Please note that many tasks were constructed prior to Common Core and the task alignments to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were not identified in the task materials. To search for the performance tasks explicitly aligned to the CCSS, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), or College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, please go to CCSS, NGSS, and C3 tabs.
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Source Subject Grade Level |
3rd Grade Standards 4 and 8 Assessment The 3rd Grade Standards 4 and 8 Assessment is two tasks that use A New Chance for Live by Glenn Greenberg. In Task 1, students will write to explain the meaning of the words “population” and “extinct” as they relate to the content of the article. In Task 2, students will determine how a particular sentence in the passage connects to a prior section entitled “Population Problem.” They will write to explain the connection between the sentence and the prior passage. This assessment includes a rubric. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
4th Grade RI Standards 4 and 8 The 4th Grade RI Standards 4 and 8 assessment includes two tasks and uses a section from Ellis Island by Judith jango-Cohen. In Task 1, students will determine the meaning of "refuge" and explain what it means in context to the reading. In Task 2, students will write an explanatory essay based on the reading. This assessment includes a rubric. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
9th Grade End-of-Year History Writing Task In the 9th Grade End-of-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "To what extent does gentrification harm or benefit urban communities?". They will write an essay using a variety of articles, videos, images, and charts as evidence to support their argument. This task includes resources to help students brainstorm, evaluate sources and evidence, plan their essay, organize their argument, and an argumentative writing checklist. This task also includes:
The Oakland Unified School Districted has designed this history assessment to support the literacy goals of the Common Core State Standards. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
First Grade Spring 2013 Performance Assessment The First Grade Spring 2013 Performance Assessment is a two part task designed to be administered in the spring (so that reading level is appropriate). This assessment use Why Should I Protect Nature by Jen Green. In Task 1, students will ask and answer questions to determine the meaning of the word "litter". In Task 2, students will re-read the story independently to identify the reasons the author gives for why we should protect nature. They students will write their own information book to share the reasons they have identified. This task includes a rubric. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
The Conservation Movement This task assesses students' ability to contextualize two historical documents and place them in the correct chronological order. This assessment draws on students' knowledge about American environmental movements. Document A is from an interview with Barry Commoner in Scientific American in 1997. Document B is part of an 1894 bill introduced to the House of Representatives. More than just the recall of facts and dates, students must show that they have a broad understanding of how the focus of the environmental movement changed over time and demonstrate the ability to use their knowledge about these changes to place the two documents in context. In this assessment, students who correctly contextualize the documents will see that Document B, which is a bill that proposed the establishment of Yellowstone as the first National Park, was a product of the Progressive Era push to conserve land in the West, and therefore likely written before Document A, which reflects more contemporary concerns about the effects of modern technology on the environment and human health. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment (with primaary source materials), and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
5th Grade RI Standards 4 and 8 The 5th Grade RI Standards 4 and 8 includes two tasks and uses "Harriet Tubman" excerpted from A Separate Battle: Women and the Civil War by Ina Chang. IN Task 1, students will explain the meaning of the word “conductor” as it is used by Harriet Tubman to describe her role in the Underground Railroad. In Task 2, students will re-read the excerpted passage about Harriet Tubman identify evidence in the text that support specific points the author makes. This assessment includes a rubric. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
A Great Place to Visit! In this task, students will participate in a community or historical "revitalization" effort by developing a Walking Tour throughout the local town/city in which their school resides (or, alternatively, a museum or monument for a particular historical time period/era). Working in teams of about four, students identify community landmarks that should be included on the walking tour, engage in research surrounding the history of those landmarks using primary and secondary resources, and communicate their findings by writing and recording a narrative that will guide the tour. Additionally, students will create a map on which landmarks will be identified and design an appropriate sign or marker to identify the stops along the tour. Each team may present their plan for a walking tour to members of a guest "Community Revitalization Committee"; one team’s plan may be selected for implementation. The task includes detailed rubrics for Group Participation/norms & expectations, resources for group division of duties, and overall project rubrics and assessment outcomes. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Choose You Own Adventure In this task, students will create an interactive Choose Your Own Adventure model by exploring family and state histories to answer the question, "What makes people take a risk?". This task includes: |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Clay's American System This task assesses students’ ability to reason how evidence supports a historical argument. Students must explain how Henry Clay's speech defending his “American System”, and an editorial critique of federal government intervention, both support the conclusion that many Americans opposed increased government regulation at the time. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment as well as the Rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Cold War Foreign Policy This task assesses students’ ability to contextualize two historical documents, sequencing them in the correct chronological order. Document A is an excerpt from the joint resolution by the Allies at the Moscow Conference in 1943. Document B is from an article published in the Chicago Daily News on February 14, 1951. This task draws on students' knowledge about American foreign policy but in a way that goes beyond the simple recall of facts and dates. Students must show that they have a broad understanding of how American foreign policy changed over time, and demonstrate the ability to use knowledge about the past place the two documents in context. Students who correctly contextualize the documents will see that Document A, which describes an alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China against Germany, was a product of World War II foreign policy and therefore likely written before Document B, which refers to American Cold War containment policy in Korea. Resources available with this task include PDF documents of the assessment itself (with sources), as well as a rubric. |
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