Pre-Assessment

Name: ____________________________

Choose the best answer. Make sure to read the question to see if it’s asking for the cause or the
effect!

“I can describe the cause and effect of events leading up to the American Revolution.”

1. Which law led to the Boston Tea Party?

A. Stamp Act
B. Boston Massacre
C. Quartering Act
D. Townshend Acts

2. What caused the Stamp Act?

A. Debts from the French and Indian War

B. An increase in the cost to make stamps
C. Colonist protests
D. King George III having a bad day

3. What was the cause of the Boston Massacre?

A. British troops staying in Boston

B. The Boston Tea Party
C. King George III visiting Boston
D. The Proclamation of 1763
4. What was ​NOT ​an effect of the Stamp Act?

A. Colonists rebelled.
B. Colonists moved to French territory.
C. Colonists refused to buy paper goods.
D. Tax collectors were attacked.

5. What was the cause of the Boston Port Act?

A. The Boston Massacre

B. Colonists bringing food to Boston
C. The Boston Tea Party
D. Closing down the harbor in Boston.

6. What was the effect of the Intolerable Acts?

A. The British soldiers stopped working for the British government.

B. The colonists gave up and started following Great Britain's laws peacefully.
C. The colonists dumped tea into the New York Harbor.
D. The colonists organized the First Continental Congress.

Make sure your name is on the front!

Reflection of Pre-Assessment with Data Averages

Before the Pre-Assessment, I began teaching the unit “Causes of the American Revolution.” We
discussed the French and Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763, and the colonists attitude
towards the British. On the day I gave the Pre-Assessment, half of the students were leaving for
an orchestra concert halfway through our 20-30 minute time period. Thankfully, the students
completed the Pre-Assessment quickly. After the orchestra students left and everyone had
finished the Pre-Assessment, the rest of the students set up their interactive notebook foldables
for the first lesson and the information we had already covered.

I made the decision during the assessment to let students circle multiple answers if they could
not decide between two. If the student chose one of the two they circled correct, I gave them
half a point for that question.

After grading the Pre-Assessment, I was pleased that the students seemed like they did not
know this content already. Since I had planned my lessons with the assumption that they did not
know the content, this made it so that I did not have to make any changes to the first lesson
before teaching. The average score was 29%. For the six question assessment, this means
that, on average, students answered 1 to 2 questions correctly. The highest score was 3.5
points and our lowest score was 0 points.

Question One was about the Boston Tea Party causes and the Townshend Act effects. 6
students got this question correct. Question Two was about Stamp Act causes and French and
Indian War effects. 14.5 students got this question correct. Question Three was about the
Boston Massacre causes and the Quartering Act effects. 7 students got this question correct.
Question Four was about the effects of the Stamp Act. 8 students got this question correct.
Question Five was about the Boston Port Act causes and the Boston Tea Party effects. 2.5
students got this question correct. Question Six was about the effects of the Intolerable Acts. 5
students got this question correct.

I was surprised that so many more students got Question Two correct than the other questions.
After reading the question again, I realized that this question relates to the French and Indian
War, which we had already learned about. Though many students did not know what the Stamp
Act was, I believe many felt the most confident making a guess about something they had
already learned about. This is similar to Question Four, which is the second-most question
students got correct. This question also included information similar to what we studied during
the French and Indian War.
Students Samples of Pre-Assessment
This is an example of one side of the pre-assessment that a student did well on. He gave two
answers for Question 1, so he received a half-point.
This is an example of a student who did not do well on the pre-assessment.
Formative Assessment Lesson 1

Students seemed to grasp the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts well. Students have some
schema of what “taxes” are already, so I think that they could conceptualize what these acts
were like to some extent. The Google Classroom exit ticket showed understanding from most
students. While several replied, “I don’t know,” many replied with the correct answer, “Stamp
Act,” or gave more detailed explanations. Overall, the class seemed to understand the causes
of the Townshend Acts, so we moved on.

Students also seemed to understand the war-meter for the most part. Students understood that
these taxes were not enough to make the colonists go to war with Great Britain. When the
students voted, almost all students voted for 4 to 6 on the war-meter. This showed
understanding, so we moved on from this concept as well.
Student Samples of Google Classroom Exit Ticket

What was the cause of the Townshend Acts? 

 
Shows understanding
“The cause was that no body was buying paper goods so they put more taxes on more stuff.” 
Shows understanding 
“The King of England got rid of the Stamp Act because the colonists were angry. Later the new tax law, 
the Townsend Act was added.” 
Shows no evidence of understanding 
“I don't know” 
 
War-Meter showing votes below from all students. 

 
 
   
Formative Assessment Lesson 2 - Day 1

I started with informal formative assessment for the first day of Lesson 2. Students worked with
table groups to discuss what they notice and what they wonder about an image of the Boston
Massacre. I was shocked by how many observations they were able to make. Many noticed little
details, such as the dog in the etching and the moon in the sky even though it appeared bright
outside.

When we began talking about their observations as a whole group, students pointed out the
words in the bottom corner that says it is Paul Revere’s work. The students used that to talk
about how this is one-sided and might not accurately depict what happened. I was so excited to
get to be a part of their learning that they were already looking at these primary source
documents in that way.

This “Explore” activity helped me to understand that they were excited and curious to learn
about the Boston Massacre but that they did not have much understanding of the event yet.
This helped me to know I could continue with the lesson as normally planned.

I decided to do the hashtag summary and the war-meter after reading the textbook. Most
students showed understanding on both of these assessment, but there were several who
copied my hashtag summary from the screen or wrote something unrelated. Since most
students understood the basic idea of the Boston Massacre, I felt like I could move on to the
cause and effect for the next day. Discussing cause and effect would also solidify the events of
the Boston Massacre more for those who did not understand it yet. I also decided to address the
war-meter predictions the next day, reminding them that the colonists were not at war yet. I
gave them the number that I would chosen for the war-meter, which was a 6 or a 7.
Samples of Student Work - Hashtag Summaries and War-Meters
Shows a inaccurate war-meter judgement.

Shows an accurate war-meter rating and a creative hashtag that also shows understanding.

Shows an accurate war-meter rating and a creative hashtag that relates what we talked about
before reading to the actual description of the event we learned by reading.
Formative Assessment Lesson 2, Day 2

I had them work in pairs for this formative assessment. Since we had not done a cause and
effect chart like I planned on modeling previously, I decided to model several bullet points on
their chart for the Boston Massacre. I told them ahead of time they needed to have three causes
and three effects on their sheet. I modeled one cause and one effect and then asked which one
they’d like to see another example of. They chose cause. So, they only needed to come up with
one additional cause and two effects.

They really struggled with this. I was surprised as I was going around how few of them
understand the definition of “cause” and the definition of “effect.” It baffled me that they did not
know that to begin with. Then, as I looked through the exit tickets later, I decided that I
absolutely needed to reteach this content in some way. I had people who were confused about
cause and effect as definitions but also people who were confused about cause and effect in
application. Some listed any event they could think of before the Boston Massacre as a cause,
such as the French and Indian War. Others listed events like the Revolutionary War as effects.
Perhaps I was not specific enough with them that I wanted them to write down events that tied
directly to the Boston Massacre. There were also many charts that were not completed.

One major mistake I made was when I was trying to help them think about effects, since we
hadn’t learned all of the effects yet. I had them flip their textbook to the next page to see the
event that came immediately after. Many then wrote down the next several events as effects.
They were also then not on the correct page to see the direct effects that were written about
within the Boston Massacre section, such as the committees of correspondence.

I decided that I would start the next day by teaching them the definitions of cause and effect and
then explain the concept of being directly tied to the Boston Massacre. I came up with a new
chart that had three columns: cause, effect, and not directly tied to the Boston Massacre. I also
came up with 12 events, acts, or situations for them to glue in one of the columns. This would
eliminate students not being able to think of causes or effects and scaffold them to be able to
identify which column it belonged in.
I color coded the exit tickets to show me visually what they understood. Red was if they really
did not understand, yellow was if they did not understand very well, blue was if they mostly
understood, and green was if they really understood.
Student Samples
This shows what I gave them to start with.

This is an example of a student who listed events and acts that happened before or after but
were not directly tied to the Boston Massacre.

This is an example of a student who came up with relevant causes and effects.
Formative Assessment Lesson 2, Day 3

I began the lesson by re-explaining the definitions of cause and effect. Then I gave more
clarification to events tying directly to the Boston Massacre. The students seemed to understand
this and worked well on the activity in pairs. Some pairs had questions and I directed them back
to the text and clarified as needed. Overall, most pairs placed each slip of paper correctly or
only put one in the wrong spot. There were two groups that did not do well on this activity. I
decided that we needed to move on anyway, hoping that they would understand the effects
better after we studied the Boston Tea Party.
Sample of Student Work - Cause/Effect/Not Directly Tied Chart
Student pair placed each slip correctly.

Example of students who only placed a few slips incorrectly.

Formative Assessment - Lesson 3, Day 2
The first formative assessment was that each table group made observations and asked
questions about their painting of the Boston Tea Party. Each group then presented to the rest of
the class, and I was able to assess their current understandings and predictions of the Boston
Tea Party. Many students inferred that boxes in the water were boxes of tea. Many students
had guesses about who the American Indians were in the painting. Some students correctly
guessed that the colonists dressed up as American Indians.

After reading the text, the students wrote hashtag summaries and filled out the cause side of the
Boston Tea Party, since we had not read about the effects yet. Most students wrote relevant
hashtags and seemed to have a pretty good understanding of the causes, so I decided we could
move on the next day.
Student Samples - Hashtag Summaries, Causes
This shows a good understanding of causes of the Boston Tea Party.

This shows a reasonable understanding of the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Massacre was a
cause. The Stamp Act was not a cause but rather the Townshend Acts.

This shows good understanding of the causes and a creative hashtag summary.
Formative Assessment - Lesson 3, Day 3
After reading about the Intolerable Acts and the Boston Port Act, students finished the effects
for the Boston Tea Party. They also filled out a war-meter for the Intolerable Acts. We filled out a
cause and effect chart together for the Boston Port Act.

Most students understood how close the colonists were to war after the Intolerable Acts, so I did
not feel like this needed to be addressed. However, there were seven or so students who did
not understand the effects of the Boston Tea Party. I decided to pull these students out into the
hall during our study hall time. After more discussion, students filled out another exit ticket
where they wrote down the effects of the Boston Tea Party. Students did better on this than the
first time.
Samples of Student Work - Effect Chart, Intervention Effect Exit Ticket, War-Meters
An example of accurate effects of the Boston Tea Party.

An example of inaccurate effects of the Boston Tea Party. This students was pulled out into the
hall for intervention.

Here are two examples of the exit tickets from the intervention group. The writing in green
shows a student who has some understanding. The writing in blue shows good understanding.
Both students improved from their previous exit ticket.
Both of these War-Meters show good understanding.
Formative Assessment - Lesson 3 Wrap-up
Before starting the assessment, I wanted to finish the hashtag summaries for the Boston Tea
Party, Boston Port Act, and the Intolerable Acts, since we had not gotten to them yet. As the
students did this most of them seemed to be able to come up with their hashtag quickly but a
few needed help. I was able to clarify some misconceptions during this process. If most
students did not know how to summarize these events, I may have pushed testing back another
day to reteach some content.
Post-Assessment
Name: ____________________________

Choose the best answer. Make sure to read the question to see if it’s asking for the cause or the
effect!

“I can describe the cause and effect of events leading up to the American Revolution.”

Remember, a ​cause​ is something that happened ​before​ an event/act. It is a​ reason​ the

event/law happened.

An ​effect​ is something that happened ​after ​an event/act. It is a ​result​ of the event/law.

1. Which law led to the Boston Tea Party?

A. Stamp Act
B. Boston Massacre
C. Quartering Act
D. Townshend Acts

2. What caused the Stamp Act?

A. Debts from the French and Indian War

B. An increase in the cost to make stamps
C. Colonist protests
D. King George III having a bad day

3. What was the cause of the Boston Massacre?

A. British troops staying in Boston

B. The Boston Tea Party
C. King George III visiting Boston
D. The Proclamation of 1763
4. What was ​NOT ​an effect of the Stamp Act?

A. Colonists rebelled.
B. Colonists moved to French territory.
C. Colonists refused to buy paper goods.
D. Tax collectors were attacked.

5. What was the cause of the Boston Port Act?

A. The Boston Massacre

B. Colonists bringing food to Boston
C. The Boston Tea Party
D. Closing down the harbor in Boston.

6. What was the effect of the Intolerable Acts?

A. The British soldiers stopped working for the British government.

B. The colonists gave up and started following Great Britain's laws peacefully.
C. The colonists dumped tea into the New York Harbor.
D. The colonists organized the First Continental Congress.

Make sure your name is on the front!

Reflection of Post-Assessment with Data Averages
On the day I gave the pre-assessment, we wrote hashtag summaries for Lesson 3 and reviewed
the cause and effect foldables in our journals with partners. I also went over the First
Continental Congress briefly as an effect of the Intolerable Acts, since I had brushed by it
quickly the day before and then realized it was an assessment question.

The students were not told that they would be given a quiz until partway through the period.
Many of them did not respond well to this news. Several asked if they would be graded on it. I
explained to them that this was a quiz to see what they understood about this unit so far so that
I would know what to teach next. The students completed the quiz quickly and had enough time
to do it.

I made the decision to include an explanation of cause and effect on the front of the
assessment. I wanted this quiz to assess whether or not they understood why each event
happened and what happened because of it. I read this to them as I passed out the test.

I made the decision after looking at the assessment that I would count “Boston Massacre” as an
answer for the first question for half a point. The first question asks what law caused the Boston
Tea Party but I think my students may have not read the question carefully. I went back through
the pre-assessment data and changed everyone’s initial points to include this half-point as well.

I feel okay about how my students have done on this assessment. I would have hoped for more
high scores. On average, the students scored 56%, which is 27% higher than the
pre-assessment average. For this six question assessment, that means that students answered
3 to 4 questions correctly on average, which is 2 questions higher than the pre-assessment
average. The highest score was 6, which was 2.5 points higher than the previous high score.
The lowest score was 0.5, which is 0.5 points higher than the previous low score.

The average difference in scores for each student from the Pre-Assessment to the
Post-Assessment was 1.62 points. Two students did worse on the Post-Assessment than the
Pre-Assessment, the greatest negative difference being -1. One student’s score did not change.
All of the other students showed improvement. The most improvement a student had was
answering 5 more questions correctly on the Post-Assessment than the Pre-Assessment.
Question One was about the Boston Tea Party causes and the Townshend Act effects. 15.5
students got this question correct, compared to 6 on the pre-assessment. Question Two was
about Stamp Act causes and French and Indian War effects. 16 students got this question
correct, as compared to 14.5 on the pre-assessment. Question Three was about the Boston
Massacre causes and the Quartering Act effects. 12 students got this question correct, as
compared to 7 students on the pre-assessment. Question Four was about the effects of the
Stamp Act. 15 students got this question correct, as compared to 8 on the pre-assessment.
Question Five was about the Boston Port Act causes and the Boston Tea Party effects. 12
students got this question correct, as compared to 2.5 on the pre-assessment. Question Six was
about the effects of the Intolerable Acts. 13 students got this question correct, as compared to 5
on the pre-assessment.

Students struggled the most with Questions 3 and 5, which were about the Boston Massacre
causes, the Quartering Act effects, the Boston Port Act causes, and the Boston Tea Party
effects. I was actually very surprised that these were the questions they struggled with,
especially since we had gone over the Boston Port Act and Boston Tea Party recently and that
we had spent extra time on the Boston Massacre. Especially for Question 5, I think it came
down to close reading of the question and thinking carefully about causes versus effects. Many
students listed an effect as their answer instead of a cause which the question was asking for.
However, Question 5 was one of the questions that students improved the most on from the
pre-assessment to the post-assessment. The other question students improved greatly on was
Question 1, which was about Boston Tea Party causes and Townshend Act effects.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this post-assessment. I expected more students to do
better on it. I may have a better understanding of their learning if I chose a different style of
assessment, such as matching. If I had color-coded the questions with two different colors for
cause and effect, I think the students might have done better. I was glad that most people made
progress from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment, but I wish that they had made more
progress. I think that this assessment was a good example of how student success cannot
always be accurately measured with multiple-choice tests.
Student Samples of Post-Assessments
This is an example of a student who answered “Boston Massacre” for Question 1 and received
a half-point.
This is an example of a student who answered Questions 4 and 6 correctly but not Question 5.