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 |
The Conservation Movement This task assesses students' ability to contextualize two historical documents and place them in the correct chronological order.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 |
1877 Railroad Strike This task assesses students’ ability to to source and corroborate a document. Drawing on knowledge gained from sourcing an excerpt from an 1877 newspaper article about railroad strikes in Columbus, Ohio, students then evaluate it in several ways; Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the excerpt provides enough evidence to draw conclusions about the broader railroad strike as a whole. To answer this question, students must source the document to determine whether the account can be regarded as conclusive evidence. Question 2 asks students to identify and evaluate whether additional documents or perspectives could be used to corroborate the account. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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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 |
A Perspective on Slavery This task requires students to weigh the values and limitations of a document as historical evidence, as it relates to conditions slaves faced in the United States. Students well-versed in sourcing a document will be able to explain that the account of Henry Nelson, a son of former slaves, is useful in that it was informed by his parents whom, again, were slaves at the end of the Civil War. Students will also point out, however, that Nelson was offering second-hand information, making his interview less useful as specific evidence of the conditions facing slaves at the end of the war. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
African American Workers This task asks students to source and corroborate an account by an English traveller describing African American workers in New York City. Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the excerpt provides enough evidence to draw conclusions about the working conditions facing African Americans in New York City at the time. To answer this question, students must source the document to determine whether the author’s account can be thought of as conclusive evidence. Question 2 asks students to evaluate whether additional documents could be used to corroborate the account. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
African American Workers This task asks students to source and corroborate an account by an English traveller describing African American workers in New York City. Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the excerpt provides enough evidence to draw conclusions about the working conditions facing African Americans in New York City at the time. To answer this question, students must source the document to determine whether the author’s account can be thought of as conclusive evidence. Question 2 asks students to evaluate whether additional documents could be used to corroborate the account. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
American Imperialism This task asks students to source and corroborate an editorial from a Nebraska newspaper about overseas expansion. Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the passage provides enough evidence to draw conclusions about American attitudes about overseas expansion at the time. To answer this question, students must source the document to determine whether the editorial can be thought of as conclusive evidence. Question 2 asks students to evaluate whether additional documents or missing perspectives could be used to corroborate the document. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Anarchism and the Haymarket Affair This task assesses students’ ability to source and corroborate a document. Drawing on knowledge gained by sourcing an excerpt from a 1908 Utah newspaper--which makes claims about the influence that the Haymarket Affair had on the growth of anarchist groups in the United States--students then evaluate it in several ways; Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the excerpt provides enough evidence to draw conclusions the growth of anarchism in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. To answer this question, students must source the document to determine whether the account can be regarded as conclusive evidence. Question 2 asks students to identify and evaluate whether additional documents or perspectives could be used to corroborate the account. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Attack on Fort Sumter This task assesses students' knowledge of the past—but rather than measure rote recall of decontextualized facts, this assessment requires students to make connections across time and construct an argument about how events are connected. Students with a strong sense of the past will be able to explain that the election of Abraham Lincoln contributed to the formation of the Confederacy because of his opposition to slavery in the territories. Students will also explain that the rising price of cotton on the international market due to textile mills in England made slavery even more indispensible to the South. Both of these connections point ultimately to the start of the Civil War. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment with source materials, as well as the Rubric containing benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Breadlines in the 1930's This task assesses students' knowledge of the past—but rather than measure rote recall of decontextualized facts, this assessment requires students to make connections across time and construct an argument about how events are connected. Students with a strong sense of the past will be able to explain, after analyzing a photograph of a long ‘breadline’ of unemployed Americans, that the Works Progress Administration was established as a federal response to the problem of American unemployment. Students will also explain that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 precipitated the high unemployment rates in the 1930's, increasing the number of patrons at breadlines and soup kitchens. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment with source materials, as well as the Rubric containing benchmark descriptors. |
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