Like Connections to the Philippine-American War, this assessment gauges students' knowledge of the past. Rather than measure whether students can simply recall decontextualized facts, this assessment requires students to make connections across time and construct an argument about how events are connected. Students with a strong sense of the past will be able to explain that the Works Progress Administration was established as a federal response to unemployed Americans like those in the photograph. Strong students will also explain that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 precipitated the high unemployment rates in the '30s, increasing the number of patrons at breadlines and soup kitchens.
