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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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 |
9th Grade History Mid-Year History Writing Task In the 9th Grade History Mid-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "To what extent does the United States’ prison system rehabilitate or damage the lives of those incarcerated?". 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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Plague Doctor This task asks that students source a painting of clothing worn by doctors in the 17th century in order to determine its usefulness in answering the question of what doctors wore when treating patients with the Plague. Students with a sophisticated understanding of how to source a document will be able to explain that the painting is useful in that it is based on information from a person who witnessed the plague in the 17th century. They will also observe, however, that the image might be limited as evidence of what doctors wore, because it is an artist’s interpretation rendered over two centuries after the account was recorded. Resources include PDF downloads of the assessment with source materials, and a rubric with benchmark descriptors. |
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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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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 Human Rights Timeline In this task, students will research and use court cases to explore the shaping of Canadian human rights. This task includes: |
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A Just War? In this task, students will determine if the War of 1812 was justified from the perspective of the American's declaring war. This task includes: |
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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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A Soldier's Diet In this task, students will compare the lives of soldiers in the War of 1812 to modern Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. This task includes: |
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