Assessment_Guide_For_Educators_Social_Studies (Page 5)

Source Provenance: https://ged.com/wp-content/uploads/assessment_guide_for_educators_social_studies.pdf Authority Tier: TIER_1_OFFICIAL | License: PROPRIETARY_SPEC | SHA-256: ede0ffcb417c7433...

Assessment_Guide_For_Educators_Social_Studies (Page 5)

5 Assessment Guide for Educators: Social Studies Chapter 1: Assessment Targets The Social Studies test also focuses on four major content domains: civics and government, United States history, economics, and geography and the world. The social studies content topics are drawn from these four domains. The content topics provide context for measuring a test-taker’s ability to apply the reasoning skills described in the practices. The content topics reflect both what is taught in many high-school-level social sciences courses and what is most relevant and useful for an adult population. To measure this content at a range of levels of complexity, several different item types are used in the test, including multiple choice, drag-and-drop, hot spot, and fill-in- the-blank. The following specifications guide the GED® Social Studies test:

1. Approximately 50 percent focuses on civics and government, 20 percent on United States history, 15 percent on economics, and 15 percent on geography and the world
2. The test includes items that assess textual analysis and understanding, data representation and inference skills, and problem solving using social studies content
3. Each item on the Social Studies test align to one Social Studies Practice and one Content Topic
4. Each item aligns to one DOK level, based on appropriate alignment to Social Studies Practice
5. The test items are written to DOK level 1, 2 or 3
6. Problem-solving skills will be measured in both academic and workplace contexts
7. Approximately 50 percent of the test items are in scenarios in which two or three items are based on a single stimulus (textual, graphic, or a combination of both); the remaining approximately 50 percent of the items are standalone items The Social Studies Assessment Targets are divided into two sections: the Practices and the Content T opics. The Social Studies Practices describe skills necessary for reasoning in a social sciences context, while the Content T opics describe a body of knowledge typical of what is taught in US high schools. Workplace Context: Stimuli in this category may include workplace letters, resume cover letters, letters to customer service departments, memos, flyers for company-sponsored events, explanations of initiatives, procedural documents, descriptions of activities, or changes in policies. They also include community-related documents like public postings or letters to the editor.