Commonwealth of Virginia

Standards of Learning Assessment Program

Blueprint for the World Geography Test

©1998 by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Education, James Monroe Building,

101 N. 14th Street, Richmond, Virginia, 23219. All rights reserved. Except as permitted by law, this material may not be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. Please contact the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Education at (804) 225-2102, Division of Assessment and Reporting, to request written permission.

Standards of Learning (SOL) Test Blueprint

Introduction

 

What is a test blueprint?

 

A test blueprint is a guide for test construction and use. The Standards of Learning (SOL) test blueprints serve a number of purposes. One, they serve as a guide to test developers as they write test questions and construct the SOL tests. Two, they serve as a guide to educators, parents, and students in that they show (a) the SOLs covered by the test and which, if any, have been excluded; (b) which SOLs are assigned to each reporting category; (c) the number of test items in each reporting category and on the total test; (d) general information about how the test questions were constructed; and (e) the materials that students are allowed to use while taking the test.

 

How is the test blueprint organized?

 

There is a blueprint for each test (e.g., grade 3 English, grade 5 mathematics, grade 8 science, United States History). Each blueprint contains the following information:

 

    1. Test Development Guidelines: guidelines used by Harcourt Brace Educational Measurement and the members of the Content Committees in developing the SOL tests. This section contains three parts:
      1. General Considerations — lists general considerations that were used in developing the test as well as considerations specific to a particular content area.
      2. Item Format — lists information on how items for the test are constructed.
      3. Ancillary Materials — lists any materials (e.g., calculators, rulers, protractors, compasses, dictionaries) that students are allowed to use while taking each test.
    2. Blueprint Summary Table: a summary of the blueprint which displays the following information:
   
    1. Expanded Blueprint: provides the same information as the Blueprint Summary Table except that the full text of each SOL is included. In addition, SOLs that are excluded from the test are categorized by the reason they were not included.
 What is a reporting category?

 Each test covers a number of SOLs. In the test blueprint, SOLs are grouped into categories that address related content or skills. These categories are labeled Reporting Categories. For example, a Reporting Category for the Grade 5 Mathematics test is "Computation and Estimation." Each of the SOLs in this reporting category addresses computation using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division or requires the student to estimate the answer to a problem. When the results of the SOL tests are reported, the scores will be presented in terms of scores for each Reporting Category and a total test score.

 Are some SOLs assigned to more than one reporting category?

"Bullets" under a particular SOL are sometimes coded to different reporting categories. For example, the Science SOL 2.7a which deals with the effects that weather and seasonal changes have on the growth and behavior of living things is assigned to the reporting category "Life Processes and Living Systems" in the Grade 3 Science test. However, Science SOL 2.7b which deals with the effects of weather and seasonal changes on weathering and erosion of the land surface is assigned to the reporting category "Earth/Space Systems and Cycles." Each "bullet" is assigned to only one reporting category.
 
Why are some SOLs not tested on the SOL tests?

 In some content areas, there are SOLs that do not lend themselves to multiple-choice testing. For example, in English, the oral language SOLs cannot be appropriately assessed in a multiple-choice format. In other cases, an SOL listed in one content area is covered by a similar SOL in another content area. For example, English SOL 4.9 which addresses the use of available technology to research a topic is covered by a similar SOL at grade 5 (Computer/Technology SOL 5.3).

 At the end of the blueprint for each test, the SOLs not tested are listed in "SOLs Excluded from This Test." In the expanded blueprint, the SOLs excluded from testing are categorized by the reason they are not being tested.

 Will all SOLs listed in the blueprint be assessed each time the SOL tests are given?

 Due to the large number of SOLs in a content area for a grade span, every SOL will not be assessed on every SOL test form. By necessity, to keep the length of a test reasonable, each test will sample from the SOLs within a reporting category. However, every SOL is eligible for inclusion on each form of an SOL test.

 

World Geography
Test Development Guidelines

 
A. General Considerations

  1. All items included in this test will address the knowledge and skills specified in the 1995 Virginia Standards of Learning in History and Social Science for World Geography.
  2. The items will be free of stereotyping or bias directed at a particular age, gender, economic status, racial, ethnic or religious group, or geographic region.
  3. The test will be untimed.
  4. There is no penalty for guessing. Students will be scored on the number of correct answers out of the total number of operational items on the test.
  5. Where appropriate, "real-life" examples and situations that the student would likely encounter will be used to present data or ask questions.
  6. Items will be grade-appropriate in terms of difficulty, interest, and reading level.
  7. Information will be presented through written test and/or through visual material, such as graphs, charts, maps, cartoons, or other illustrations. More than one item may be linked to a piece of written test, or a graph, chart, map, cartoon, or other illustration.
  8. When acronyms are used, both the complete name and the acronym will be given in most cases, for example, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
 B. Item Format

 Each item will be a multiple-choice item containing four choices. Choices such as "None of the above", "All of the above", and "Not here" will not be used.

  1. Answer choices will be arranged vertically beneath the item stems unless space considerations prevent such an arrangement.
  2. Item stems will be in the form of questions or in the form of sentences that require completion.
  3. Numerical answer choices, such as dates, will be arranged in ascending order.
  4. Graphic displays, their corresponding questions, and response choices will appear on the same or facing pages.
  5. Artwork accompanying items will be placed above the question unless, for clarity, the size or format of the artwork lends itself to another arrangement.
  6. Negative words in the item stem (i.e., "not," "least," "except") will be emphasized by italics, boldface type, underlining, or capital letters.
 C. Ancillary Materials None
 World Geography
Blueprint Summary Table
  
  
Reporting Categories
No. of Items
Grade 10 SOLs
Maps and Geographic Skills
12
 10.1a-d 
10.15a, b
Regional Geography
12
 10.3a-d 
10.7 
10.11
Physical Geography
10
 10.1e 
10.2a, b 
10.8
Cultural Geography
10
 10.4 
10.14a-d
Population Geography
8
 10.5 
10.6 
10.10
Economic Geography
8
 10.9 
10.12 
10.13
SOLs Excluded from This Test: No SOLs are excluded.
Total Number of Operational Items 60
Field Test Items* 10
Total Number of Items 70
  Reporting Category: Maps and Geographic Skills
Number of Items: 12

Grade 10 SOLs in This Reporting Category:
 

a)  recognize the different map projections and explain the concept of distortion;

b)  show how maps reflect particular historical and political perspectives;

c)  apply the concepts of scale, orientation, latitude and longitude; and

d)  create and compare political, physical, and thematic maps of countries and regions.

 

 10.15 The student will apply geography to interpret the past, understand the present, and plan for the future by a) using a variety of maps, charts, and documents to explain historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems; and

b) relating current events to the physical and human characteristics of places and regions.

 

 Reporting Category: Regional Geography

Number of Items: 12

Grade 10 SOLs in This Reporting Category:

 10.3 The student will explain how a)  geographic regions change over time;

b) characteristics of regions have led to regional labels;

c) regional landscapes reflect the cultural characteristics of their inhabitants as well as historical events; and

d) technological advances have led to increasing interaction among regions.

 

 10.7 The student will locate and identify by name the major countries in each region and the world’s major rivers, mountain ranges, and surrounding bodies of water.

 

10.11 The student will analyze the regional development of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean, in terms of physical, economic, and cultural characteristics and historical evolution from 1000 A.D. to the present.
 

  Reporting Category: Physical Geography

Number of Items: 10

Grade 10 SOLs in This Reporting Category:
 

e)  identify regional climatic patterns and weather phenomena and relate them to events in the contemporary world.

 

 10.2 The student will analyze how selected physical and ecological processes shape the Earth’s surface, in terms of a) how humans influence and are influenced by the environment; and

b) how people’s ideas and relationship to the environment change over time, particularly in response to new technologies.

   10.8 The student will identify natural hazards, describe their characteristics, explain their impact on human and physical systems, and assess efforts to manage their consequences in developed and less developed regions.

 

 Reporting Category: Cultural Geography

Number of Items: 10

 Grade 10 SOLs in This Reporting Category:
 

 
10.14 The student will analyze the forces of conflict and cooperation as they influence

a) the way in which the world is divided among independent countries and dependencies;

b) disputes over borders, resources, and settlement areas;

c) the historic and future ability of nations to survive and prosper; and

d) the role of multinational organizations.

 

 Reporting Category: Population Geography

Number of Items: 8

 Grade 10 SOLs in This Reporting Category:
 

 
10.6 The student will analyze past and present trends in human migration and cultural interaction as they are influenced by social, economic, political, and environmental factors.
 

10.10 The student will analyze the patterns of urban development, in terms of site and situation, the function of towns and cities, and problems related to human mobility, social structure, and the environment.

 

 Reporting Category: Economic Geography

Number of Items: 8

 Grade 10 SOLs in This Reporting Category:
 

10.9 The student will identify natural, human, and capital resources, describe their distribution, and explain their significance, in terms of location of contemporary and selected historical economic and land-use regions.

 
10.12 The student will analyze the patterns and networks of economic interdependence, with emphasis on formation of multinational economic unions, international trade, and the theory of competitive advantage, in terms of job specialization, competition for resources, and access to labor, technology, transportation, and communications.
 

10.13 The student will distinguish between developed and developing countries and relate the level of economic development to the quality of life.