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 identify that the poster promotes Maoist teachings and explain that Mao Zedong rose to power during the Chinese Revolution. Strong students will also note that the utter failure of the Great Leap Forward diminished some of Mao’s power and reputation. They will elaborate that this failure contributed to Mao’s initiation of the Cultural Revolution in an attempt to eliminate critics and win back popular support.
