Standards Alignment

Source Squads is aligned to multiple national frameworks including C3, AP U.S. History, and Common Core.

The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards

  • 6-8: Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of views represented in the sources.

    Students use the “Sourcer” Card to assess the utility of the source they are interrogating.

  • 6-8: Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts

    9-12: Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

    The “Corroborator” Role Card asks students to consider the influence of time and place o the perspective of the source.

  • 6-8: Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are seen as historically significant.

    9-12: Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

    Source Squads Lessons use compelling and supporting questions to have students consider the significance of historical phenomena, along with the influence of historical context.

  • 6-8: Analyze multiple factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

    9-12: Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

    The “Contextualizer'“ Role Card asks students to consider factors that could have influenced the author’s perspective.

  • 6-8: Analyze how people’s perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.

    9-12: Analyze the ways in which the perspectives of those writing history shaped the history that they produced.

    The “Sourcer” Role Card has students the utility and limitations of the source. Additionally, the “Close Reader” Role Card directs students to consider how factually accurate the source was.

  • 6-8: Detect possible limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kinds of historical sources.

    9-12: Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.

    The “Corroborator” Card asks students to determine perspectives that were included and excluded from the sources in the activity.

  • 6-8: Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to identify further areas of inquiry and additional sources.

    9-12: Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

    The “Corroborator” Role Card has students discuss missing perspectives from the sources used in the activity, as well as brainstorming other sources that could help to answer the compelling question.

  • 6-8: Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.

    9-12: Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.

    The “Source Squad Goals” organize student thinking by having them collect evidence from different sources after sourcing, contextualizing, and close reading to answer three supporting questions.

  • 6-8: Evaluate the credibility of a source by determining its relevance and intended use.

    9-12: Evaluate the credibility of a source by examining how experts value the source.

    The “Sourcer” Role Card asks students to discuss the utility of a source for answering the compelling question.

AP U.S. History - Historical Thinking Skills

  • Identify and explain a historical concept, development, or process.

    Students use the “Contextualizer” card to place the historical event within the context of national, region, and/or local developments.

  • Identify and explain a source’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience.

    Explain the significance of a source’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience, including how these might limit the use(s) of a source.

    Students use the “Sourcer” card to identify and explain the author’s background, purpose, and intended audience.

  • Identify and describe a claim and/or argument in a source.

    Identify the evidence used in a source to support an argument.

    Compare the arguments or main ideas of two sources.

    Explain how claims or evidence support, modify, or refute a source’s argument.

    Students use the “Close Reader” card to identify the argument and evidence used. Students use the “Corroborator” card to compare multiple sources.

  • Identify and describe a historical context for a specific historical development or process.

    Explain how a specific historical development or process is situated within a broader historical context.

    Students use the “Contextualizer” card to identify how the source is situated within national, regional, and local events.

  • Identify patterns among or connections between historical developments and processes.

    Explain how a historical development or process relates to another historical development or process.

    Students use the “Corroborator” card to make connections between the source and the other sources in the lesson.

  • Make a historically defensible claim.

    Support an argument using specific and relevant evidence.

    Use historical reasoning to explain relationships among pieces of historical evidence.

    Corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument using diverse and alternative evidence in order to develop a complex argument.

    Students use the Source Squads process to answer the compelling question, making an argument supported with evidence from the lesson sources.

Common Core State Standards

  • 6-8: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources. 

    9-10: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. 

    11-12: 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.

    Students cite specific textual evidence throughout the discussion prompts, including using the “Closer Reader” card. Students also cite specific textual evidence when answering the compelling questions.

  • 6-8: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. 

    9-10: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.

    11-12: 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.

    Students use the “Close Reader” card to determine the central idea of their text. Students use the “Corroborator” card to provide a summary of how the key ideas of their text connects to other texts.

  • 6-8: Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered). 

    9-10: Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them. 

    11-12: Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

    Students use the “Contextualizer” card to place the events of the text in the broader historical context.

  • 6-8: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies. 

    9-10: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science. 

    11-12: 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).

    Students use the “Contextualizer” card to identify and define unfamiliar vocabulary. Students use the “Close Reader” card to analyze how the author uses words or phrases in the text.

  • 6-8: Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally). 

    9-10: Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.

    11-12: 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.

    Students use the “Close Reader” card to analyze the structure of text as it relates to the argument the author is making.

  • 6-8: Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts). 

    9-10: Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

    11-12: Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.

    Students use the “Sourcer” card to identify the author’s background, point of view, and purpose. Students use the “Contextualizer” and “Corroborator” cards to place the author’s argument in context of other arguments being made before, at the same time, and after the source.

  • 6-8: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

    9-10: Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text. 

    11-12: 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.

    Students identify the appropriate “Close Reader” card to analyze a given source. The “Closer Reader” cards are unique to the media type and include specific prompts to address newspapers, written documents, photographs, charts/data, audio/video, artifacts, or illustrations.

  • 6-8: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text. 

    9-10: Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author’s claims. 

    11-12: Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

    Student use the “Close Reader” card to evaluate an author’s claim and use of evidence. Student use the “Corroborator” card to investigate how a given source is either supported or in conflict with other sources in the Source Squads lesson.

  • 6-8: Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic. 

    9-10: Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources. 

    11-12: Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

    Students use the “Corroborator” card to look for discrepancies among sources.