Sample Assessment Items
This is not meant to be printed off and given as a test…this document is to give you ideas of how this standard might be assessed. Please use these as an example when you are developing your own formative assessments. Remember formative assessment is to be given throughout the teaching of a standard to help you guide your instruction based on students needs. A good formative assessment should have a mix of multiple choice as well as open ended.
SS4H3: The student will explain the factors that shaped British colonial America.
a. Compare and contrast life in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies.
b. Describe colonial life in America as experienced by various people, including large landowners, farmers, artisans, women, indentured servants, slaves, and Native Americans.
Multiple Choice:
Which of these had contracts, or legal agreements, with their masters?
a. slaves
b. artisans
c. merchants
d. indentured servants
Answer: d
You own an eight-room, two-story house in a colony. You are MOST LIKELY a(n) _____________.
a. artisan
b. merchant
c. small farmer
d. large landowner
Answer: d
Which of these groups MOST OFTEN worked in the fields?
a. slaves
b. women
c. artisans
d. indentured servants
Answer: a
Open ended:
Why were some colonists able to choose their work and others not?
How was the work of colonial men and women alike and different?
How were the lives of large land owners and small farmers alike and different?
How were the lives of colonial children alike and different from present-day children?
How did artisans learn their trades?
Why were colonial artisans important?