Assessing civic discourse.

The trend to complement paper-and-pencil assessments with performance assessments continues at full speed in social studies. Paper-and-pencil tests remain valuable, of course: even advocates of newer approaches recognize that these have their place in a student's portfolio. Such tests can help teachers gather data on how well students understand important concepts and their ability to recall key information. To most teachers and parents, this kind of assessment matters.

Performance assessments serve a different purpose: They help teachers find out whether and how well students can translate this knowledge into action (Airasian 1994). Here, students are asked to carry out a real task - for example, to map the playground, or to present a closing statement in a trial. In doing so, they use and apply information, understandings, and abilities in a specific context - for example, deciding …