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 |
12th Grade Government and Economics End-of-Year History Writing Task In the 12th Grade Government and Economics End-of-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "Should California raise the state minimum wage to $12.25 per hour?". They will write an essay using a variety of articles, cartoon, 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 |
12th Grade Government and Economics Mid-Year History Writing Task In the 12th Grade Government and Economics Mid-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "Should the US continue to use the Electoral College as the way of electing our President?". They will write an essay using a variety of articles, editorial cartoon, maps, 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 |
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 |
6th Grade Ancient History End-of-Year History Writing Task In the 6th Grade Ancient History End-of-Year History Writing Task students will address the questions "Athens or Sparta: Which was the fairer city-state?". They will write an essay using primary and secondary sources, graphs, images, and photographic evidence to support their argument. This task includes resources to help students write their introduction, evaluate sources and evidence, plan their essay, develop their claim, 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 |
7th Grade Medieval History End-of-Year History Writing Task In the 7th Grade Medieval History Enf-of-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "which two reasons best explain the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztec Empire, to the Spanish?". They will write an essay using primary and secondary sources as evidence to support their argument. This task includes resources to help students write their introduction, learn vocabulary, evaluate sources and evidence, plan their essay, develop their claim, 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 |
7th Grade Medieval History Mid-Year History Writing Task In the 7th Grade Medieval History Mid-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "was the Examination System during the Song Dynasty in China an effective way for the emperor to select high quality government official?". They will write an essay using primary and secondary sources and photographic evidence to support their argument. This task includes resources to help students write their introduction, evaluate sources and evidence, plan their essay, develop their claim, 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 |
8th Grade U.S. History End-of-Year History Writing Task In the 8th Grade U.S. History End-of-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "Is John Brown an American Hero?". They will write an essay using primary and secondary sources as evidence to support their argument. This task includes resources to help students write their introduction, understand the timeline of events, evaluate sources and evidence, plan their essay, develop their claim, 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 |
8th Grade U.S. History Mid-Year History Writing Task In the 8th Grade U.S. History Mid-Year History Writing Task students will respond to the question "which would have been better for the Cherokee in 1836: To accept new tribal lands and more west, or to resist moving to new tribal lands?". They will write an essay using primary and secondary sources as evidence to support their argument. This task includes resources to help students write their introduction, understand the timeline of events, evaluate sources and evidence, plan their essay, develop their claim, 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 |
A Call to Action In this task, students will work in groups to research issues of public concern and then present to the class why their topic should be chosen as a civil responsibility. This task includes: |
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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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