Subject
United States History (1763 – 1890)
Grade level
Grade 8
About the test
The More Learning Less Testing Act of 2017 (Md. Ed. Art §7-203) required that the Maryland State Department of Education develop and implement a middle school grade band social studies assessment.
The MCAP Social Studies 8 assessment measures student knowledge of United States History from 1763 - 1890 as well as students’ ability to:
Evaluate the credibility of the sources by considering the authority, origin, type, context, and corroborative value of each source.
Identify credible, relevant information contained in the sources.
Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources.
In May 2022, all 8th grade students participated in a field test assessment. The first operational assessment will be administered beginning in May 2023. Scores for students taking the assessment will be issued later in 2023. Subsequent scores for students and schools will be issued each summer beginning in 2024. Score reports will provide feedback on student knowledge of United States History as well as support to grade band teams (grades 6-8) on student achievement in the social studies skills and processes assessed. This data will help to inform programmatic approaches to integrating the assessed skills throughout middle school social studies instruction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Standards Assessed
A detailed list of all standards, indicators, objectives, and assessment limits can be found in the Middle School United States History Framework, located on the
Middle School United States History website.
Evidence Based Argument Set (EBAS)
The More Learning, Less Testing Act of 2017 requires that “to the greatest extent possible” the middle school assessment “consist of criterion-referenced, performance-based tasks that utilize critical and historical thinking skills and analyze primary sources.” This new performance-based item type is referred to as an Evidence Based Argument Set (EBAS).
The EBAS assess three skills and processes from the Maryland Social Studies Standard 6.0: Skills and Processes. These skills are:
Evaluate the credibility of the sources by considering the authority, origin, type, context, and corroborative value of each source.
Identify credible, relevant information contained in the sources.
Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources.
The EBAS is organized around a compelling historical question and provides students with sources that allow for the development of an answer to the compelling question. The EBAS has constructed response and technology enhanced items that will assess students’ ability to source, contextualize, and corroborate sources as well as to identify relevant information contained within a source. In addition, the EBAS will have a small, focused final writing task.
A
classroom-ready sample EBAS is available for student and teacher use.
Test Preparation and Practice
The following resources will help students and teachers prepare for the MCAP Social Studies 8.
Social Studies 8 Practice Test
A full-length practice test is available. It follows the style and organization of an operational test. No username or password required. Select the version of the Practice Test from the available accommodated formats.
MSDE Public Release Site
This site provides access to released questions from former MCAP tests. MCAP released questions are representative of the content and skills included on the MCAP and are provided to help students recognize the nature and format of the questions.
Rubrics
The following rubrics will be used to score constructed response items on the MCAP Social Studies 8.
The
4 Point Content Constructed Response Rubric will be used to score Content Constructed Response items.
The Two and Four Point Evidence Based Argument Set Rubrics will be used to score the Constructed Response items in the Evidence Based Argument Set (EBAS).
Additional Resources and Information
Contact:
Miriam Bart
Social Studies Assessment Specialist
Office: (410) 767-2845
miriam.bart@maryland.gov
Ann Herrmann
Assessment Development Manager
Office: (410) 767-0086
ann.herrmann@maryland.gov