SPECIAL EDITION: Updates on the NYS Social Studies Regents Exam and NEW Enduring Issues Essay Resources!

We went to the New York State Council for the Social Studies Conference in Albany and now we have news! In response to all the updates, we've released new writing resources for you and your students. 
NYSED Updates on the Social Studies Regents Exams
At the New York State Council for Social Studies (NYSCSS) Conference last week, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) updated the field on upcoming changes to New York State Social Studies Regents Exams and released and explained new documents related to the Global II Exam. 

We updated our  MEMO  and  PRESENTATION  on the exam changes and timeline for those changes with the new information and linked in all of the relevant updates. Feel free to use these with your colleagues. 

Headlines and Links to New Documents



Global II Exam Format and Weighting



We know how many questions will be asked in each section and the approximate weighting.
Item Type
# of Questions on Global II
Approximate Weighting
Stimulus-based Multiple Choice Questions
28 54%
Constructed Response Questions (CRQs)
2 Sets-9 Qs
 17%
Enduring Issues Essay
1 29%

Constructed Response Format, Definitions, Example Responses, and Rubrics

NYSED released a revised version of the prototype for Part 2 of the Global II Exam, Constructed Response Questions (CRQs) . The prompts have changed slightly, so read carefully.

There will be  2 SETS  of CRQs on the exam and a total of 9 questions. One set will always end with a Cause and Effect question (4 points) and the other set will end with either a Comparison question or one about Turning Points (5 points each). 


In addition, check out the Understanding the CRQ Document put together by teachers who helped write the items for this section of the exam. It provides helpful explanations and a list of vocabulary words which we have typed up here. 

Enduring Issues Essay Rubrics and Anchor Papers

NYSED released two new documents that finalize the prompt, provide another example of an Enduring Issues Essay, clarify expectations for student responses with rubrics and anchor papers, and compare the EIE rubric to the DBQ rubric. 

Note that the language in the prompt and "be sure to" section has changed slightly. 


 
New Writing Resources for the Enduring Issues Essay Released!

To help educators and students prepare of the New Global II Exam, we created a new section of our website devoted to the exam and filled it with new writing resources. We'll be adding more materials in the upcoming months as we learn more about the new exam and get feedback from teachers using them. 


Teacher Planning Resources

Writing Toolbox


Historical Thinking and Writing Skills
Writing Resources for the Enduring Issue Essay
Exam Question Bank for the Global II Exam Power Conjunctions What is contextualization? Enduring Issues Outline
Enduring Issues List Sentence Expansion with Question Words How to Contextualize and Event Anchor Paper
Backwards Planning Document Subordinating Conjunctions How to Introduce Evidence with Sourcing Information How to Prepare for an Enduring Issues Essay
Instructional Sequence for the Enduring Issues Essay Appositives How to Connect Cause and Effect How to Write an Enduring Issues Essay Thesis
  

Questions? Please contact a member of our Social Studies Curriculum Team:
Aruna Arjunan (US History)
aarjunan@newvisions.org
@AmArjunan
Timothy Lent (Global)
tlent@newvisions.org
@KameelahNVPS
Kameelah Rasheed (Global)
krasheed@newvisions.org
@TimothyLent