History is a discipline that relies on reading, writing, and discussing a variety of historical texts - primary sources, secondary sources, and textbooks. This context frames our district's goal of teaching students to become better readers and writers of history, and more sophisticated historical thinkers.

Central to these instructional goals are developing a good historical question, developing a thesis statement, and supporting this thesis statement with historical evidence, analysis, and interpretation. Additionally, a 2001 report on academic literacy the California community colleges, state colleges, and universities identified the most crucial academic skills for student success beyond the K-12 classroom. They report, among a number of other findings, that

• Only 1/3 of entering college students are sufficiently prepared for the two most frequently assigned writing tasks: analyzing information or arguments and synthesizing information from several sources, according to faculty respondents.

• Faculty expects students to reexamine their thesis, to consider and reconsider additional points or arguments, to reshape and reconstruct as they compose, and to submit carefully revised and edited work.

In the Oakland Unified School district these instructional goals and challenges provide the rationale and design for the district's writing assessments in history at the 10th grade (Modern World History) and 11th grade (United States History and Geography: Continuity and Change in the Twentieth Century). They also provide and instructional backdrop to the development and piloting of middle school historical writing assessments that has begun during the 2006-2007 school year.

The resources contained at this site are designed and organized to support student success on these district assessments. They are also designed to help teachers assist students in meeting the academic challenges they will face as they move beyond the K-12 classroom.

1. Practice assessments 10th and 11th grade teachers can use to introduce document based questions to their students and as practice for this academic task.
   
2. Instructional materials, developed to teach specific historical content and specific historical thinking, reading and writing skills. These materials are designed to support the specific skills emphasized on the district writing assessments.
   
3. Current and archived copies of assessment newsletters that report on the progress of students as the assessments have been implemented over the last two years.
   
4. High school and middle school draft rubrics for the district writing assessments.
   
5. Links to additional instructional resources that can be used to support student success in writing the historical essay.
   
6. Links to state history content standards and links to the district's "historical thinking" standards

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