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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Seven Years' War This task assesses whether students can source and contextualize a document. Students must first examine an 1870s image of French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and then determine which fact can help them evaluate the reliability of the drawing as evidence of what happened at Fort William Henry. Strong students will be able to explain how prevailing attitudes about Native Americans (Fact 1) could affect how an artist depicts the past. 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 |
Signing of the Mayflower Compact This task measures students’ ability to source a document. When historians interpret a document, they first look to find out who wrote it and when. This information presents important clues about whether the document provides reliable evidence about the past. This assessment gauges whether students understand an important aspect of sourcing: the time elapsed between when a document was produced and the event that it depicts. Students who understand the importance of when a document was produced will see that this painting offers limited evidence to historians who wish to understand the signing of the Mayflower Compact because it was produced over 200 years after the event. The task includes a range of supplementary materials, all accessible and available for download with the creation of a free account through the site:
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Slave Quarters This task reveals students' ability to source a document, in order to see both its values and limitations. Students will be able to explain how a photograph of former slave quarters provides some evidence of the living conditions of slaves. They will also observe how the fact that the photograph was taken decades after the abolition of slavery limits its usefulness as evidence of antebellum living conditions. The task includes a range of supplementary materials, many available for download with the creation of a free account:
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Standard Oil Company This task assesses students' ability to evaluate the relevance of contextual information for determining the motivations of an author. Students must select two facts from a cartoon made by Udo Keppler in 1904, and explain how they shed light on his depiction of Standard Oil. Students with a strong understanding of contextualization will be able to explain how the company's growing control over the oil industry, and Tarbell's muckraking reports on Standard Oil, may have influenced Keppler's depiction. 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 |
The Case of the Clock This task assesses students' ability to evaluate the relevance of contextual information for determining the motivations of an author. Students must select one fact, and explain how it sheds light on why Edward Curtis altered a photograph of Native Americans before publishing it. Students with a strong understanding of contextualization will be able to explain how the popular belief that Indians did not understand modern technology might have influenced Curtis's decision to alter the photograph. 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 |
The First Thanksgiving This task measures students’ ability to source a document. When historians interpret a document, they look at who wrote it and when. Source information presents clues about whether the document provides reliable evidence about the past. This task gauges whether students understand an important aspect of sourcing: the time elapsed between when a document (in this case, a painting) was produced, and the event it depicts. To accomplish this, students must agree or disagree with a claim about the usefulness of the source, and explain their thinking. The task includes a range of supplementary materials, many available for download with the creation of a free account:
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Source Subject Grade Level |
The KKK in the 1870's This task assesses students’ ability to reason how evidence supports a historical argument. Students must explain how an 1872 editorial describing the organization of the Ku Klux Klan, and a testimony given before Congress describing Klan intimidation, both support the conclusion that Americans were concerned about the KKK during the 1870's. 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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The Role of Women This task assesses students’ ability to reason how evidence supports a historical argument. Students must explain how a conservative political cartoon about women's societal roles, and feminist writing by radical feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, both support the conclusion that many Americans opposed the shift of women's roles from the private sphere to the public. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment as well as the Rubric with benchmark descriptors. Also included are links to the original primary sources through the Library of Congress. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
The Virginia Company This task assesses whether students can source and contextualize a document. Students must first examine a report on the progress of the Virginia Company, then determine which fact can help them evaluate the report's reliability. Strong students will be able to explain how the Company's desire to attract new investors (Fact 2) may have led the authors to put a positive spin on life in Virginia. 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 |
The War of 1812 This task assesses students' knowledge of the past—but rather than measure rote recall of decontextualized facts, the task 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 President Madison's proclamation of war on Britain was in part due to trade restrictions enforced by the British during the Napoleonic Wars between France and Britain. Students will also explain that Britain's support for Native American tribes resisting US expansion into the Northwest Territory contributed to the declaration of war on Britain. 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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