History assessments of thinking [electronic resource] : design, interpretation, and implementation
Keywords: Education.

Article I considers the design process for new formative history assessments. Over the course of three years the Stanford History Education Group designed, piloted, and revised dozens of History Assessments of Thinking (HATs). As we created HATs, we sought to gather information about their cognitive validity, the relationship between the constructs targeted by the assessments and the cognitive processes students use to answer them. Three case studies trace the development of different HATs through analyses of draft assessments, student responses, and think aloud protocols. Design principles specific to formative history assessments emerged from these analyses: (1) assessments must be historically accurate; (2) assessments must target specific historical constructs; (3) assessment structure must align with targeted constructs; (4) assessments must yield useful information for teachers; (5) pilot data is indispensable. These finding suggest the need for increased attention on the construction and validation of new formative assessment materials for the history classroom. Article II examines the nature of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) required by teachers to interpret student responses to new, document-based History Assessments of Thinking (HATs). To consider influential factors in teachers' ability to make sense of student answers, 18 teachers with differing levels of classroom experience and preparation for teaching with historical documents completed semi-structured interviews. Teachers were asked to read sample student responses to HATs, evaluate them, and suggest possible curricular revisions to address shortcomings in the answers. Teachers with preparation and experience in teaching inquiry were better able to interpret student responses and suggest curricular interventions to improve student understanding. These teachers understood the challenges students face in interpreting historical sources and knew specific pedagogical strategies to address student misconceptions. In contrast, neither content knowledge nor general teaching experience provided teachers with a similar understanding of the challenges students face in interpreting primary sources or strategies for building students' historical understanding. Findings point to the existence of a particularized PCK for historical inquiry. Implications include suggestions about the need for further investigations into the dimensions of this construct and research on how these new assessments may prove useful in actual classroom settings. Article III details how teachers used formative history assessments in their classrooms. This design study explored how a group of three experienced high school teachers implemented History Assessments of Thinking (HATs) in their classrooms and the role that professional collaboration played in the process. An analysis of group meetings, teachers' interpretations of student responses, and observations of teachers' implementation of HATS revealed various barriers to formative assessment in history classrooms. Curricular misalignment, ingrained notions of summative assessment, and the feedback demands of formative assessment all represented obstacles to implementation. Despite these challenges, teachers used HATs to introduce aspects of historical thinking, monitor student understanding, and broach broader historical topics. Professional collaboration seemed to assist teachers in the implementation of HATs. However, widespread implementation of formative history assessments will require investment in new tools to support teachers.