Using a Standards Crosswalk to Adapt Resources for Teaching with Primary Sources Across K–12 and Higher Education

This article explores the work of archivists and special collections librarians in teaching with primary sources (TPS) for K–12 and higher education audiences and argues that the resources created for this work have largely targeted either audience, but not both. Building on a trend in the TPS literature toward skills-based instruction efforts, this article introduces a crosswalk between skills-based standards typically used in higher education (the SAA/RBMS Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy) and K–12 education (Common Core State Standards). This crosswalk demonstrations how resources created with one audience in mind can be adapted for use with other audiences. Examples of this crosswalk’s application are provided, as well as a discussion of the pitfalls of standards-based learning and the potential of a standards-based crosswalk to open up communication and collaboration around the benefits of teaching with primary sources