8th Grade U.S. History Formative Assessment for Fall Semester

The 15-page 8th Grade U.S. History Formative Assessment for Fall Semester is a formative assessment designed for teachers to assess their students' ability to make meaning of historical documents and draw conclusions. Although it focuses on 8th-grade U.S. History, this formative assessment could be given to 7th, 9th, or 10th graders as well. Students will read and interpret a map, a graph, a chart, a primary source diary entry, and a political cartoon. It also includes a post-reading reflection for the students to complete, a key, and a chart for teachers to use to help them analyze which skills they need to teach or review.

History standards don’t specifically address the skills students need to read maps, charts, and graphs, and to make meaning of them in a historical context.  In fact, I’ve had students tell me that map reading is unimportant because they have GPS.  However, they are then baffled when they see a historical map and are expected to draw conclusions or make connections, etc. to a historical event.  Teachers need to teach students these skills. Although it specifically focuses on the European Invasion and Colonization of the Americas, the kinds of documents used to assess the general skills of interpreting and analyzing documents appear in any history curriculum.  Teachers can then determine what skills to target in their teaching

This formative assessment is not meant to be graded, but rather as a means to determine what reading skills teachers need to teach so students can better understand the content.  At the semester's end, teachers can administer the same assessment to gauge students' growth in comprehending different types of documents and use it as a summative evaluation. Alternatively, they can assess each skill separately, such as by reading maps, graphs, charts, or primary sources, after conducting skill-building activities.

If our students cannot glean important historical information from maps, or don’t understand what a graph is showing them, then it is hard for them to understand what they are studying. 

Check out my store, Intentional Teaching and Learning for other History lessons and units.