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 |
Traders in the West This task assesses whether students can source and contextualize a document. Students must first examine an account of the interactions between American traders and Native Americans, then determine which facts can help them evaluate the account's reliability. Strong students will be able to explain how Farnham's vested interest in the event (Fact 2) and in gaining territory for the American flag (Fact 3) may have shaped his telling of the incident. 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 |
Unions in Paterson, New Jersey This task gauges students' ability to source and contextualize a document. Students first listen to an excerpt from an interview with Marianna Costa, a union leader from Paterson, New Jersey. Students then analyze four historical facts and determine which ones can help discern whether Costa’s account of union accomplishments is historically reliable. 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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Source Subject Grade Level |
Washington Crosses Delaware 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 source 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 the painting shown in this task is of little use to historians who wish to understand the Battle of Trenton, because it was produced 100 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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Source Subject Grade Level |
Women's Rights 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 changes in women’s rights over time . Document A is excerpted from Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963. Document B is from the trial of Susan B. Anthony, who voted illegally in the election of 1872. More than just the recall of facts and dates, students must show that they have a broad understanding of Students must show that they have a broad understanding of how women’s rights changed over time and demonstrate the ability to use knowledge about the past to place the two documents in context. In this question, students who correctly contextualize the documents will see that Document B (an excerpt from the trial of Susan B. Anthony), which discusses the ban on women’s suffrage, was likely written before Document A (an excerpt from Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique), which describes discontent with post-World War II gender roles. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment, a link to primary source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Zulu Chief This task assesses students’ ability to source, contextualize, and corroborate a photograph of a Zulu Chief by American photographer Frank Carpenter. Students must reason about the content and the circumstances of its creation to evaluate its reliability as evidence. Students also must determine what additional information might help corroborate the evidence in the photograph. Resources available for this task include downloadable PDF versions of both the assessment as well as the Rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
If you would like to recommend additional open-sourced performance task banks to be included in the database, or if you would like to report a broken link, please email Pai-rou Chen.
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