New Assessment Resource Center for History Provides Valuable Tools for K-12 Social Studies Teachers

October 30th, 2014

A new online resource jointly developed by HCPSS and the UMBC Center for History Education helps teachers develop resources that assess students’ content mastery through reading comprehension, critical thinking, and analysis. These higher-level skills are an important component of new curriculum based on college- and career-readiness standards, but have presented challenges to teachers in effectively assessing student progress.

The Assessment Resource Center for History (ARCH) is available for public access at http://www.umbc.edu/che/arch/index. The site has proved to be a valuable resource for teachers at all grade levels in school systems throughout the country, who use the content as a model for teaching higher-level thinking skills and creating assessments that prepare students for college-level coursework in history and social studies. ARCH is designed for use in conjunction with a History Labs companion site, which provides investigative learning experiences that mirror the discovery processes used by historians.

Both projects were funded by two U.S. Department of Education Teaching American History grants, and reflect the collaboration of more than 30 K-12 teachers, university professors and other educational and content matter experts.

For more information, contact project leader Dr. Mark Stout, HCPSS Curriculum Coordinator for Advanced Placement and Secondary Social Studies, at mark_stout@hcpss.org or 410-313-6622.