Grades and Standards
Here are the standards that I will be using to assess mastery under standards-based grading. The links go to the originating documents, where you can find descriptions of each standard.
SKILLS STANDARDS
- Students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events and decisions and determining the lessons that were learned.
- Students analyze how change happens at different rates at different times; understand that some aspects can change while others remain the same; and understand that change is complicated and affects not only technology and politics but also values and beliefs.
- Students use a variety of maps and documents to interpret human movement, including major patterns of domestic and international migration, changing environmental preferences and settlement patterns, the frictions that develop between population groups, and the diffusion of ideas, technological innovations, and goods.
- Students relate current events to the physical and human characteristics of places and regions.
- Students distinguish valid arguments from fallacious arguments in historical interpretations.
- Students identify bias and prejudice in historical interpretations.
- Students evaluate major debates among historians concerning alternative interpretations of the past, including an analysis of authors’ use of evidence and the distinctions between sound generalizations and misleading oversimplifications.
- Students construct and test hypotheses; collect, evaluate, and employ information from multiple primary and secondary sources; and apply it in oral and written presentations.
- Students show the connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments.
- Students recognize the complexity of historical causes and effects, including the limitations on determining cause and effect.
- Students interpret past events and issues within the context in which an event unfolded rather than solely in terms of present-day norms and values.
- Students understand the meaning, implication, and impact of historical events and recognize that events could have taken other directions.
- Students analyze human modifications of landscapes and examine the resulting environmental policy issues.
- Students conduct cost-benefit analyses and apply basic economic indicators to analyze the aggregate economic behavior of the U.S. economy.
- Establish historical significance
- Use primary source evidence
- Identify continuity and change
- Analyze cause and consequence
- Take historical perspectives
- Understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretations
CONTENT STANDARDS (11th Grade -- 11.1, 11.2, etc.)
- Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence.
- Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large scale rural-to-urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.
- Students analyze the role religion played in the founding of America, its lasting moral, social, and political impacts, and issues regarding religious liberty.
- Students trace the rise of the United States to its role as a world power in the twentieth century.
- Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s.
- Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government.
- Students analyze America’s participation in World War II.
- Students analyze the economic boom and social transformation of post–World War II America.
- Students analyze U.S. foreign policy since World War II.
- Students analyze the development of federal civil rights and voting rights.
- Students analyze the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society.
Plus certain 5th, 7th, and 8th grade standards as they apply to the first six weeks of school.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Literacy in History/Social Studies (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH)
Key Ideas and Details:
11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Craft and Structure:
11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
11-12.5 Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
11-12.6 Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Craft and Structure:
11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
11-12.5 Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
11-12.6 Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
1-12.8 Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
1-12.8 Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Writing in History/Social Studies (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST)
Text Types and Purposes
WHST 11.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
WHST 11.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events...or technical processes.
Production and Distribution of Writing
WHST 11.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
WHST 11.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose or audience.
WHST 11.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
WHST 11.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a questino (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
WHST 11.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the specific task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and over-reliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.
WHST 11.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Range of Writing
WHST 11.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Plus Common Core ELA standards regarding speaking and listening; reading informational texts; and language use as relevant to the material we cover.
Speaking and Listening in History/Social Studies (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL)
Comprehension and Collaboration
SL 11.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
SL 11.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.
SL 11.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
SL 11.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.
SL 11.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
SL 11.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 11-12 Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)
Learning Skills
- Critical Thinking
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Creativity
Literacy Skills
- Information Literacy
- Media Literacy
- Technology Literacy
- Civic Literacy
- Economic/Financial Literacy
Life Skills
- Flexibility
- Leadership
- Initiative
- Productivity
- Social Skills