Clarifying Vision. Transforming Practice.
Clarify Historical Understanding. Transform Teaching Practice. Build Lasting Skills.
Meaningful improvement in historical thinking begins with a shared understanding of what students should know, understand, and be able to do.
To The Past works collaboratively with teachers and departments to build coherent assessment systems that strengthen instruction, make student thinking visible, and improve learning over time.
Our work connects three essential questions:
What do we want students to think and understand?
What evidence will show us what they are thinking?
How can we use that evidence to improve instruction?
Clarify Learning Goals
Effective assessment begins with clearly defining what we want students to learn and the thinking we want them to develop.
Together, we establish a shared vision of historical thinking by identifying the disciplinary knowledge, reasoning, and practices students are expected to demonstrate.
What does it actually mean for a student to think historically?
What knowledge and reasoning should students develop? What should that thinking look like in student work? What evidence would allow us to see whether students are developing it?
Establishing this shared understanding creates a common language for curriculum, instruction, and assessment — and gives teachers a clearer target for designing learning experiences and interpreting student work.
Design Assessments That Generate Meaningful Evidence
Assessments should do more than assign grades. They should provide meaningful evidence of student thinking.
We work with teachers to design and refine assessments that align with learning goals, elicit historical reasoning, and provide evidence that can be used to make informed instructional decisions.
Rather than asking simply, “Did students get the right answer?”, we ask a different question:“What does this response tell us about what the student understands and how they are thinking?”
Use Evidence to Improve Instruction
The most valuable assessment information is information that changes what happens next.
We help teachers think carefully about how evidence from student work can inform instructional decisions.
When students struggle to contextualize a source, what might they need next? When students identify relevant evidence but struggle to explain its significance, what instructional support would help? When students demonstrate a strong understanding of a historical concept, how can the next learning experience build on that understanding?
This makes assessment useful to teachers and students. Teachers can identify misconceptions, gaps in understanding, and strengths in student reasoning. Students can receive feedback that helps them understand what they are doing well and what they need to work on.
The goal is not simply to collect evidence of learning. It is to use that evidence to make teaching more responsive, in a way that sssessment becomes part of the learning process itself — not simply a measure of what happens at the end of that process.
A Plan, Not Just a Collection of Tasks
Meaningful assessment works best when individual tasks are connected to a larger plan.
Together, we work with teachers and departments to map out a year-long assessment plan that identifies where students will have meaningful opportunities to demonstrate the historical thinking they are learning.
We consider the curriculum as a whole and ask:
What do we want students to learn?
What historical knowledge, concepts, and practices are central to the course?
Where can we gather useful evidence of student thinking?
Which units and learning experiences provide natural opportunities for students to demonstrate sourcing, contextualization, corroboration, interpretation, and other forms of historical reasoning?
What information will teachers need?
Which assessments are most useful for identifying what students understand, where they are struggling, and what they are ready to learn next?
How will assessment inform instruction?
How can teachers use evidence from one assessment to provide better feedback, address misconceptions, adapt upcoming lessons, and make instructional decisions?
The result is a coherent year-long assessment plan in which assessment is intentionally connected to learning and instruction.
Assessment Has the Greatest Impact When It Leads Somewhere
A well-designed assessment gives teachers information about student thinking. That information can then shape feedback, classroom discussion, subsequent lessons, and future learning opportunities.
Clarify
Identify the historical thinking and understanding we want students to develop.
Elicit
Create an assessment task that gives students a meaningful opportunity to demonstrate that thinking.
Interpret
Examine student responses to determine what they reveal about students’ understanding and reasoning.
Respond
Provide useful feedback and adjust instruction based on what the evidence shows.
This approach helps teachers move from assessment as measurement toward assessment as a tool for improving learning.
Two Ways to Get Started
Choose the level of support that fits where your school is on its historical thinking assessment journey.
Full-Day Workshop
- Introduction to the theoretical framework for Canadian History Assessments of Thinking (CHATs)
- 50+ ready-to-use CHATs for Social Studies and History classrooms
- Recommended resources to support the development of historical thinking
- Discussion of how historical thinking can be observed through student work
- Practical strategies for using assessment evidence to inform instruction
- Time for teachers to consider how the framework applies to their own courses and classrooms
Full-Day Workshop + Ongoing Support
- Introduction to the theoretical framework for Canadian History Assessments of Thinking (CHATs)
- Comprehensive assessment suite: 75+ CHATs and 1 Hour Historical Thinking Tests
- Collaborative development of a year-long assessment plan
- Alignment of learning goals, assessment opportunities, and instructional decisions
- Identification of opportunities to gather meaningful evidence of student thinking
- Follow-up coaching support to assist with implementation and refinement
Collaborative Year-Long Assessment Planning
A central component of the Transformation Partnership is working collaboratively with teachers and departments to map out an intentional assessment plan for the year.
Rather than beginning with the question, “What assessment should we give students?”, we begin with the thinking we want students to develop and the evidence we need to understand their learning. Together, we consider:
What do we want students to learn?
What historical knowledge, concepts, and reasoning should be central to the course?
Where will students demonstrate that thinking?
Which units, tasks, discussions, investigations, and assessments can provide meaningful evidence?
What will the evidence tell us?
What can student responses reveal about their understanding, reasoning, misconceptions, and needs?
How can we respond?
How can teachers use that information to provide better feedback and adjust instruction?
The result is a shared year-long assessment plan that connects learning goals, assessment, feedback, and instruction.
The To the Past workshop was one of the most thoughtful and practical workshops I’ve participated in. What made this session stand out was the in-depth and accessible breakdown of the Guideposts associated with the Historical Thinking Concept of Evidence. Nathan provided a clear and nuanced framework that not only deepens teacher understanding, but also offers concrete strategies for scaffolding this complex concept in the classroom. Whether you’re a new teacher or a seasoned veteran, I would wholeheartedly recommend Nathan’s work.
Historical thinking develops through the interaction of clear learning goals, meaningful evidence, and responsive instruction.
Clarify what students should learn.
Design assessments that reveal their thinking.
Use evidence to provide better feedback.
Adjust instruction based on what students need.
Ready to explore what this could look like in your school?
Get in touch to discuss a workshop or Transformation Partnership.
Get in TouchTo the Past
Have you found these resources useful in your classroom? Are there any aspects of ToThePast.ca lessons and assessments that you think could be improved upon? We’d love to here from you: tothepastCA@gmail.com
Subscribe to our mailing list, and don’t miss any new teaching and assessment features that are uploaded to the site!