The Baseline Essay Project

Geocultural Baseline Essay Project

The Concept of Baseline Essays

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What Characteristically is a Baseline Essay?

In Portland Public Schools, a Baseline Essay is a reference document written by one select author/scholar in a specific subject-matter area (e.g. art, language arts, mathematics, music, science, social sciences and in some instances physical education/health). Each Essay is reviewed by scholars from different disciplines, specialists from the Portland District and a planning/advisory committee with significant representation from the geocultural group that is being represented in the essay.

A Baseline Essay was planned to have the following characteristics:

Information should be truthful, informative for all, and uplifting for the subject cultural group.
Content should include a brief survey of the history, culture(s) and contributions of a geocultural group.
Voices and perspective(s) of the people whose antecedents originally come from the continent (or tied to the continent by culture or heritage) should be reflected in the document.
References should support information presented in the Baseline Essay, though it is important to remember an essay is not a research paper or book.