out of the pilot stage, it may be used in local and state assessments of student performance.

By Kortney Reinitz, Graduate Assistant

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Schoenfeldt by phone (765) 285-8560 or e-mail mkschoenfeldt@bsu.edu)