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 |
Explosion of the USS Maine This task assesses students’ ability to reason how evidence supports a historical argument. Students must explain how a report by the Naval Court of Inquiry and a San Francisco newspaper article both support the conclusion that confusion pervaded US public thought following the sinking of the USS Maine. Resources 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 |
Gardner's Civil War Photography This task assesses students’ ability to source, contextualize, and corroborate a primary source from the Civil War era. Students are asked to consider how the content of two photographs by famous Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner could affect their reliability. Then, students must think of other information they would like to know about the circumstances surrounding the photographs in order to further evaluate their reliability. 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 |
Haymarket Aftermath This task assesses students' ability to evaluate the relevance of contextual information for determining the motivations of an author. Students must select two facts and explain how they shed light on the cartoon's depiction of Illinois Governor Altgeld's pardon in 1893. Students with a strong understanding of contextualization will be able to explain how fears aroused by the Haymarket riot, and increasing tensions during the Depression of 1893, may help explain the cartoonist's work. 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 |
Immigration This task assesses students’ ability to contextualize two historical documents and place them in the correct chronological order. Drawing on students' knowledge about the American immigration boom of the 1800's, students are asked to place two related documents in order--and explain their reasoning, in effect taking their thinking beyond the rote recall of event dates, names and facts. Sources include Document A--part of an editorial from a San Francisco newspaper published in 1916, and Document B--an excerpt from a book titled A Tour in the United States by Archibald Prentice-published in 1848. Students who correctly contextualize the documents will see that Letter B, describing a rather simple immigration process for large numbers of German immigrants, was likely written before Letter A, which calls for legislation similar to the Chinese Exclusion Act in an attempt to exclude Japanese immigrants. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Inca Fortification This task requires students to weigh the values and limitations of a document as historical evidence, as it relates to resistance against Spanish rule by the Inca. Students well-versed in sourcing a document will be able to explain that a photograph of a native Inca fort is useful in that it provides some evidence of Inca fortification against Spanish attacks. However, for Question 2, Students will also observe that the photograph was taken centuries after the Spanish conquest of Tawantinsuyu-and explain how that fact limits the its usefulness as evidence of how the Inca resisted Spanish forces. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Italian Atrocities This task requires students to consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of a document as historical evidence. Students with a sophisticated understanding of how to source a document will be able to explain how a news article from the time period provides a useful contemporary account of Italian actions against the Ottomon Empire. They will also observe, however, that an international news report by a local American newspaper may contain biases and second-hand information which make it less useful as evidence of what really happened--and exemplifying American Imperialism. Resources provided include a rubric and scoring guide, a downloadable PDF of the assessment with excerpted primary sources, as well as links to the original sources via the Library of Congress. |
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Source Subject Grade Level |
Japanese Internment This task assesses students’ ability to source and corroborate a document. Drawing on knowledge gained by sourcing an excerpt from a 2003 interview of a Japanese-American WWII Veteran, in which he recalls visiting an Internment camp, students then evaluate in several ways; Question 1 asks students to evaluate whether the excerpt provides enough evidence to draw conclusions about the conditions facing Japanese Americans interned during WWII. 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 |
John Brown This task measures students’ ability to source a document. 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. The question asks students to agree or disagree with a claim regarding the usefulness of a painting for understanding the circumstances of John Brown's execution in 1859, then support their answer with reasons and evidence. Students who understand the importance of when a document was produced will see that the painting is of little use to historians who wish to understand the immediate circumstances of John Brown's execution in 1859 because it was produced over 10 years later. 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 |
John Brown's Legacy This task gauges students' ability to source and contextualize a document. Students must first source a playbill, determining when it was created and by whom. Students then select facts that might provide the most relevant historical context in order to determine the authors' motivation, and explain how the facts might shed light on why the authors wrote the play. 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 |
Labor History In this task, students are assessed to their ability to contextualize two documents and place them in the correct chronological order. In this assessment, students who correctly contextualize the documents will see that Document A, which describes the President deploying troops to quell labor unrest, was likely written before Document B, which discusses gains made later in the labor movement, like collective bargaining and the notion of workers’ rights. More than just the recall of facts and dates, students must show that they have a broad understanding of how the labor movement changed over time and demonstrate the ability to use knowledge about the past to place the historical documents in present context. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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