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edTPA_MC_HSS_V06.1

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies

Assessment Handbook

Version 06.1

edTPA stems from a twenty-five-year history of developing performance-based assessments of

teaching quality and effectiveness. The Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium (Stanford

and AACTE) acknowledges the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the

Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, and the Performance Assessment for

California Teachers for their pioneering work using discipline-specific portfolio assessments to

evaluate teaching quality. This version of the handbook has been developed with thoughtful input

from over six hundred teachers and teacher educators representing various national design

teams, national subject matter organizations (ACEI, ACTFL, AMLE, CEC, IRA, NAEYC, NAGC,

NCSS, NCTE, NCTM, NSTA, SHAPE America), and content validation reviewers. All

contributions are recognized and appreciated.

This document was authored by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE)

with editorial and design assistance from Evaluation Systems.

The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.

Use of the edTPA trademarks is permitted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

Contents

Introduction to edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies .................................................. 1

Purpose................................................................................................................................................................... 1

Overview of the Assessment ................................................................................................................................... 1

Structure of the Handbook ...................................................................................................................................... 4

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Tasks Overview .......................................................................... 6

Planning Task 1: Planning for Instruction and Assessment .......................................................... 9

What Do I Need to Think About? ............................................................................................................................ 9

What Do I Need to Do? ........................................................................................................................................... 9

What Do I Need to Write? ..................................................................................................................................... 11

How Will the Evidence of My Teaching Practice Be Assessed? ........................................................................... 14

Planning Rubrics ................................................................................................................................................... 15

Instruction Task 2: Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning ........................................... 20

What Do I Need to Think About? .......................................................................................................................... 20

What Do I Need to Do? ......................................................................................................................................... 20

What Do I Need to Write? ..................................................................................................................................... 22

How Will the Evidence of My Teaching Practice Be Assessed? ........................................................................... 23

Instruction Rubrics ................................................................................................................................................ 24

Assessment Task 3: Assessing Student Learning ........................................................................ 29

What Do I Need to Think About? .......................................................................................................................... 29

What Do I Need to Do? ......................................................................................................................................... 29

What Do I Need to Write? ..................................................................................................................................... 30

How Will the Evidence of My Teaching Practice Be Assessed? ........................................................................... 32

Assessment Rubrics ............................................................................................................................................. 33

Professional Responsibilities ........................................................................................................... 38

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Context for Learning Information.............................. 39

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Evidence Chart ............................................................ 42

Planning Task 1: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications .................................................................................. 42

Instruction Task 2: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications ............................................................................... 43

Assessment Task 3: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications ............................................................................ 44

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Glossary ....................................................................... 47

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Introduction to edTPA Middle Childhood

History/Social Studies

Purpose

The purpose of edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies, a nationally available

performance-based assessment, is to measure novice teachers’ readiness to teach

history/social studies to young adolescents. The assessment is designed with a focus on

young adolescent learning and principles from research and theory. It is based on findings

that successful teachers

develop knowledge of subject matter, content standards, and subject-specific

pedagogy

develop and apply knowledge of varied students’ needs

consider research and theory about how students learn

reflect on and analyze evidence of the effects of instruction on student learning

s a performance-based assessm

ent, edTPA is designed to engage candidates in

demonstrating their understanding of teaching and student learning in authentic ways.

Overview of the Assessment

The edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies assessment is composed of three

tasks:

1. Planning for Instruction and Assessment

2. Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning

3. Assessing Student Learning

For this assess

ment, you will first plan 3–5 consecutive history/social studies lessons

(or, if teaching history/social studies within a large time block, about 3–5 hours of

connected instruction) referred to as a learning segment. Consistent with the National

Curr

iculum Standards for Social Studies (NCSS)

and additional state and national content

standards

as appropriate, a learning segment prepared for this assessment should reflect a

balanced approach to history/social studies. This means your segment should include

learning tasks where young adolescents have opportunities to develop and apply the

knowl

edge, intellectual processes, and disciplinary practices required to become active and

The National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies developed by the National Council for Social Studies and the C3

Framework (College, Career and Civic Life) for Social Studies State Standards developed by 15 professional social studies

organizations, can be found at http://www.socialstudies.org/standards and

http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/c3/C3-

amework-for-Social-Studies.pdf, respectively.

For example, the National Standards for History (National Center for History in the Schools, 1996), the Voluntary National

Content Standards in Economics (Council for Economic Education, 2010), Geography for Life: National Geography Standards

(Geography Education National Implementation Project, 2012), and the National Standards for Civics and Government (Center

for Civic Education, 1994).

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productive citizens. In addition, your lesson plans should provide opportunities for learners

to develop and use facts, concepts, and the

skills of inquiry, interpretation or analysis to

build and suppor

t arguments or conclusions about historic

al events, a topic/theme, or a

social studies phenomenon.

Finally, consistent with the recommendations provided by the Association for Middle Level

Educati

on (AMLE),

a learning segment prepared for this assessment should be

“developmentally responsive, challenging, empowering, and equitable.” While the full scope

of AMLE’s recommendations will not be feasible in a short learning segment, you should

design your lessons to provide challenging and responsive opportunities for young

adolescents to learn history/social studies.

See the AMLE Middle Level Teacher Preparation Standards at

http://www.amle.org/AboutAMLE/ProfessionalPreparation/AMLEStandards/tabid/263/Default.aspx.

After you plan your learning segment, you will then teach the learning segment, making a

videorecording of your interactions with students during instruction. You will also assess,

informally and formally, students’ learning throughout the learning segment. Upon

completion of the three tasks, you will submit artifacts from the tasks (e.g., lesson plans,

clips f

rom your videorecording, assessment materials, instructional materials, student work

samples

), as well as commentaries that you have written to explain and reflect on the

anning, Instruction, and Assessment components of the tasks. The artifacts and

commentaries for each task will then be evaluated using rubrics especially developed for

each task.

The edTPA Tasks and the Cycle of Effective Teaching

The three edTPA tasks represent a cycle of effective teaching (i.e., teaching that is focused

on student learning). Planning Task 1 documents your intended teaching, Instruction Task

2 documents your enacted teaching, and Assessment Task 3 documents the impact of

your teaching on student learning.

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The three tasks and the evidence you provide for each are framed by your understandings

of your students and their learning. As you develop, document, and teach your lessons, you

will reflect upon the cyclical relationship among planning, instruction, and assessment, with

a focus on your students’ learning needs.

Evidence of Teaching Practice: Artifacts and Commentaries

An essential part of edTPA is the evidence you will submit of how you planned, taught, and

assessed your lessons to deepen young adolescent learning in history/social studies. This

evidence includes both artifacts and commentaries:

Artifacts represent authentic work completed by you and your students. These

incl

ude lesson plans, copies of instructional and assessment materials, video clips of

your teaching, and student work samples.

Commentaries are your opportunity to describe your artifacts, explain the rationale

behind thei

r choice, and analyze what you have learned about your teaching practice

and your students’ learning. Note that although your writing ability will not be scored

directly, commentaries must be clearly written and well focused.

When preparing your artifacts and commentaries, refer to the rubrics frequently to guide

your t

hinking, planning, and writing. Refer to the

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies

Evidence Chart for information about how your evidence should be formatted for electronic

submi

ssion.

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Evaluation Criteria

The rubrics used to score your performance are included in this handbook, following the

sections describing the directions for each task. The descriptors in the five-level rubrics

address a wide range of performance, beginning with the knowledge and skills of a novice

not ready to teach (Level 1) and extending to the advanced practices of a highly

accomplished beginner (Level 5).

Structure of the Handbook

The following pages provide specific instructions on how to complete each of the three tasks

of the edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies assessment. After an overview of the

tasks, the handbook provides instructions for each task, organized into four sections:

1. What Do I Need to Think About?

This section provides focus questions for you to think about when completing the

task

2. What Do I Need to Do?

This section provides specific, detailed directions for completing the task.

3. What Do I Need to Write?

This section tells you what you need to write and also provides specific and detailed

directions for writing the commentary for the task.

4. How Will the Evidence of My Teaching Practice Be Assessed?

This section includes the rubrics that will be used to assess the evidence you provide

for t

he task.

Additional requirements and resources are provided for you in this handbook:

Professional Responsibilities: gui

delines for the development of your evidence

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Con

text for Learning Information:

promp

ts used to collect information about your school/classroom context

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Evidence Chart: sp

ecifications for

electronic submission of evidence (artifacts and commentaries), including templates,

supported file types, number of files, response length, and other important evidence

specifications

Glossary: definitions of key terms can be accessed by rolling your cursor over each

glos

sary term marked with a dotted underline throughout the handbook or by

referring to the Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Glossary.

u should review the Making Good Choices document prior to beginning the planning of

the l

earning segment. If you are in a preparation program, it will have additional resources

that provide guidance as you develop your evidence.

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Review all instructions carefully before beginning to teach the learning segment to

ensure that you are well prepared for all tasks. Before you record your videos,

pay particular attention to the specific content focus of each video clip

submission; these foci are described in the What Do I Need to Do? sections in

Instruction Task 2 and Assessment Task 3. Refer to the Professional

Responsibilities section of this handbook for important information about

permissions, confidentiality, and other requirements.

If your program requires you to submit artifacts and commentaries for official

scoring, refer to www.edTPA.com for complete and current information before

beginning your work and to download templates for submitting materials. The

website contains information about the registration process, submission deadlines,

submission requirements, withdrawal/refund policies, and score reporting. It also

provides contact information should you have questions about your registration and

participation in edTPA.

Whether submitting directly to www.edTPA.com or via your program’s electronic

portfolio management system, follow the submission guidelines as documented in

the Evidence Chart and review edTPA Submission Requirements to ensure that

your materials conform to the required evidence specifications and requirements for

scoring.

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edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Tasks

Overview

Planning Task 1: Planning for Instruction and Assessment

What to Do

Select one class as a focus for this

assessment.

Provide relevant context information.

Identify a learning segment to plan,

teach, an

d analyze student learning.

Your learning segment should include

3–5 consecutive lessons (or, if

teaching history/social studies within a

large time block, about 3–5 hours of

connected instruction).

Determine a central focus for your

lear

ning segment. The central focus

should support young adolescent

learners in learning and using facts,

concepts, and inquiry, interpretation, or

analysis skills to build arguments or

conclusions about historical events, a

topic/theme, or a social studies

phenomenon as well as to make

interdisciplinary connections.

Write and submit a lesson plan for each

lesson in the learning segment.

Select and submit key instructional

materi

als needed to understand what

you and the students will be doing.

Choose one language function and

other l

anguage demands important to

understanding middle childhood

history/social studies in your learning

segment. Identify a learning task where

students are supported to use this

language.

Respond to commentary prompts prior

to te

aching the learning segment.

Submit copies of all written

assessments and/o

r clear directions for

any oral or performance assessments

from the learning segment.

What to Submit

Part A: Context for Learning

Information

Part B: Lesson Plans for

Learni

ng Segment

Part C: Instructional Materials

Part D: Assessments

Part E: Planning Commentary

Evaluation Rubrics

Planning Rubrics

Rubric 1: Planning for

Histor

y/Social Studies

Understandings

Rubric 2: Planning to Support

Var

ied Student Learning Needs

Rubric 3: Using Knowledge of

Students to

Inform Teaching and

Learning

Rubric 4: Identifying and

Supp

orting Language Demands

Rubric 5: Planning Assessments to

Moni

tor and Support Student

Learning

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Instruction Task 2: Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning

What to Do

Obtain required permissions for

videorecording from parents/guardians

of your students and other adults

appearing in the video.

Identify lessons from the learning

segment yo

u planned in Planning Task

1 to be videorecorded. You should

choose lessons that show you

interacting with young adolescents to

develop their skills and strategies for

interpreting or analyzing sources and

accounts of historical events or social

studies phenomena and building and

supporting arguments or conclusions.

Videorecord your teaching and select 2

video clips (no more than 20 minutes

total running time, but not less than 3

minutes).

Analyze your teaching and your

students’

learning in the video clips by

responding to commentary prompts.

What to Submit

Part A: Video Clips

Part B: Instruction

Commentary

Evaluation Rubrics

Instruction Rubrics

Rubric 6: Learning Environment

Rubr

ic 7: Engaging Students in

Learni

Rubric 8: Deepening Student

Learni

Rubric 9: Subject-Specific

Peda

gogy

Rubric 10: Analyzing Teaching

Effecti

veness

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Assessment Task 3: Assessing Student Learning

What to Do

Select one assessment from the

learning segment that you will use to

evaluate your students’ developing

knowledge and skills. Attach the

assessment used to evaluate young

adolescent performance to the end of

the Assessment Commentary.

Submit the evaluation criteria you will

use to ana

lyze young adolescent

learning.

Collect and analyze young adolescent

work from the selected assessment to

identify quantitative and qualitative

patterns of learning within and across

learners in the class.

Select 3 student work samples to

ill

ustrate your analysis of patterns of

learning within and across learners in

the class. At least 1 of the samples

must be from a young adolescent with

specific learning needs. These 3

students will be your focus students.

Summarize the learning of the whole

class

, referring to work samples from

the 3 focus students to illustrate

patterns in student understanding

across the class.

Submit feedback for the work samples

for the

3 focus students in written,

audio, or video form.

Analyze evidence of young adolescents’

langu

age use from (1) the video clips

from Instruction Task 2, (2) an

additional video clip of one or more

students using language within the

learning segment, AND/OR (3) the

student work samples from Assessment

Task 3.

Analyze evidence of student learning,

and plan for next steps by responding to

commentary prompts.

What to Submit

Part A: Student Work

Samples

Part B: Evidence of Feedback

Part C: Assessment

Commentar

Part D: Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Rubrics

Assessment Rubrics

Rubric 11: Analysis of Student

Lear

ning

Rubric 12: Providing Feedback to

Gui

de Learning

Rubric 13: Student

Understa

nding and Use of

Feedback

Rubric 14: Analyzing Students’

Language Use and History/Social

Studies Learning

Rubric 15: Using Assessment to

Infor

m Instruction

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Planning Task 1: Planning for Instruction

and Assessment

What Do I Need to Think About?

In Planning Task 1, you will describe your plans for the learning segment and explain how

your instruction is developmentally appropriate for young adolescents and the content you

are teaching. As you develop your plans, you need to think about the following:

What do your students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do?

What do you want your students to learn? What are the important understandings,

core c

oncepts, and interdisciplinary connections you want students to develop within

the l

earning segment?

How will you use your knowledge of your students’ assets to inform your plans?

hat instructional strategies, learning tasks, and assessments w

ill you design to

support

young adolescent learning and language use?

How will your learning segment support students to develop and use language that

deepens cont

ent understanding?

How is the teaching you propose supported by research and theory about how young

adolesc

ents learn?

What Do I Need to Do?

Select a class. If you teach more than one class, select one focus class for this

assessment. If your placement for history/social studies has you responsible for a group

rather than a whole class, plans should describe instruction for that group (minimum of

4 students). That group will constitute “the whole class” for edTPA.

Provide context information. The Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Context for

Learning Information form is provided later in this handbook and must be submitted in a

tem

plate. This form provides essential information about your students and your

school/classroom. The context information you submit should be no more than 4

pages, including prompts.

Identify a learning segment to plan, teach, and analyze. Review the curriculum with

your cooperating teacher and select a learning segment of 3–5 consecutive lessons. (If

teaching history/social studies within a large time block, select a learning segment of

about 3–5 hours of connected instruction.)

Identify a central focus. Identify the central focus along with the content standards and

objectives you will address in the learning segment. The central focus should support

young adolescents in learning and using facts and concepts, and inquiry, i

nterpretation,

or analy

sis skills to build and support argument

s or conclusions about historical events,

a topic

/theme, or a social studies phenomenon, as well as support young adolescents in

making i

nterdisciplinary connections.

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Identify and plan to support language demands. Select a key language function from

your learning objectives. Choose a learning task t

hat provides opportunities for students

to practice using that language function. Identify additional language demands

associated with that task. Plan targeted supports that address the identified language

demands, including the language function.

Write a lesson plan for each les

son in the learning segment. Your lesson plans should

be detailed enough that a substitute or other teacher could understand them well enough

to use them.

Your lesson plans must include the fol

lowing information, even if your teacher

preparation program requires you to use a specific lesson plan format:

State-adopted student academic content standards that are the target of student

learning (Note: Please include the number and text of each standard that is being

addressed. If only a portion of a standard is being addressed, then only list the part

or parts that are relevant.)

Learning objectives (subject-specific, relevant, interdisciplinary) associated with the

content standards

Informal and formal assessments used to monitor student learning, including type(s)

of assessment and what is being assessed

Instructional strategies and learning tasks (including what you and the students will

be doing) that support diverse student needs

Instructional resources and materials used to engage young adolescents in learning

Each lesson plan must

be no more than 4 pages in length. You will need to

condense or excerpt lesson plans longer than 4 pages. Any explanations or rationale for

decisions should be included in your Planning Commentary and deleted from your plans.

Respond to the com

mentary prompts listed in the Planning Commentary section

prior

to teaching the learning segment.

Submit your original lesson plans. If you mak

e changes while teaching the learning

segment, you may offer reflection on those changes in the Instruction Task 2 and

Assessment Task 3 Commentaries.

Select and submit key instructional materials needed to understand

what you and

the students will be doing (no more than 5 additional pages per lesson plan). The

instructional materials might include such items as class handouts, assignments, slides,

and interactive whiteboard images.

Submit copies of all written assessments and/or directions for any oral or

performance assessments. (Submit only the blank assessments given to students; do

not submit student work samples for this task.)

Provide citations for the source of all materials that you did not create (e.g.,

published texts, websites, and material from other educators). List all citations by lesson

number at the end of the Planning Commentary. Note: Citations do not count toward the

commentary page limit.

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See the Planning Task 1: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications in the Middle

Childhood History/Social Studies Evidence Chart for instructions on electronic

submission of evidence. This evidence chart identifies templates, supported file

types, number of files, response length, and other important evidence specifications.

Your evidence cannot contain hyperlinked content. Any web content you wish to

include as part of your evidence must be submitted as a document file, which must

conform to the file format and response length requirements.

What Do I Need to Write?

In Planning Task 1, you will write

a description of your Context for Learning (see “What Do I Need to Do?” above for

direc

tions)

lesson plans (see “What Do I Need to Do?” above for directions)

a comm

entary explaining your plans (see “Planning Commentary” below for

directions)

Planning Commentary

In Planning Task 1, you will write a commentary, responding to the prompts below. Your

commentary should be no more than 9 single-spaced pages, including the prompts.

1. Central Focus

a. Describe the central focus and purpose of the content you will teach in the

learning

segment.

b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning objectives

withi

n your learning segment address

facts and concepts

inquiry, i

nterpr

etation, or analysis skills

building and supporting arguments or conclusions

c. Exp

lain how your plans build on each other to help young adolescents make

connections betw

een facts, concepts, and inquiry, interpretation, or analysis

skills to build and support arguments or conclusions about historical events, a

topic/theme, or a social studies phenomenon.

d. Explain how you will help young adolescents make interdisciplinary or integrative

connections between the central focus of the learning segment and other subject

areas.

2. Kno

wledge of Students to Inform Teaching

For each of the prom

pts below (2a–c), describe what you know about your students

with respect to the central focus of the learning segment.

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Consider the variety of young adolescent learners in your class who may require

different strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language

learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in

academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).

a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the cen

al focus—Cite

evidence of what youn

g adolescents know, what they can do, and what

they are still learning to do.

b. Personal, cultural, and com

munity assets related to the central focus—What do

you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural and

language backgrounds and practices, and interests?

c. Young adolescent developmental assets related to the central focus—What do

you know about your students’ cognitive, physical, and social and

emoti

onal developmen

3. Supporting Students’ History/Soci

al Studies Learning

Respond to prompts 3a–d below. To support your justifications, refer to the

instructional materials and lesson plans you have included as part of Planning Task

1. In addition, support your justifications using principles from research and/or theory,

including how the research/theory reflects elements of young adolescent

development.

a. Justify how your understanding of your students’ prior academic learning (from

prompt 2a above) guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and

materials. Be explicit about the connections between the learning tasks and

students’ prior academic learning and research/theory.

b. Justify how your understanding of your students’ personal, cultural, community,

and developmental assets (from prompts 2b–c above) guided your choice or

adaptation of learning tasks and materials. Be explicit about the connections

between the learning tasks and students’ assets and research/theory.

c. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are

appropriate for

the whole class, individuals, and groups of young

adolescents with specific learning needs.

d. Describe key misconceptions within your central focus and how you w

ill address

them.

Consider the variety of young adolescent learners in your class who may require

different strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language

learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in

academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).

4. Supporting History/Social Studies Development Through Language

As you respond to prompts 4a–d, consider the range of students’ language assets

and needs—what do students already know, what are they struggling with, and/or

what is new to them?

a. Language Function. Using information about your students’ language assets

and needs, identify one language function essential for young adolescents to

learn the history/social studies content within your central focus. Listed below are

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some sample language functions. You may choose one of these or another more

appropriate for your learning segment.

Analyze Compare/contrast Construct Describe Evaluate

Examine Identify Interpret Justify Locate

b. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides young adolescents with

opportunities t

o practice using the language function identified above. Identify the

lesson in which the learning task occurs. (Give lesson day/number.)

c. Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and learning task

identified above, describe the following associated language demands (written or

oral) young adolescents need to understand and/or use:

Vocabulary/

symbols

Plus at least one of the following:

Syntax

Disc

ourse

d. Language Supports. Refer to y

our lesson plans and instructional materials as

needed in your response to the prompt below.

Identify and describe the planned instructi

onal supports (during and/or prior to

the learning task) to help young adolescents understand, develop, and use

the identified language demands (function, vocabulary/symbols, discourse, or

syntax).

5. Monitoring Student Learning

In response t

o the prompts below, refer to the assessments you will submit as part of

the materials for Planning Task 1.

a. Describe how the planned formal and informal assessments provide direct

evidence of how young adolescents learn and use facts, concepts, and inquiry,

interpretation, or analysis skills to build and support arguments or conclusions

about historical events, a topic/theme, or a social studies phenomenon

throughout the learning segment.

b. Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows young

adolescents with specific needs to demonstrate their learning.

Consider the variety of young adolescent learners in your class who may require

different strategies/support (e.g., young adolescents with IEPs or 504 plans, English

language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps

in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).

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How Will the Evidence of My Teaching Practice Be

Assessed?

For Planning Task 1, your evidence will be assessed using rubrics 1–5, which appear on the

following pages. When preparing your artifacts and commentaries, refer to the rubrics

equently to guide your thinking, planning, and writing.

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Planning Rubrics

Rubric 1: Planning for History/Social Studies Understandings

How do the candidate’s plans build young adolescents’ understandings of facts, concepts, and inquiry,

interpretation, or analysis skills to build and support arguments or conclusions about historical events or a

social studies phenomenon?

Level 1

Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Candidate’s plans for instruc-

tion focus solely on facts or a

singular interpretation of

historical events, a topic/

theme, or a social studies

phenomenon with little or no

connections to

• concepts AND

• inquiry, interpretations, or

analyses.

There are significant content

inaccuracies

that will lead to

student misunderstandings.

Standards, objectives, and

learning task

s and materials

are not aligned with each

other.

Candidate’s plans for

instructi

on support student

learning of facts with vague

connections to

• concepts AND

•

inquiry, interpretations, or

analyses.

Candidate’s plans for

instructi

on build on each

other to support student

learning of facts with clear

connections to

• concepts AND

• inquiry, interpretations, or

analyses.

Candidate’s plans for

instructi

on build on each other

to support student learning of

facts with clear and

consistent connections to

• concepts;

• inquiry, interpretations, or

analyses; AND

• building arguments or

conclusions.

Plans support history/social

studies learni

ng and imply

interdisciplinary

connections.

Level 4 plus:

Candidate explains how s/he

will lead young adolescents

to build explicit connections

between inquiry,

interpretations, or analyses

and supporting arguments

or conclusions as well as

explicit and relevant

interdisciplinary

connections.

Text representing key differences between adjacent score levels is shown in bold. Evidence that does not meet Level 1 criteria is scored at Level 1.

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Rubric 2: Planning to Support Varied Student Learning Needs

How does the candidate use knowledge of his/her students to target support for young adolescents to develop

understandings of facts, concepts, and inquiry, interpretations, or analyses to build arguments or conclusions?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

There is no evidence of

planned supports.

Candidate does not attend to

ANY INSTR

UCTIONAL

requirements in IEPs and 504

plans.

Planned supports are loosely

tied to learnin

g objectives or

the central focus of the

learning segment.

Planned supports are tied to

learning objectives and the

central focus with attention to

the characteristics of the

class as a whole.

Planned supports are tied to

learning objectives and the

central focus. Supports

address the needs of

specific individuals or

groups with similar needs.

Level 4 plus:

Supports include specific

stra

tegies to identify and

respond to key

misconceptions.

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Rubric 3: Using Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching and Learning

How does the candidate use knowledge of his/her students to justify instructional plans?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Candidate’s justification of

learning tasks is either

missing OR represents a

deficit view of young

adolescents and their

backgrounds.

Candidate justifies learning

tasks with limited attention to

young adolescents’

• prior academic learning

• personal, cultural,

community, or

developmental assets.

Candidate justifies why

lear

ning tasks (or their

adaptations) are appropriate

using examples of young

adolescents’

• prior academic learning

• personal, cultural,

community, or

developmental assets.

Candidate makes superficial

connect

ions to research

and/or theory.

Candidate justifies why

lear

ning tasks (or their

adaptations) are appropriate

using examples of young

adolescents’

• prior academic learning

AND

• personal, cultural,

community, or

developmental assets.

Candidate makes

onnections to research

and/or theory, including young

adolescent development.

Level 4 plus:

Candidate’s justification is

supported b

y principles from

research and/or theory,

including young adolescent

development.

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Rubric 4: Identifying and Supporting Language Demands

How does the candidate identify and support language demands associated with a key history/social studies

learning task?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Language demands

identified

by the candidate are not

consistent with the selected

language function

OR task.

Language supports are

missing or are not aligned

with the language demand(s)

for the learning task.

Language supports primarily

address one language

demand (vocabulary/symbols,

function, syntax, discourse).

General language supports

address use of two or more

language demands

(vocabulary/symbols, function,

syntax, discourse).

Targeted language supports

address use o

• vocabulary/symbols,

• language function, AND

• one or more additional

language demands

(syntax, discourse).

Level 4 plus:

Language supports are

designed to m

eet the needs

of young adolescents with

different levels of language

learning.

Language demands include: language function, vocabulary/symbols, syntax, and discourse (organizational structures, text structure, etc.).

Language function refers to the learning outcome (verb) selected in prompt 4a (e.g., analyze, interpret).

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Rubric 5: Planning Assessments to Monitor and Support Student Learning

How are the informal and formal assessments selected or designed to monitor young adolescents’ progress

toward understanding and use of facts, concepts, and inquiry, interpretations, or analyses to build arguments

or conclusions?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

The assessments only

provide evidence of young

adolescents’ recall of

history/social studies facts.

Candidate does not attend to

ANY ASS

ESSMENT

requirements in IEPs and 504

plans.

The assessments provide

limite

d evidence to monitor

young adolescents’ progress

toward developing

history/social studies

understandings and use of

• facts, concepts, AND

• inquiry, interpretations,

or analyses

during the learning segment.

The assessmen

ts provide

evidence

to monitor young

adolescents’ progress toward

developing history/social

studies understandings and

use of

• facts, concepts, AND

• inquiry, interpretations, or

analyses

during the learning segment.

The assessmen

ts provide

multiple

forms of evidence to

monitor young adolescents’

progress toward developing

history/social studies

understandings and use of

• facts, concepts, AND

• inquiry, interpretations, or

analyses

to build arguments or

conc

lusions throughout the

learning segment.

Level 4 plus:

The assessments are

stra

tegically designed to

allow individuals or groups

with specific needs to

demonstrate their learning.

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Instruction Task 2: Instructing and

Engaging Students in Learning

What Do I Need to Think About?

In Instruction Task 2, you will demonstrate how you support and engage young adolescents

in learning. Before you begin your instruction, you need to think about the following:

What kind of learning environment do you want to devel

op in order to establish

respect and rapport and t

o support young adol

escents’ engagement in learning?

What kinds of learning ta

sks actively engage young adolescents in the central focus

of the learning segment?

How will you elicit and build on young adolescents’ responses in ways that develop

and deepen content

understanding?

In what ways

will you connect new content to young adolescents’ prior academic

learning and personal, cultural, community, or developm

ental assets during your

inst

ruction?

How will you use evidence from your instruction to examine and change your

teachi

ng practices to more effectively meet a variety of young adolescent learning

needs?

What Do I Need to Do?

Obtain required permissions for videorecording. Before you record your video,

ensure that you have the appropriate permission from the parents/guardians of your

students and from adults who appear in the video. Adjust the camera angle to exclude

individuals for whom you do not have permission to film.

Examine your plans for the learning segment and identify challenging learning tasks

in which you and young adolescents are actively engaged. The video clips you select for

submission should provide samples of how you develop young adolescents’ abilities to

use sources, form interpretations or analyses, and to build and support arguments or

concl

usions.

Identify lessons to videorecord.

Provide 2 video

clips (no more than 20 minutes total, but not less than 3 minutes)

that demonstrate how you interact with young adolescents in a positive learning

environment to develop their ability to interpret or analyze accounts of historical events

or a social studies phenomenon and to build and support their arguments or

onclusions.

The first clip should illust

rate how you engage young adolescent learners in tasks

that develop their skills of inquiry, interpretation, or analysis of history social studies

sourc

es or accounts to build and support arguments or conclusions.

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The second clip should focus on how you supported young adolescents in using

evidence from sources to form interpretations or analyses and to build and support

arguments or conclusions about historical events, a topic/theme, or a social studies

phenomenon.

(Optional) Provide evidence of students’ language use. You may provide evidence

of language use with your video clips from Instruction Task 2, an additional video clip of

one or more students using language within the learning segment (no more than 5

minutes in length), AND/OR through the student work samples analyzed in

Assessment Task 3.

Determine whether you will feature the whole class or a targeted group of students

(minimu

m of 4 students) within the class.

Videorecord your classroom teaching. Tips for videorecording your class are

available from your teacher preparation program.

Select video clips to submit and verify that the clips meet the following requirements:

Check the video and sound quality to ensure that you and your students can be seen

and heard on the video clips you submit. If most of the audio in a clip cannot be

understood by a scorer, submit another clip. If there are occasional audio portions

of a clip that cannot be understood that are relevant to your commentary

responses

do one of t

he following: 1) provide a transcript with time stamps of the inaudible

portion and refer to the transcript in your response; 2) embed quotes with time-stamp

references in the commentary response; or 3) insert captions in the video (captions

for this purpose will be considered permissible editing).

A video clip must be continuous and unedited, with no interruption in events.

If you have inadv

ertently included individuals for whom you do not have permission

to film in the video clip(s) you plan to submit, you may use software to blur the faces

of these individuals. This is not considered editing. Other portions of the submitted

video clip(s), including the classroom, your face, and the faces of individuals for

whom you have obtained permission to film, should remain unblurred.

Do not include the name of the state, school, or district in your video. Use first names

only for

all individuals appearing in the video.

Respond to the prompts listed in the Instruction Commentary section below after

viewing the video clips.

Determine if additional information is needed to understand what you and the

students are doing in the video clips. For example, if there are graphics, texts, or

images that are not clearly visible in the video, or comments that are not clearly heard,

you may insert digital copies or transcriptions at the end of the Instruction Commentary

(no more than 2 pages in addition to the responses to commentary prompts).

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See the Instruction Task 2: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications in the Middle

Childhood History/Social Studies Evidence Chart for instructions on electronic

submission of evidence. This evidence chart identifies templates, supported file

types, number of files, response length, and other important evidence specifications.

Your evidence cannot contain hyperlinked content. Any web content you wish to

include as part of your evidence must be submitted as a document file, which must

conform to the file format and response length requirements.

What Do I Need to Write?

Instruction Commentary

In Instruction Task 2, you will write a commentary, responding to the prompts below. Your

commentary should be no more than 6 single-spaced pages, including the prompts. If

needed, insert no more than 2 additional pages of supporting documentation for the

videorecordings at the end of the commentary (e.g., digital copies of indiscernible materials

or transcriptions of inaudible comments). These additional pages do not count toward the

commentary page limit noted above.

1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips? Identify the lesson(s) by

less

on plan number.

2. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment

Refer to scenes in the video clips where you provided a positive learning

envir

onment.

a. How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to

young adol

escents with varied needs (academic and developmental) and

backgrounds, and challenge young adolescents to engage in learning?

3. Engaging Students in Learning

Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.

a. Explain how your instruction engaged young adolescents in

developing the skills of inquiry, interpretation, or analysis in relation to

sourc

es or accounts of historical events or a social studies phenomenon

building and supporting arguments or conclusions

b. Describe how your instruction linked young adolescents’ prior academic learning

and personal

, cultural, community, or developmental assets with new learning.

4. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction

Refer to examples from the clips in your explanations.

a. Explain how you elicited and built on student responses that supported young

adolesc

ents’ ability to form inquiries, interpretations, or analyses of history/social

studies sources or accounts AND build and support arguments or conclusions.

b. Describe and cite examples from the video clips of how you supported young

adolescents in using evidence from one or more sources to support

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interpretations or analyses and arguments or conclusions about historical events

or a social studies phenomenon.

5. Analyzing Teaching

Refer to examples from the vi

deo clips in your responses to the prompts.

a. What changes would you make to your instruction—for the whole class and/or for

student

s who need greater support or challenge—to better support student

learning of the central focus (e.g., missed opportunities)?

Consider the variety of young adolescent learners in your class who may re

quire

different strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English

language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with

gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).

b. Why do you think these changes would improv

e young adolescent learning?

Support your explanation with evidence of young adolescent learning AND

principles from theory and/or research, including young adolescent development.

How Will the Evidence of My Teaching Practice Be

Assessed?

For Instruction Task 2, your evidence will be assessed using rubrics 6–10, which appear on

the following pages. When preparing your artifacts and commentaries, refer to the rubrics

frequently to guide your thinking, instruc

tion, and writing.

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Instruction Rubrics

Rubric 6: Learning Environment

How does the candidate demonstrate a positive learning environment that supports young adolescents’

engagement in learning?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

The clips reveal evidence of

disrespectful interactions

between teacher and young

adolescents or between

young adolescents.

Candidate allows disruptive

behavior to in

terfere with

young adolescent learning.

The candidate demonstrates

respect

for young

adolescents.

AND

Candidate provides a

learning environm

ent that

serves primarily to control

young adolescent behavior,

and minimally supports the

learning goals.

The candidate demonstrates

rapport w

ith and respect for

young adolescents.

AND

Candidate provides a positive,

low-ris

k learning

environment that reveals

mutual respect among

young adolescents.

The candidate demonstrates

rappor

t with and respect for

young adolescents.

AND

Candidate provides a

challe

nging learning

environment that promotes

mutual respect among young

adolescents.

The candidate demonstrates

rappo

rt with and respect for

young adolescents.

AND

Candidate provides a

chall

enging learning

environment that provides

opportunities to express

varied perspectives and

promotes mutual respect

among young adolescents.

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Rubric 7: Engaging Students in Learning

How does the candidate engage young adolescents in inquiry, interpretation, or analysis of history/social

studies sources or accounts and building arguments or conclusions?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Young adolescents are

participating in tasks that

are vaguely or superficially

connected to historical

events or social studies

phenomena.

Young adolescents are

participating in learning tasks

focusing primarily on facts

or single interpretations.

Young adolescents are

engaged in learning tasks that

address their skills of

inquiry, interpretation, or

analysis of history/social

studies sources or accounts.

Young adolescents are

engaged in learning tasks that

develop their skills of inquiry,

interpretation, or analysis of

history/social studies sources

or accounts AND in building

arguments or conclusions.

Level 4 plus:

Learning tasks deepen

knowledge, extend skills,

AND provide evidence of

students supporting their

arguments or conclusions.

There is little or no evidence

that t

he candidate links

young adolescents’ prior

academic learning or personal,

cultural, community, or

developmental assets with new

learning.

Candidate makes vague or

superficial links between prior

academic learning and new

learning.

Candidate links prior

academic learning to new

learning.

Candidate links prior academic

learning AND personal,

cultural, community, or

developmental assets to new

learning.

Candidate prompts young

adolescents to link prior

academic learning AND

personal, cultural, community,

or developmental assets to

new learning.

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Rubric 8: Deepening Student Learning

How does the candidate elicit young adolescent learners’ responses to promote their ability to inquire about,

interpret, or analyze history/social studies sources/accounts and to build arguments or conclusions?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Candidate does most of the

talking and young

adolescents provide few

responses.

Candidate responses include

significant

content

inaccuracies that will lead to

young adolescent

misunderstandings.

Candidate primarily asks

surface-

level questions and

evaluates young adolescents’

responses as correct or

incorrect.

Candidate elicits young

adolescents’ responses that

require interpretations or

analyses of history/social

studies sources or accounts.

Candidate elicits and builds

on young adolescents’

responses to develop

interpretations or analyses of

history/social studies sources

or accounts OR to build

arguments or conclusions.

Level 4 plus:

Candidate facilitates

interactions among young

adolescents to develop their

abilities to evaluate their own

interpretations, analyses,

arguments, or conclusions.

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Rubric 9: Subject-Specific Pedagogy

How does the candidate support young adolescents in using evidence from sources as they interpret or analyze

and build and support arguments or conclusions?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Candidate primarily focuses

on facts with little or no

attention to interpretation,

analysis, or building

arguments or conclusions.

Candidate provides limited

opportunities for young

adolescents to interpret

source(s) or build arguments

or conclusions because they

are primarily focused on

demonstrating these skills

for the class.

Candidate prompts young

adol

escents to use evidence

from source(s) as the

students interpret, analyze,

OR build arguments or

conclusions.

Candidate supports young

adolescents in using

evidence from multiple

sources to build and support

arguments or conclusions.

Level 4 plus:

Candidate uses counter or

alte

rnative evidence from

source(s) to challenge young

adolescents to support

arguments or conclusions.

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Rubric 10: Analyzing Teaching Effectiveness

How does the candidate use evidence to evaluate and change teaching practice to meet young adolescents’

varied learning needs?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Candidate suggests changes

unrelated to evidence of

young adolescent learning.

Candidate proposes changes

to teacher practice that are

superficially related to

student learning needs (e.g.,

task management, pacing,

improving directions).

Candidate proposes changes

that address young

adolescents’ collective

learning needs related to the

central focus.

Candidate makes superficial

connect

ions to research

and/or theory.

Candidate proposes changes

that add

ress individual and

collective learning needs

related to the central focus.

Candidate makes

connect

ions to research

and/or theory, including young

adolescent development.

Level 4 plus:

Candidate justifies changes

using principles

from

research and/or theory,

including young adolescent

development.

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Assessment Task 3: Assessing Student

Learning

What Do I Need to Think About?

In Assessment Task 3, you will analyze both student learning and student use of language.

Before you begin the analysis, you need to think about the following:

How will you gather evidence and make sense of what students have learned?

How will you provide meaningful feedback to your students?

How will you use evidence of what students know and are able to do to plan next

eps in instruction?

How will you identify evidence of and explain students’ use of language that

demonst

rates the development of content understanding?

What Do I Need to Do?

Select one assessment from your learning segment you will use to evaluate your

students’ developing knowledge and skills. It should be an assessment that is completed

by the whole class featured in the learning segment. (If you are teaching only a group

within the class for the learning segment, that group will be “the whole class.”) The

assessment should reflect the work of individuals, not groups, but may be individual

work from a group task. The assessment should provide opportunities for students to

demonstrate their ability to do the following:

understand/use facts and concepts

use

inquiry, interpretation, or analysis skills

build and support arguments or conclusions

efine and submit the evaluation criteria you will use to analyze young adol

escent

learning related to the history/social studies understandings described above.

Collect and analyze student work from the selected assessment to identify

quantit

ative and qualitative patterns of learning within and across learners in t

he class.

You may submit text files with scanned student work, a video or audio file of a student’s

oral work, OR a student-created video or multimedia file. For each focus student, a video

or audio work sample must be no more than 5 minutes in total running time.

Select 3 student work samples that represent

the patterns of learning (i.e., what

individuals or groups generally understood and what a number of young adolescents

were still struggling to understand) you identified in your assessment analysis. These

students will be your focus students for this task. At least one of the focus students

must have specific learning needs, for example, a student with an IEP (Individualized

Education Program) or 504 plan, an English language learner, a struggling reader, an

underperforming student or a student with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or a gifted

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student needing greater support or challenge. Note: California candidates must include

one focus student who is an English language learner.

Document the feedback you gave to each of the 3 focus students on the work sample

itself, as an audio clip, or as a video clip. You must submit evidence of the actual

feedback provided to each focus student, and not a description of the feedback.

If you submit a student work sample or feedback as a video or audi

o clip and comments

made by you or your focus student(s) cannot be clearly heard, do one of the following: 1)

attach a transcription of the inaudible comments (no more than 2 additional pages) to

the end of the Assessment Commentary; 2) embed quotes with time-stamp references in

the commentary response; or 3) insert captions in the video (captions for this purpose

will be considered permissible editing).

If you submit a student work sample or feedback as a video or audio clip and additional

students

are present, clearly identify which students are your focus students in the

relevant prompts (1d and 2a) of the Assessment Commentary (in no more than 2

sentences).

Respond to the prompts listed in the Assessment Commentary section below after

analyzing student work from the selected assessment.

Include and submit the chosen assessment, including the directions/prompts

provided t

o students. Attach the assessment (no more than 5 additional pages) to

the end of the Assessment Commentary.

Provide evidence of young adolescents’ understanding and use of the targeted

academic l

anguage function and other language demands. You m

ay choose

evi

dence from the video clips submitted in Instruction Task 2, an additional video clip of

one or more students using language within the learning segment (no more than 5

minutes in length), AND/OR student work samples submitted in Assessment Task 3.

California candidates—If you do not have any English language learners, select a student who is challenged by academic

English.

See the Assessment Task 3: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications in the Middle

Childhood History/Social Studies Evidence Chart for instructions on electronic

submission of evidence. This evidence chart identifies templates, supported file

types, number of files, response length, and other important evidence specifications.

Your evidence cannot contain hyperlinked content. Any web content you wish to

include as part of your evidence must be submitted as a document file, which must

conform to the file format and response length requirements.

What Do I Need to Write?

Assessment Commentary

In Assessment Task 3, you will write a commentary, responding to the prompts below. Your

commentary should be no more than 10 single-spaced pages, including the prompts.

Attach the assessment used to evaluate student performance (no more than 5 additional

pages) and, if necessary, a transcription of inaudible portions of a video or audio clip of

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feedback or a student work sample (no more than 2 additional pages) to the end of the

Assessment Commentary. These additional pages do not count toward the commentary

page limit noted above.

1. Analyzing Student Learning

a. Identi

fy the specific learning objectives measured

by the assessment you chose

for analysis.

b. Provide a graphic (table or chart) or narrative that summarizes student learning

for y

our whole class. Be sure to summarize student learning for all evaluation

criteria submitted in Assessment Task 3, Part D.

c. Use evidence found in the 3 student work samples and the whole class

summary to analyze the patterns of learning for the whole class and

differences for groups or individual learners relative to

facts and concepts

inquiry, interpretation, or analysis skills

building and supporting arguments or conclusions

Consider what young adolescents understand and do well, and where they

continue to struggle (e.g., common errors, confusions, need for greater

challenge).

d. If a video or audio work sample occurs in a group context (e.g., discussion),

provide the name of the clip and clearly describe how the scorer can identify the

focus student(s) (e.g., position, physical description) whose work is portrayed.

2. Feedback to Guide Further Learning

Refer to specific evidence of submitted feedback to support your explanations.

a. Identify the format in which you submitted your evidence of feedback for the 3

focus students. Choose one of the following:

Written directly on work samples or in separate documents that were provided

to the focus students

In audio files

In video clips from Instruction Task 2 (provide a time-stamp reference) or in

separate video clips

If a video or audio clip of feedback occurs in a group context (e.g., discussion),

clearly describe how the scorer can identify the focus student (e.g., position,

physical description) who is being given feedback.

b. Explain how feedback provided to the 3 focus students addresses their individual

strengths and needs relative to the learning objectives measured.

c. Describe how you will support each focus student to understand and use this

feedback to further their learning related to learning objectives, either within the

learning segment or at a later time.

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3. Evidence of Language Understanding and Use

When responding to the prompt below, use concrete examples from the clip(s)

and/or s

tudent work samples as evidence. Evidence from the clip(s) may focus on

one or more students.

You may provide evidence of students’ language use from ONE, TWO, OR ALL

THR

EE of the following sources:

1. Use video clips from Instruction Task 2 and provide time-stamp references for

evidenc

e of language use.

2. Submit an additional video file named “Language Use” of no more than 5

minut

es in length and cite language use (this can be footage of one or more

students’ language use). Submit the clip in Assessment Task 3, Part B.

3. Use the student work samples analyzed in Assessment Task 3 and cite

langua

ge use.

a. Explain and provide concrete examples for the extent to which your students

were abl

e to use or struggled to use the

selected language function,

vocabulary/

symbols, AND

discourse or syntax

to dev

elop conten

t understandings.

4. Using Assessment to Inform Instruction

a. Based on your analysis of young adolescent learning presented in prompts 1b–

, des

cribe next steps for instruction to impact student learning:

For the whole class

For the 3 focus students and other individuals/groups with specific needs

Consider the variety of young adolescent learners

in your class who may require

diff

erent strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English

language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with

gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).

b. Explain how these next steps follow from your analysis of young adolescent

lear

ning. Support your explanation with principles from research and/or theory as

well as young adolescent development.

How Will the Evidence of My Teaching Practice Be

Assessed?

For Assessment Task 3, your evidence will be assessed using rubrics 11–15, which appear

on the following pages. When preparing your artifacts and commentaries, refer to the rubrics

frequently to guide your t

hinking, planning, instruction, assessment, and writing.

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Assessment Rubrics

Rubric 11: Analysis of Student Learning

How does the candidate analyze evidence of young adolescent learning of facts and concepts, inquiry,

interpretation, or analysis skills, and building arguments or conclusions about historical events or a social

studies phenomenon?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

The analysis is superficial or

not supported by either work

samples or the summary of

young adolescent learning.

The evaluation criteria,

learning object

ives, and/or

analysis are not aligned with

each other.

The analysis focuses on what

young adolescent

s did right

OR wrong.

The analysis focuses on what

young adolescents did right

AND wrong.

AND

Analysis includes some

differences in whole class

learning.

The analysis uses specific

examples from work samples

to demonstrate patterns of

learning consistent with the

summary.

AND

Patterns of learning are

described for

whole class.

The analysis uses specific

evidence

from work samples

to demonstrate the

connections between

quantitative and qualitative

patterns of learning for

individuals or groups.

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Rubric 12: Providing Feedback to Guide Learning

What type of feedback does the candidate provide to focus students?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Feedback is unrelated to the

learning objectives OR is

developmentally

inappropriate.

Feedback contains

significant

content

inaccuracies.

No feedback is provided to

one or more focus

students.

Feedback is general and

addresses

needs AND/OR

strengths related to the

learning objectives.

Feedback is specific and

addresses either needs OR

strengths related to the

learning objectives.

Feedback is specific and

addresses both strengths

AND needs related to the

learning objectives.

Level 4 plus:

Feedback for one or more

focus students

• provides a strategy to

address an individual

learning need OR

•

makes connections to

prior learning or

experience to improve

learning.

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Assessment Rubrics continued

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Rubric 13: Student Understanding and Use of Feedback

How does the candidate support focus students to understand and use the feedback to guide their further

learning?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Opportunities for

understanding or using

feedback are not described.

Candidate provides limited

or no feedbac

k to inform

student learning.

Candidate provides vague

description o

f how focus

students will understand or

use feedback.

Candidate describes how

focus students will understand

or use feedback related to the

learning objectives.

Candidate describes how s/he

will support focus students to

understand and use feedback

on their strengths OR

weaknesses related to the

learning objectives.

Candidate describes how s/he

will support focus students to

understand and use feedback

on their strengths AND

weaknesses related to the

learning objectives.

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Assessment Rubrics continued

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Rubric 14: Analyzing Students’ Language Use and History/Social Studies Learning

How does the candidate analyze young adolescents’ use of language to develop content understanding?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Candidate identifies student

language use that is

superficially related or

unrelated to the language

demands (function,

vocabulary/symbols, and

additional demands).

Candidate’s description or

explanation of la

nguage use

is not consistent with the

evidence submitted.

Candidate describes how

young adolescents use

only

one language demand

(vocabulary/symbols,

function, syntax, discourse).

Candidate explains and

provides evidence of young

adolescents’ use of

• the language function

AND

• one or more additional

language demands

(vocabulary/symbols,

syntax, discourse).

Candidate explains and

provides evidence of young

adolescents’ use of

• the language function,

• vocabulary/symbols,

AND

• additional language

demand(s) (syntax,

discourse)

in ways that develop content

understandings.

Level 4 plus:

Candidate explains and

provides evidence of

langua

ge use and content

learning for young

adolescents with varied

needs.

Previous footnote is now obsolete and has been deleted.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

Assessment Rubrics continued

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Rubric 15: Using Assessment to Inform Instruction

How does the candidate use the analysis of what young adolescents know and are able to do to plan next steps

in instruction?

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Next steps do not follow from

the analysis.

Next steps are not relevant to

the learning o

bjectives

assessed.

Next steps are not described

in sufficient detail to

understand them.

Next steps primarily focus on

changes t

o teaching practice

that are superficially related

to young adolescent

learning needs, for example,

repeating instruction,

pacing, or classroom

management issues.

Next steps propose general

support that improves young

adolescent learning related

to assessed learning

objectives.

Next steps are loosely

connect

ed with research

and/or theory.

Next steps provide targeted

support t

o individuals or

groups to improve their

learning relative to

• facts and concepts OR

• inquiry, interpretations,

or analyses OR

• building and supporting

arguments or

conclusions.

Next steps are connected with

research and/or theory,

including young adolescent

development.

Next steps provide targeted

suppor

t to individuals AND

groups to improve their

learning relative to

• facts and concepts AND

• inquiry, interpretations, or

analyses AND

• building and supporting,

arguments or conclusions.

Next steps are justified with

principles f

rom research

and/or theory, including young

adolescent development.

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Professional Responsibilities

Refer to the following table for an overview of your professional responsibilities in

developing evidence for edTPA. If you are submitting artifacts and commentaries for official

scoring, refer to www.edTPA.com for complete and current information before beginning

your

work. Included here are important information and policies such as submission

requirements and deadlines, registration agreements, attestations, permissions, and

confidentiality. Whether or not you are submitting for official scoring, you should fulfill the

professional responsibilities described below.

Responsibility Description

Protect

confidentiality

To protect confidentiality, please remove your name and use pseudonyms or general

references (e.g., “the district”) for your state, school, district, and cooperating teacher. Mask

or remove all names on any typed or written material (e.g., commentaries, lesson plans,

student work samples) that could identify individuals or institutions. During videorecording,

use students’ first names only.

To ensure confidentiality of your students and yourself, do not share your video on any

public

ly accessible platforms or websites (YouTube, Facebook, etc.).

Acquire

permissions

Before you record your classroom instruction, ensure that you have the appropriate

permission from the parents/guardians of your students and from adults who appear in the

videorecording.

Your program will provide you with procedures and necessary forms to obtain these

permi

ssions, according to agreements with the school or district in which you are student

teaching or completing your internship.

If your program does not provide the necessary forms, you may refer to the sample forms

found on www.edTPA.com

he release forms are not to be submitted with your materials, but you should follow your

campus

policy for retaining them.

Cite sources

Provide citations for the source of all materials that you did not create (e.g., published texts,

websites, and material from other educators). List all citations by lesson number at the end of

the Planning Commentary. Note: Citations do not count toward the commentary page limit.

Align instruction

with state

standards

As part of the assessment, you will document the alignment of your lesson plans with state-

adopted academic content standards that are the target of student learning. Refer to the

education agency website for your state to obtain copies of relevant standards for this

assessment.

Follow the

guidelines for

candidate support

www.edTPA.com

Follow the guidelines for candidate support found at www.edTPA.com as you develop your

evidence for edTPA. Although you may seek and receive appropriate support from your

university supervisors, cooperating/master teachers, university instructors, or peers during

this process, the ultimate responsibility for completing this assessment lies with you.

Therefore, when you submit your completed work, you must be able to confirm your

adher

ence with certain statements, such as the following:

I have primary responsibility for teaching the students/class during the learning segment

profiled in this assessment.

I have not previously taught this learning segment to the students/class.

The video clips submitted are unedited (continuous) and show me teaching the

student

s/class profiled in the evidence submitted.

The student work included in the documentation is that of my students, completed

during t

he learning segment documented in this assessment.

I am author of the commentaries and other written responses to prompts in this

assessm

ent.

Appropriate citations have been made for all materials in the assessment whose

sourc

es are from published text, the Internet, or other educators.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

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_____

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies

Context for Learning Information

Use the Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Context for Learning Information to supply

information about your school/classroom context.

About the School Where You Are Teaching

1. In what type of school do you teach? (Type an “X” next to the appropriate

description; if “other” applies, provide a brief description.)

Elementary school (K–6):

Middle school (6–8):

K–8:

7–9:

Other (please describe):

2. Where is the school where you are teaching located? (Type an “X” next to the

appropriat

e description.)

City:

Suburb:

Town:

Rural:

3. List any special features of your school or classroom setting (e.g., charter, co-

teaching, themed magnet, remedial course, honors course) that will affect your

teaching in this learning segment.

4. Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations

that mi

ght affect your planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula,

pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, interdisciplinary teaming, or

standardized tests.

If you need guidance when making a selection, reference the NCES locale category definitions

(https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ruraled/definitions.asp) or consult with your placement school administrator.

About the Class Featured in this Learning Segment

1. What is the name of this course?

2. What is the length of the course? (Type an “X” next to the appropriate description; if

“other” applies, provide a brief description.)

One semester:

One year:

Other (please describe):

3. What is the class schedule (e.g., 50 minutes every day, 90 minutes every other

day)?

4. Is there any ability grouping or tracking in history/social studies? If so, please

desc

ribe how it affects your class.

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_____________________________

_____

______ _____

5. Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for history/social

studies instruction. If a textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of

publication.

6. List other resources (e.g., electronic whiteboard, resource library in classroom, online

resourc

es) you use for history/social studies instruction in this class.

About the Young Adolescents in the Class Featured in this

Learning Segment

1. Grade level:

Age range of students:

2. Number of

student

s in the class:

males: females:

3. Complete the charts below to summarize required or needed supports,

accommodations, or modifications for your students that will affect your instruction in

this learning segment. As needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete

the charts. Some rows have been completed in italics as examples. Use as many

rows as you need.

Consider the variety of young adolescent learners in your class who may

requi

re different strategies/supports or accommodations/modifications to

instruction or assessment. For example, students

With Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans

With specific language needs

Needing greater challenge or support

Who struggle with reading

Who are underperforming students or have gaps in academic

knowledge

For Assessment Task 3, you will choose work samples from 3 focus students.

At l

east one of these students must have a specified learning need. Note:

California candidates must include one focus student who is an English

language learner.

California candidates—If you do not have any English language learners, select a student who is challenged by academic

English.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

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Students with IEPs/504 Plans

IEPs/504 Plans:

assifications/Needs

Number of

Students

Supports, Accommodations,

Modifications, Pertinent IEP Goals

Example: Learning disability 2 Close monitoring, copy of PowerPoint

notes and follow up

Students with Specific Language Needs

Language Needs Number of

Students

Supports, Accommodations,

Modifications

Example: English language

learners with only a few

words of English

2 Pre-teach key words and phrases

through examples and graphic

organizers (e.g., word cluster,

manipulatives, visuals)

Have students use pre-taught key words

and graphic organizers to

complete sentence starters

Example: Students who

speak a variety of English

other than that used in

textbooks

5 Make connections between the language

students bring and the language used in

the textbook

Students with Other Learning Needs

Other Learning Needs Number of

Students

Supports, Accommodations,

Modifications

Example: Struggling readers 5 Provide oral explanations for directions,

extended time, and sentence frames to

support written responses

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Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Evidence Chart

Your evidence must be submitted to the electronic portfolio management system used by your teacher preparation program. Your

submission must conform to the artifact and commentary specifications for each task. This section provides instructions for all

evidence types as well as a description of supported file types for evidence submission, number of files, response lengths, and

other information regarding format specifications. Note that your evidence cannot contain hyperlinked content. Any web content

you wish to include as part of your evidence must be submitted as a document file, which must conform to the file format and

response length requirements. If you have materials that must be translated into English as per the

edTPA Submission

Requir

ements, those translations should be added to the original materials as part of the same file or, if applicable, to the end of

the com

mentary template. There is no page limit for required translations into English.

Planning Task 1: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications

What to

Submit

Supported File

Types

Number of Files

Response

Length

Additional Information

Min Max

Part A: Context for

Learning

Information

(template provided)

.doc; .docx; .odt; .pdf 1 1

No more than

4 pages, i

ncluding

prompts

Use Arial 11-point type.

Single space with 1" margins on all sides.

Part B: Lesson

Plans for Learning

Segment

.doc; .docx; .odt; .pdf 1 1

No more than 4

pages pe

r lesson

Submit 3–5 lesson plans in 1 file.

Within the file, label each lesson plan (Lesson 1, Lesson 2, etc.).

All rationale or explanation for plans should be written in the

Planning Commentary and removed from lesson plans.

Part C:

Instructi

onal

Materials

.doc; .docx; .odt; .pdf 1 1

No more than

5 pages of KEY

nstructional materials

per lesson plan

Submit all materials in 1 file.

Within the file, label materials by corresponding lesson (Lesson 1

Instructio

nal Materials, Lesson 2 Instructional Materials, etc.).

Order materials as they are used in the learning segment.

Part D:

Assessments

oc; .docx; .odt; .pdf 1 1

No limit Submit assessments in 1 file.

Within the file, label assessments by corresponding lesson

(Lesson 1 A

ssessments, Lesson 2 Assessments, etc.).

Order assessments as they are used in the learning segment.

Part E: Planning

Commentary

(templ

ate provided)

.doc; .docx; .odt; .pdf 1 1

No more than

9 pages of

commen

tary,

including prompts

Use Arial 11-point type.

Single space with 1" margins on all sides.

Respond to prompts before teaching the learning segment.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

43 of 51



Instruction Task 2: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications

What to

Submit

Supported File

Types

Number of Files

Response

Length

Additional Information

Min Max

Part A: Video

Clips

flv, asf, qt, mov, mpg,

mpeg, avi, wmv, mp4,

m4v

2 2

No more than

20 minutes total

running time (but not

less than 3 minutes)

Before you record your video, obtain permission from the

parents/guardians of your students and from adults who appear in

the video.

Refer to Instruction Task 2

, What do I Need to do? for video clip

content and requirements.

When naming each clip file, include the number of the lesson

shown

in the video clip.

Part B: Instruction

Commentary

(template

provided)

.doc; .docx; .odt; .pdf 1 1

No more than

6 pages of

commentary,

including prompts

If needed, no more

than 2

additional

pages of supporting

documentation

Use Arial 11-point type.

Single space with 1" margins on all sides.

IMPORTANT:

Insert documentation at the end of the commentary file if

you or the students are using graphics, texts, or images that

are not clearly visible in the video

you chose to submit a transcript for occasionally inaudible

porti

ons of the video

If submitting documentation, include the video clip number, lesson

number

, and explanatory text (e.g., “Clip 1, lesson 2, text from a

whiteboard that is not visible in the video,” “Clip 2, lesson 4,

transcription of a student response that is inaudible”).

Video file size requirements: The target file size is 200–300 MB or less. The Pearson ePortfolio System file size limit is 500 MB. Please note that each integrated platform

provider portfolio system may have additional constraints or requirements regarding video formats and file sizes. You may need to use video tools to compress or transcode your

video into smaller file sizes to facilitate uploading of the video. Refer to Recommended Video Formats and Settings on www.edtpa.com

for the current requirements.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

(Continued on next page)

44 of 51



Assessment Task 3: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications

What to

Submit

Supported File

Types

Number of Files

Response

Length

Additional Information

Min Max

Part A: Student

Work Samples

For written work

samples: .doc; .docx;

.odt; .pdf

For audio work

samples: flv, asf,

wmv, qt, mov, mpg,

avi, mp3, wav, mp4,

wma

For video work

sample

s: flv, asf, qt,

mov, mpg, mpeg, avi,

wmv, mp4, m4v

3 3

No page limit for

wri

tten work samples

No more than 5

minutes

per focus

student for video or

audio student work

samples

Use correction fluid, tape, or a felt-tip marker to mask or remove

student

s’ names, your name, and the name of the school

before copying/scanning any work samples. If your students’

writing is illegible, write a transcription directly on the work sample.

On each work sample, indicate the student number (Student 1

Work Sa

mple, Student 2 Work Sample, or Student 3 Work

Sample). If more than one focus student appears in a video or

audio work sample, upload the same work sample separately for

each focus student who is seen/heard and label appropriately.

Describe how to recognize each of the focus students in the clip

and provide the label associated with the clip in prompt 1d of the

Assessment Commentary.

When naming each work sample file, include the student number.

If you submit a student work sample or feedback as a video or

aud

io clip and comments made by you or your focus student(s)

cannot be clearly heard, do one of the following: 1) attach a

transcription of the inaudible comments (no more than 2

additional pages) to the end of the Assessment Commentary; 2)

embed quotes with time-stamp references in the commentary

response; or 3) insert captions in the video (captions for this

purpose will be considered permissible editing).

Video file size requirements: The target file size is 200–300 MB or less. The Pearson ePortfolio System file size limit is 500 MB. Please note that each integrated platform

provider portfolio system may have additional constraints or requirements regarding video formats and file sizes. You may need to use video tools to compress or transcode your

video into smaller file sizes to facilitate uploading of the video. Refer to Recommended Video Formats and Settings on www.edtpa.com

for the current requirements.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

Assessment Task 3: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications (continued)

What to

Submit

Supported File

Types

Number of Files

Response

Length

Additional Information

Min Max

(Continued on next page)

45 of 51



Part B: Evidence

of Feedback

And, if included,

video evidence of

academic

language use

For written feedback

not written on the

ork samples: .doc;

.docx; .odt; .pdf

For audio feedback:

flv, asf, wmv, qt, mov,

mpg, avi, mp3, wav,

mp4, wma

For video clips

(feedback and/or

language use): flv,

asf, qt, mov, mpg,

mpeg, avi, wmv, mp4,

m4v

0 4

No page limit for

written feedback

No more than 3

minutes per focus

student fo

r video or

audio feedback

No more than 5

minutes for vide

evidence of student

language use

Document the location of your evidence of feedback in the

Assessment Commentary.

If feedback is not included as part of the student work samples or

recorded on th

e video clip(s) from Instruction Task 2, submit only 1

file for each focus student—a document, video file, OR audio file—

and label the file with the corresponding student number (Student 1

Feedback, Student 2 Feedback, or Student 3 Feedback).

If more than one focus student appears in a video or audio clip of

feedback, upload t

he same clip separately for each focus student

who is seen/heard and label appropriately.

When naming each feedback file, include the student number.

If you submit a student work sample or feedback as a video or

audio clip and comments made by you or your focus student(s)

cannot be clearly heard, do one of the following: 1) attach a

transcription of the inaudible comments (no more than 2

additional pages) to the end of the Assessment Commentary; 2)

embed quotes with time-stamp references in the commentary

response; or 3) insert captions in the video (captions for this

purpose will be considered permissible editing).

For Academic Language – If you choose to submit a video clip of

student language use, it should be no more than 5 minutes. You

may identify a portion of a clip provided for Instruction Task 2 or

submit an entirely new clip.

Video file size requirements: The target file size is 200–300 MB or less. The Pearson ePortfolio System file size limit is 500 MB. Please note that each integrated platform

provider portfolio system may have additional constraints or requirements regarding video formats and file sizes. You may need to use video tools to compress or transcode your

video into smaller file sizes to facilitate uploading of the video. Refer to Recommended Video Formats and Settings on www.edtpa.com

for the current requirements.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

Assessment Task 3: Artifacts and Commentary Specifications (continued)

What to

Submit

Supported File

Types

Number of Files

Response

Length

Additional Information

Min Max

46 of 51



Part C:

Assessment

Commentary

(template

provi

ded)

.doc; .docx; .odt; .p

df 1 1 No more than 10

pages of commentary,

including prompts

Plus

no more than

5 additional

pages for the

chosen

assessment

if necessary,

no more than

2 additional

total pages of

transcription of

video/audio

evidence for a

work sample

and feedback,

and/or video

evidence of

language use

Use Arial 11-point type.

Single space with 1" margins on all sides.

IMPORTANT: Insert a copy of the chosen assessment, including

directions/prompts provided to students.

Part D: Evaluation

Criteria

.doc; .docx; .odt; .pdf 1 1 No limit

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

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Middle Childhood History/Social Studies

Glossary

Source citations for glossary entries are provided as footnotes in this section.

academic language: Oral and written language used for academic purposes. Academic

language is the means by which students develop and express content understandings.

Academic language represents the language of the discipline that students need to learn

and use to participate and engage in the content area in meaningful ways. There are

language demands that teachers need to consider as they plan to support student learning

of content. These language demands include language functions, vocabulary,

discourse, and syntax.

language demands:

Specific ways that academic language (vocabulary/symbols,

functions, discourse, syntax) is used by students to participate in learning tasks

through reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking to demonstrate their disciplinary

understanding.

language functions: The content and language focus of the learning task

represented by the active verbs within the learning outcomes. Common language

functions in history/social studies include interpreting maps, graphs, and data

tables; evaluating and interpreting an author/presenter/historian’s purpose and

message; examining evidence an author/presenter/historian uses to support claims;

analyzing arguments in favor of a perspective; writing/presenting persuasive

arguments; analyzing and/or describing causes of historical, economic,

geographic, and political events; and defending argument with evidence.

vocabulary: Includes words and phrases that are used within disciplines, including:

(1) wor

ds and phrases with subject-specific meanings that differ from meanings used

in everyday life (e.g., table); (2) general academic vocabulary used across disciplines

(e.g., compare, analyze, evaluate); and (3) subject-specific words defined for use in

the discipline.

discourse: Discourse includes the structures of written and oral language, as well as

how members of the discipline talk, write, and participate in knowledge construction.

Discipline-specific discourse has distinctive features or ways of structuring oral or

written language (text structures) that provide useful ways for the content to be

communicated.

In history/social studies, language features include expository,

narrative, journalistic, maps, and other graphic print materials; presentations of data

in text, charts, and graphs; and video and live presentations. Discourse structures

O'Hara, S., Pritchard, R., & Zwiers, J. (2012). Identifying academic language demands in support of the common core

standards. ASCD Express, 7(17). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ascd-expres

s/vol7/717-ohara.aspx

Quinn, H., Lee, O., & Valdés, G. (2012). Language demands and opportunities in relation to next generation science

standards for ELLs. Retrieved from http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/

03-

Quinn%20Lee%20Valdes%20Language%20and%20Opportunities%20in%20Science%20FINAL.pdf

Quinn, H., Lee, O., & Valdés, G. (2012). Language demands and opportunities in relation to next generation science

standards for ELLs. Retrieved from http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/

03-

Quinn%20Lee%20Valdes%20Language%20and%20Opportunities%20in%20Science%20FINAL.pdf

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_____________ ____________ ____________

_______________

can be at the sentence, paragraph, or symbolic level. If the function is to develop a

document-based argument, then appropriate language features could include written

essays with specified formats and pattern sentences such as “The two main causes

of were and . For example, the

(author of) (document) stated that ” (citation).

syntax: The set of conventions for organizing symbols, words, and phrases together

into structures (e.

g., sentences, graphs, tables).

language supports: The scaffolds, representations, and pedagogical strategies

teachers provide to help learners understand, use, and practice the concepts and

language they need to learn within disciplines (Santos, Darling-Hammond, Cheuk,

2012).

The language supports planned within the lessons in edTPA should directly

support learners to understand and use identified language demands

(vocabulary/symbols, language function, and discourse or syntax) to deepen content

understandings.

aligned: Consistently addressing the same/similar learning outcomes for students.

analysis: Detailed examination of the elements or structure of something; the process of

separating something into its constituent elements.

arguments: Use evidence to support

claims about a historical event, topic/issue, or social

studies phenomenon. Evidence comes from analysis and/or interpretation of history/social

studies sources.

artifacts: Authentic work completed by you and your students. Artifacts include lesson

plans, copies of instructional and assessment materials, video clips of your teaching, and

student work samples. Artifacts are submitted as part of your evidence.

assessment (formal and informal): “[R]efer[s] to all those activities undertaken by

teachers and by their students . . . that provide information to be used as feedback to modify

teaching and learning activities.”

Assessments provide evidence of students’ prior

knowledge, thinking, or learning in order to evaluate what students understand and how they

are thinking. Informal assessments may include, for example, student questions and

responses during instruction and teacher observations of students as they work or perform.

Formal assessments may include, for example, quizzes, homework assignments, journals,

projects, and performance tasks.

assets (knowledge of students):

personal: Refers to specific background information that young adolescents bring to

the learning environment. Students may bring interests, knowledge, everyday

experiences, family backgrounds, and so on, which a teacher can draw upon to

support learning.

Zwiers, J. (2008). Building academic language: Essential practices for content classrooms. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Santos, M., Darling-Hammond, L., & Cheuk, T. (2012). Teacher development to support English language learners in the

context of common core state standards. Stanford University Understanding Language. Available at

http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/10-Santos%20LDH%20Teacher%20Development%20FINAL.pdf

Analysis. (n.d.) In Oxford Dictionaries Online. Retrieved from

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/analysis.

Black, P., &

Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan,

80(2), 139–148.

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cultural: Refers to the cultural backgrounds and practices that young adolescents

bring to the learning environment, such as traditions, languages and dialects,

worldviews, literature, art, and so on, that a teacher can draw upon to support

learning.

community: Refers to common backgrounds and experiences that young

adolescents bring from the community where they live, such as resources, local

landmarks, community events and practices, and so on, that a teacher can draw

upon to support learning.

developmental: Refers to specific background information about cognitive, physical,

social, and emotional development that a teacher can draw upon to support student

learning.

central focus: A description of the important understandings and core concepts that you

want students to develop within the learning segment. The central focus should go beyond a

list of facts and skills, align with content standards and learning objectives, and address the

subject-specific components in the learning segment. For example, a central focus for a

Middle Childhood History/Social Studies learning segment might be “the effects of British

colonial rule in India” or “the role of political parties in the electoral process.” The learning

segment would focus on facts, concepts, analyses, and interpretations of sources to build

and support arguments about historical events, a topic/theme, or a social studies

phenomenon.

cognitive development: Refers to the changes and advancement that occur in intellectual

development during adolescence, such as the shift from concrete operational thinking to

formal abstract thinking.

commentary: Submitted as part of each task and, along with artifacts, make up your

evidence. The commentaries should be written to explain the rationale behind your teaching

decisions and to analyze and reflect on what you have learned about your teaching practice

and your students’ learning.

concepts: The categories we use to cluster information. They organize specific information

under one label (e.g., shelter, family, community, democracy, region). Concepts summarize

and categorize objects. The difficulty of learning a concept depends on the number of

characteristics, the abstractness or concreteness, and the reasoning that connects the

characteristics.

conclusion: A final decision or judgment: an opinion or decision that is formed after a

period of thought or research.

engaging students in learning: Using instructional and motivational strategies that

promote students’ active involvement in learning tasks that increase their knowledge, skills,

and abilities related to specific learning objectives. Engagement in learning contrasts with

student participation in learning tasks that are not well-designed and/or implemented and do

not increase student learning.

evaluation criteria: Performance indicators or dimensions that are used to assess evidence

of student learning. They indicate the qualities by which levels of performance can be

Conclusion. (n.d.) In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/conclusion.

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

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differentiated and that anchor judgments about the learner’s degree of success on an

assessment. Evaluation criteria can be represented in various ways, such as a rubric, a

point system for different levels of performance, or rules for awarding full versus partial

credit. Evaluation criteria may examine correctness/accuracy, cognitive complexity,

sophistication or elaboration of responses, or quality of explanations.

evidence: Evidence for edTPA co

nsists of artifacts that document how you planned and

implemented instruction AND commentaries that explain your plans and what is seen in the

videorecording(s) or examine what you learned about your teaching practice and your

students’ learning. Evidence should demonstrate your ability to design lesson plans with

instructional supports that deepen student learning, use knowledge of your students to

inform instruction, foster a positive learning environment that promotes student learning,

monitor and assess student progress toward learning objectives, and analyze your teaching

effectiveness. Your evidence must be submitted electronically using the electronic portfolio

management system used by your teacher preparation program.

facts: Knowledge or inform

ation based on real occurrences: a. something demonstrated to

exist or known to have existed; b. a real occurrence, an event; c. something believed to be

true or real.

inquiry: Seeking information by questioning and/or through investigation. “While

questioning and searching for answers are extremely important parts of inquiry, effectively

generating knowledge from this questioning and searching is greatly aided by a conceptual

context for learning. Just as students should not be focused only on content as the ultimate

outcome of learning, neither should they be asking questions and searching for answers

about minutiae. . . . Inquiry in education should be about a greater understanding of the

world in which they live, learn, communicate, and work

.”

integrative: The Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) encourages middle grades

teachers to design curriculum and select materials that are integrative, challenging, and

grounded in the ideas, interests, and experiences of all young adolescents. In an integrative

curriculum, a problem or issue, often initiated by the learners, is the driving force for

organizing the curriculum.

interdisciplinary: An interdisciplinary curriculum makes connections across several

disciplines through a theme that crosses curricular lines. The learning experiences require

that knowledge from several disciplines be utilized to explore the concepts and skills of the

curriculum.

interpret: “To give or provide the meaning of; explain; explicate; elucidate” or “to

understand in a particular way.”

learning environment: The designed physical and emotional context, established and

maintained throughout the learning segment to support a positive and productive learning

experience for students.

learning objectives: Student learning outcomes to be achieved by the end of the lesson or

learning segment.

Educational Broadcasting Corporation. (2004). What is inquiry-based learning? Concept to Classroom: A Series of

Workshops. Retrieved from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html.

Interpret. (n.d.) In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/interpret

edTPA Middle Childhood History/Social Studies Assessment Handbook

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learning segment: A set of 3–5 lessons that build one upon another toward a central focus,

with a clearly defined beginning and end.

learning task: Includes activities, discussions, or other modes of participation that engage

students to develop, practice, and apply skills and knowledge related to a specific learning

goal. Learning tasks may be scaffolded to connect prior knowledge to new knowledge and

often include formative assessment.

patterns of learning: Incl

udes both quantitative and qualitative patterns (or consistencies)

for different groups of students or individuals. Quantitative patterns indicate in a numerical

way the information understood from the assessment (e.g., 10 out of 15 students or 20% of

the students). Qualitative patterns include descriptions of understandings,

misunderstandings, and/or partial understandings that could explain the quantitative

patterns (e.g., “given that most students were able to . . . it seems that they understand”).

physical development: Refers to the growth and development of skeletal, structural, and

muscular systems that includes the changes brought about by puberty.

planned supports: Instructional strategies, learning tasks and materials, and other

resources deliberately designed to facilitate student learning of the central focus.

prior academic learning and prerequisite skills: Includes students’ content knowledge

and skills as well as academic experiences developed prior to the learning segment.

rapport: A close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups understand

each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well with each other.

respect: A positive feeling of esteem or deference for a person and specific actions and

conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the

actual qualities of the one respected. It can also be conduct in accord with a specific ethic of

respect. Rude conduct is usually considered to indicate a lack of respect, disrespect,

whereas actions that honor somebody or something indicate respect. Note that respectful

actions and conduct are culturally defined and may be context dependent.

rubrics: Subject-specific evaluation criteria used to score your performance on edTPA.

These rubrics are included in the handbook following the directions for each task. The

descriptors in the five-level rubrics address a wide range of performance, beginning with the

knowledge and skills of a novice not ready to teach (Level 1) and extending to the advanced

practices of a highly accomplished beginner (Level 5).

social and emotional development: Refers to the ways in which adolescents develop

understandings of self and others. Milestones at various levels of development include

identity formation, self-awareness/self-concept, pro-social behavior, peer relationships,

social responsibility, and moral reasoning.

social studies phenomenon: Observable occurrence, circumstance, or behavior within the

discipline of history/social studies (e.g., civil war, racism, revolution, civic engagement,

rationality, crime, peace, poverty).

variety of young adolescent learners: Students in your class who may require different

strategies or support. These young adolescents include but are not limited to students with

IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students

or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students.

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