Document-Based Questions

New York State developed an elementary assessment consisting of multiple choice questions, constructed-response questions, and a document-based question. This assessment was administered to all New York State public school students in fifth grade in November 2001, although the assessment itself is based on the third grade (40 percent) and fourth grade (60 percent) curricula.

Developed with regard to the New York State Social Studies Core Curriculum, the document-based questions provided here are designed for use in a fourth- or fifth-grade classroom to prepare students for the elementary assessment. The students will study the documents, answer the scaffolding questions underneath each document, and write an essay based on the documents. The intent of this activity is to help children walk through the process of answering a document-based question.

The following document-based questions are available for download as PDF files (important information about using PDF files):

• The Late 1800s Farm Family and the Economy in New York State
• Discovering Government Records
• Dairy Farming: A Growing Industry
• The Impact of Railroads on New York State in the 1800s

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