The JFK Assassination: Reading Comprehension Passage and Assessment

I highly recommend bookmarking and saving the video below for use before using this reading assessment/history printable. It is a four-minute summary using news footage from that day and is appropriate for upper elementary children and above:

Short Educational Video on Kennedy Assassination

This product was created for Grades 7-9 as a way to continue to assess Common Core standards on informational text that students acquired in lower grades and which are stated below this introduction. It also relates well to the study of 20th century American history and of course, to what was the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 2013.

Students read a background text on the assassination of John F. Kennedy and then five different sources, both firsthand and secondhand, on the President’s death (no graphic or inappropriate material/images are used). Student then respond to a set of eleven questions. The first eight deal with identifying the correct source(s) of information and opinion. The final three questions are interpretive and summative written questions. Answers (along with sample answers for the written tasks) are provided. Please see the Preview.

Common Core ELA Informational Text Standards

Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.

Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

This item is a PAID digital download from my TpT store. As such, it is for use in one classroom only. This item is also bound by copyright laws and redistributing, editing, selling, or posting this item (or any part thereof) on the Internet are all strictly prohibited without first gaining permission from the author. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Any claims of correlation or alignment to the Common Core State Standards are solely those of Mark Aaron and have not been evaluated or endorsed by the NGA. Mark Aaron is the sole creator of this product and does not claim endorsement or association with the creators of the CCSS.