Exit knowledge for students exiting Middle School. Sixth graders should master at least 60%, seventh graders 70% and eighth graders 80% of the knowledge and skills listed on this page.
Standards are from Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL).
See the complete list of standards at Browse the Standards or visit their home page at  Content Knowledge - A Compendium of Standards & Benchmarks for K-12 Education
Geography
The World in Spatial 
  Terms 
Places and Regions 
Physical Systems 
Human Systems 
Environment and    
  Society 
Uses of Geography 		 World History
Era 1 - The Beginnings of Human Society 
Era 2 - Early Civilizations and the Rise of Pastoral Peoples, 4000-1000 BCE 
Era 3 - Classical Traditions, Major Religions, and Giant Empires, 1000 BCE-300 CE 
Era 4 - Expanding Zones of Exchange and Encounter, 300-1000 CE 
Era 5 - Intensified Hemispheric Interactions 1000-1500 CE 
Era 6 - Global Expansion and Encounter, 1450-1770 
Era 7 - An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914 
Era 8 - A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900-1945 
Era 9 - The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes 
World History Across the Eras		  United States History
Era 1 - Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620) 
Era 2 - Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763) 
Era 3 - Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s) 
Era 4 - Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) 
Era 5 - Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) 
Era 6 - The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900) 
Era 7 - The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930) 
Era 8 - The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945) 
Era 9 - Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s) 
Era 10 - Contemporary United States (1968 to the present) 		 Alaska History
Pre-Contact Era- prior to 1741 
The Russian Era- 1741-1867 
The Early American Era- 1867-1897 
The Gold Rush Years- 1897-1912 
The Territorial Period - 1912-1959 
Since Statehood- 1959-present day. 
Present Alaska 
     Transportation 
     Regions of Alaska 
     Resources 
     Government 
Quick Facts About Alaska 
Famous Alaskans 

Geography

Standard: 1
Understands the characteristics and uses of maps, globes, and other geographic tools and technologies

  • Knows the purposes and distinguishing characteristics of different map projections, including distortion on flat-map projections
  • Uses thematic maps (patterns of population, disease, economic features, rainfall, vegetation)
  • Understands concepts such as axis, major parallels, seasons, rotation, revolution, and principal lines of latitude and longitude (Earth-Sun relations)
  • Knows the advantages and disadvantages of maps, globes, and other geographic tools to illustrate a data set (data on population distribution, language-use patterns, energy consumption at different times of the year)
  • Knows the characteristics and uses of cartograms
  • Knows how maps help to find patterns of movement in space and time (mapping hurricane tracks over several seasons, mapping the spread of influenza throughout the world)
  • Knows the characteristics and purposes of geographic databases (databases containing census data, land-use data, topographic information)

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    Standard: 2
    Knows the location of places, geographic features, and patterns of the environment

  • Knows the location of physical and human features on maps and globes (culture hearths such as Mesopotamia, Huang Ho, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Nile Valley; major ocean currents; wind patterns; land forms; climate regions)
  • Knows how mental maps can reflect attitudes and perceptions of places (how personal interests emphasize some details at the expense of others)
  • Knows the relative location of, size of, and distances between places (major urban centers in the United States)
  • Knows the factors that influence spatial perception (culture, education, age, gender, occupation, experience)

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    Standard: 3
    Understands the characteristics and uses of spatial organization of Earth's surface

  • Understands distributions of physical and human occurrences with respect to spatial patterns, arrangements, and associations (why some areas are more densely settled than others, relationships and patterns in the kind and number of links between settlements)
  • Understands patterns of land use in urban, suburban, and rural areas (land uses that are frequently nearby and others not frequently adjacent to one another, dominant land-use patterns in city centers and peripheral areas)
  • Understands how places are connected and how these connections demonstrate interdependence and accessibility (the role of changing transportation and communication technology, regions and countries Americans depend on for imported resources and manufactured goods)
  • Understands the patterns and processes of migration and diffusion (spread of language, religion, and customs from one culture to another; spread of a contagious disease through a population; global migration patterns of plants and animals)


    • Standard: 4
    Understands the physical and human characteristics of place

  • Knows the human characteristics of places (cultural characteristics such as religion, language, politics, technology, family structure, gender; population characteristics; land uses; levels of development)
  • Knows the physical characteristics of places (soils, landforms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, natural hazards)
  • Knows how technology shapes the human and physical characteristics of places (satellite dishes, computers, road construction)
  • Knows the causes and effects of changes in a place over time (physical changes such as forest cover, water distribution, temperature fluctuations; human changes such as urban growth, the clearing of forests, development of transportation systems)


    • Standard: 5
    Understands the concept of regions

  • Knows regions at various spatial scales (hemispheres, regions within continents, countries, cities)
  • Understands criteria that give a region identity (its central focus, such as Amsterdam as a transportation center; relationships between physical and cultural characteristics, such as the Sunbelt's warm climate and popularity with retired people)
  • Knows types of regions such as formal regions (school districts, circuit-court districts, states of the United States), functional regions (the marketing area of a local newspaper, the "fanshed" of a professional sports team), and perceptual regions (the Bible Belt in the United States, the Riviera in southern France, the Great American Desert)
  • Knows factors that contribute to changing regional characteristics (economic development, accessibility, migration, media image)
  • Understands the influences and effects of particular regional labels and images (Twin Peaks in San Francisco, Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the South, the rust belt, "developed" vs. "less-developed" regions)
  • Understands ways regional systems are interconnected (watersheds and river systems, regional connections through trade, cultural ties between regions)


    • Standard: 6
    Understands that culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions

  • Knows how places and regions serve as cultural symbols (e.g. Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; Opera House in Sydney, Australia; the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; Tower Bridge in London)
  • Knows how technology affects the ways in which culture groups perceive and use places and regions (impact of technology such as air conditioning and irrigation on the human use of arid lands; changes in perception of environment by culture groups, such as the snowmobile's impact on the lives of Inuit people or the swamp buggy's impact on tourist travel in the Everglades)
  • Knows the ways in which culture influences the perception of places and regions (religion and other belief systems, language and tradition; perceptions of "beautiful" or "valuable")


    • Standard: 7
    Knows the physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surface

  • Knows the major processes that shape patterns in the physical environment (e.g., the erosional agents such as water and ice, earthquake zones and volcanic activity, the ocean circulation system)
  • Knows the processes that produce renewable and nonrenewable resources (e.g., fossil fuels, hydroelectric power, soil fertility)
  • Knows the consequences of a specific physical process operating on Earth's surface (e.g., effects of an extreme weather phenomenon such as a hurricane's impact on a coastal ecosystem, effects of heavy rainfall on hillslopes, effects of the continued movement of Earth's tectonic plates)


    • Standard: 8
    Understands the characteristics of ecosystems on Earth's surface

  • Understands the distribution of ecosystems from local to global scales (e.g., the consequences of differences in soils, climates, and human and natural disturbances)
  • Understands the functions and dynamics of ecosystems (e.g., interdependence of flora and fauna, the flow of energy and the cycling of energy, feeding levels and location of elements in the food chain)
  • Understands ecosystems in terms of their characteristics and ability to withstand stress caused by physical events (e.g., a river system adjusting to the arrival of introduced plant species such as hydrilla; regrowth of a forest after a forest fire; effects of disease on specific populations)
  • Knows changes that have occurred over time in ecosystems in the local region (e.g., natural wetlands on a floodplain being replaced by farms, farmlands on a floodplain being replaced by housing developments)
  • Knows the potential impact of human activities within a given ecosystem on the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles (e.g., the role of air pollution in atmospheric warming or the growing of peas and other legumes, which supply their own nitrogen and do not deplete the soil)
  • Understands the life cycle of a lake ecosystem from birth to death (including the process of eutrophication)


    • Standard: 9
    Understands the nature, distribution and migration of human populations on Earth's surface

  • Understands demographic concepts and how they are used to describe population characteristics of a country or region (rates of natural increase, crude birth and death rates, infant mortality, population growth rates, doubling time, life expectancy, average family size)
  • Knows the factors that influence patterns of rural-urban migration (urban commuting, effects of technology on transportation, communication and people's mobility, barriers that impede the flow of people, goods, and ideas)
  • Knows the ways in which human movement and migration influence the character of a place (New Delhi before and after the partition of the Indian subcontinent in the 1940s and the massive realignment of the Hindu and Muslim populations; Boston before and after the large-scale influx of Irish immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century; the impact of Indians settling in South Africa, Algerians settling in France, Vietnamese settling in the United States)


    • Standard: 10
    Understands the nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics

  • Knows the distinctive cultural landscapes associated with migrant populations (e.g., Chinatowns in the Western world, European enclaves in Japan and China in the 19th century, Little Italy sections of American cities from the beginning of the 19th century to the present)
  • Knows ways in which communities reflect the cultural background of their inhabitants (e.g., distinctive building styles, billboards in Spanish, foreign-language advertisements in newspapers)
  • Understands the significance of patterns of cultural diffusion (e.g., the use of terraced rice fields in China, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines; the use of satellite television dishes in the United States, England, Canada, and Saudi Arabia)


    • Standard: 11
    Understands the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface

  • Understands the spatial aspects of systems designed to deliver goods and services (the movement of a product from point of manufacture to point of use; imports, exports, and trading patterns of various countries; interruptions in world trade such as war, crop failures, and labor strikes)
  • Understands issues related to the spatial distribution of economic activities (the impact of economic activities in a community on the surrounding areas, the effects of the gradual disappearance of small-scale retail facilities such as corner general stores and gas stations, the economic and social impacts on a community when a large factory or other economic activity leaves and moves to another place)
  • Understands factors that influence the location of industries in the United States (geographical factors, factors of production, spatial patterns)
  • Understands the primary geographic causes for world trade (the theory of comparative advantage that explains trade advantages associated with Hong Kong-made consumer goods, Chinese textiles, or Jamaican sugar; countries that export mostly raw materials and import mostly fuels and manufactured goods)
  • Understands historic and contemporary economic trade networks (the triangular trade routes of the 16th and 17th centuries; national and global patterns of migrant workers; economic relationships under imperialism such as American colonies and England in the 18th and 19th centuries, or Belgium and the Congo in the 20th century)
  • Understands historic and contemporary systems of transportation and communication in the development of economic activities (the effect of refrigerated railroad cars, air-freight services, pipelines, telephone services, facsimile transmission services, satellite-based communications systems)
  • Knows primary, secondary, and tertiary activities in a geographic context (primary economic activities such as coal mining and salmon fishing; secondary economic activities such as the manufacture of shoes and the associated worldwide trade in raw materials; tertiary economic activity such as restaurants, theaters, and hotels)


    • Standard: 12
    Understands the patterns of human settlement and their causes

  • Knows the causes and consequences of urbanization (industrial development; cultural activities such as entertainment, religious facilities, higher education; economic attractions such as business and entrepreneurial opportunities; access to information and other resources)
  • Knows the similarities and differences in various settlement patterns of the world (agricultural settlement types such as plantations, subsistence farming, truck-farming communities; urban settlement types such as port cities, governmental centers, single-industry cities, planned cities)
  • Knows ways in which both the landscape and society change as a consequence of shifting from a dispersed to a concentrated settlement form (a larger marketplace, the need for an agricultural surplus to provide for the urban population, the loss of some rural workers as people decide to move into the city, changes in the transportation system)
  • Knows the factors involved in the development of cities (geographic factors for location such as transportation and food supply; the need for a marketplace, religious needs, or for military protection)
  • Knows the internal spatial structures of cities (the concentric zone model and the sector model of cities; the impact of different transportation systems on the spatial arrangement of business, industry, and residence in a city)


    • Standard: 13
    Understands the forces of cooperation and conflict that shape the divisions of Earth's surface

  • Understands factors that contribute to cooperation (similarities in religion, language, political beliefs) or conflict (economic competition for scarce resources, boundary disputes, cultural differences, control of strategic locations) within and between regions and countries
  • Knows the social, political, and economic divisions on Earth's surface at the local, state, national, and international levels (transnational corporations, political alliances, economic groupings, world religions)
  • Understands the various factors involved in the development of nation-states (competition for territory and resources, desire for self-rule, nationalism, history of domination by powerful countries)
  • Understands the reasons for multiple and overlapping spatial divisions in society (postal zones, school districts, telephone area codes, voting wards)
  • Understands the factors that affect the cohesiveness and integration of countries (language and religion in Belgium, the religious differences between Hindus and Moslems in India, the ethnic differences in some African countries that have been independent for only a few decades, the elongated shapes of Italy and Chile)
  • Understands the symbolic importance of capital cities (Canberra, a planned city, as the capital of Australia; The Hague as both a national capital of the Netherlands and a center for such global agencies as the World Court)


    • Standard: 14
    Understands how human actions modify the physical environment

  • Understands the environmental consequences of people changing the physical environment (the effects of ozone depletion, climate change, deforestation, land degradation, soil salinization and acidification, ocean pollution, groundwater-quality decline, using natural wetlands for recreational and housing development)
  • Understands the ways in which human-induced changes in the physical environment in one place can cause changes in other places (the effect of a factory's airborne emissions on air quality in communities located downwind and, because of acid rain, on ecosystems located downwind; the effects of pesticides washed into river systems on water quality in communities located downstream; the effects of the construction of dams and levees on river systems in one region on places downstream)
  • Understands the ways in which technology influences the human capacity to modify the physical environment (effects of the introduction of fire, steam power, diesel machinery, electricity, work animals, explosives, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, hybridization of crops)
  • Understands the environmental consequences of both the unintended and intended outcomes of major technological changes in human history (the effects of automobiles using fossil fuels, nuclear power plants creating the problem of nuclear-waste storage, the use of steel-tipped plows or the expansion of the amount of land brought into agriculture)


    • Standard: 15
    Understands how physical systems affect human systems

  • Knows the ways in which human systems develop in response to conditions in the physical environment (patterns of land use, economic livelihoods, architectural styles of buildings, building materials, flows of traffic, recreation activities)
  • Knows how the physical environment affects life in different regions (how people in Siberia, Alaska, and other high-latitude places deal with the characteristics of tundra environments; limitations to coastline settlements as a result of tidal, storm, and erosional processes)
  • Knows the ways people take aspects of the environment into account when deciding on locations for human activities (early American industrial development along streams and rivers at the fall line to take advantage of water-generated power)
  • Understands relationships between population density and environmental quality (resource distribution, rainfall, temperature, soil fertility, landform relief, carrying capacity)
  • Knows the effects of natural hazards on human systems in different regions of the United States and the world (the effect of drought on populations in Ethiopia compared with populations in Australia or the southern part of the United States)
  • Knows the ways in which humans prepare for natural hazards (earthquake preparedness, constructing houses on stilts in flood-prone areas, designation of hurricane shelters and evacuation routes in hurricane-prone areas)


    • Standard: 16
    Understands the changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution and importance of resources

  • Understands the reasons for conflicting viewpoints regarding how resources should be used (attitudes toward electric cars, water-rationing, urban public transportation, use of fossil fuels, excessive timber cutting in old growth forests, buffalo in the western United States, soil conservation in semiarid areas)
  • Knows strategies for wise management and use of renewable, flow, and nonrenewable resources (wise management of agricultural soils, fossil fuels, and alternative energy sources; community programs for recycling or reusing materials)
  • Knows world patterns of resource distribution and utilization (petroleum, coal, iron ore, diamonds, silver, gold, molybdenum)
  • Understands the consequences of the use of resources in the contemporary world (the relationship between a country's standard of living and its accessibility to resources, the competition for resources demonstrated by events such as the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in the 1930s or the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991)
  • Understands the role of technology in resource acquisition and use, and its impact on the environment (the use of giant earth-moving machinery in strip-mining, the use of satellite imagery technology in the search for petroleum, rates of resource consumption among countries of high or low levels of technological development)
  • Understands how energy resources contribute to the development and functioning of human societies (by providing power for transportation, manufacturing, the heating and cooling of buildings)
  • Understands how the development and widespread use of alternative energy sources (solar, wind, thermal) might have an impact on societies (in terms of, air and water quality, existing energy industries, and current manufacturing practices)


    • Standard: 17
    Understands how geography is used to interpret the past

  • Knows how physical and human geographic factors have influenced major historic events and movements (the course and outcome of battles and wars, the forced transport of Africans to North and South America because of the need for cheap labor, the profitability of the triangle trade and the locations of prevailing wind and ocean currents, the effects of different land-survey systems used in the U.S.)
  • Knows historic and current conflicts and competition regarding the use and allocation of resources (the conflicts between Native Americans and colonists; conflicts between the Inuit and migrants to Alaska since 1950)
  • Knows the ways in which the spatial organization of society changes over time (process of urban growth in the United States; changes in the internal structure, form, and function of urban areas in different regions of the world at different times)
  • Knows significant physical features that have influenced historical events (mountain passes that have affected military campaigns such as the Khyber Pass, Burma Pass, or Brenner Pass; major water crossings that have affected U.S. history such as the Tacoma Strait in Washington or the Delaware River near Trenton, New Jersey; major water gaps, springs, and other hydrologic features that have affected settlement in the U.S. such as the Cumberland Gap, the Ogallala Aquifer, or the artesian wells of the Great Plains)


    • Standard: 18
    Understands global development and environmental issues

  • Understands how the interaction between physical and human systems affects current conditions on Earth (relationships involved in economic, political, social, and environmental changes; geographic impact of using petroleum, coal, nuclear power, and solar power as major energy sources)
  • Understands the possible impact that present conditions and patterns of consumption, production and population growth might have on the future spatial organization of Earth
  • Knows how the quality of environments in large cities can be improved (greenways, transportation corridors, pedestrian walkways, bicycle lanes)
  • Understands why different points of view exist regarding contemporary geographic issues (a forester and a conservationist debating the use of a national forest, a man and a woman discussing gender-based divisions of labor in a developing nation)


    • World History
    Era 1 - The Beginnings of Human Society

    Standard: 1
    Understands the biological and cultural processes that shaped the earliest human communities

  • Understands early hominid development and scientific methods used to determine the dates and evolution of different human communities (methods employed by archaeologists, geologists, and anthropologists to study hominid evolution; the approximate chronology, sequence, and territorial range of early hominid evolution in Africa from the Australopithecines to Homo erectus)
  • Understands the role of the environment in the development of different human communities (current and past theories regarding the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens and the processes by which human groups populated the major world regions; how environmental conditions in the last Ice Age possibly affected changes in the economy, culture, and organization of human communities)
  • Understands how different human communities expressed their beliefs (theories regarding the relationship between linguistic and cultural development;  possible social, cultural, and/or religious meanings inferred from late paleolithic cave paintings found in Spain and France; theories about the ways in which hunter-gatherers may have communicated, maintained memory of past events, and expressed religious feelings)


    • Standard: 2
    Understands the processes that contributed to the emergence of agricultural societies around the world

  • High School (Grades 9-12)
  • Understands how agricultural communities maintained their produce and livestock (methods used by scholars to reconstruct the early history of domestication and agricultural settlement, how and why human groups domesticated wild grains and animals after the last Ice Age,  the importance of controlling food supplies and storing them in the "Neolithic revolution")
  • Understands what archaeological evidence has revealed about the cultural beliefs of early agricultural societies (the emergence of complete belief systems, including female deity worship)
  • Understands social and cultural factors that define agricultural communities (archaeological evidence that distinguishes hunter-gatherer from agricultural sites, the relationship between agricultural production and cultural change)
  • Understands what environmental and architectural evidence reveals about different types of large agricultural communities (the locations of different types of communities between 10,000 and 4,000 BCE; how patterns of layout, fortification, and standardization in large settlements helped transform human culture)
  • Understands why some groups developed and accepted complete sedentary agriculture and others retained earlier subsistence methods


    • Era 2 - Early Civilizations and the Rise of Pastoral Peoples, 4000-1000 BCE

    Standard: 3
    Understands the major characteristics of civilization and the development of civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley

  • les of Nubia along the upper Nile;  how geography and climate affected trade in the Nile Valley)
  • Understands environmental and cultural factors that shaped the development of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley (development of religious and ethical belief systems and how they legitimized political and social order;  demands of the natural environment; how written records such as the Epic of Gilgamesh reflected and shaped the political, religious, and cultural life of Mesopotamia)
  • Understands the role of economics in shaping the development of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley (the economic and cultural significance of the trade routes between Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium,  the importance of traded goods to each society)


    • Standard: 4
    Understands how agrarian societies spread and new states emerged in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE

  • Understands the rise of urban and complex agrarian societies in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BCE (how the Minoan civilization emerged on Crete and its significant cultural achievements;  the origins and possible purpose of Stonehenge and the effort made to create it)
  • Understands how the natural environment shaped Huang He civilization (how changes in the course of the Huang He river challenged citizens and government)
  • Understands what archaeological evidence (oracle bone inscriptions, bronze vessels) reveals about Chinese history during the Shang Dynasty
  • Understands the significance of advancements in tool and weapon technology (the technology of bronze casting and why bronze weapons were superior to those made of stone; how the development of the plow, bow and arrow, and pottery affected early man and led to changes in gender roles)


    • Standard: 5
    Understands the political, social, and cultural consequences of population movements and militarization in Eurasia in the second millennium BCE

  • Understands the development of Indo-European language (the probable geographic homeland of speakers of early Indo-European languages and the spread of the language to other parts of Eurasia,  languages which developed from the Indo-European root language)
  • Understands the origins of the Hittite people, their empire in Anatolia, and major cultural and political achievements of this society
  • Understands significant individuals and events in Egyptian civilization (the extent of Egyptian expansion during the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and some of the factors that made this expansion possible;  major political and cultural achievements of Thutmose III, Ramses II, and Queen Hatshepsut in Egypt)
  • Understands significant events in the development of Mycenaean culture (the cultural influences of Egypt, Minoan Crete, and Southwest Asian civilizations on the Mycenaeans;  the story of the Trojan war through different sources)
  • Understands characteristics of Aryan culture (the reasons for the migration of Indo-Aryan and Mycenaean-speaking peoples into India, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Iranian Plateau;  the belief system embraced by the Aryan people; odes from the Vedas that praise major Vedic gods and what they illustrate about Aryan values; potential conflict and tension among Aryan tribes as they began to settle down in the Indo-Gangetic plain)
  • Understands potential sources for the decline in trade, the overcrowding, and eventual collapse of Mohenjo-Daro and other Industrial cities


    • Standard: 6
    Understands major trends in Eurasia and Africa from 4000 to 1000 BCE

  • Understands the emergence of civilizations in Southwest Asia, the Nile valley, India, China, and the Eastern Mediterranean and how they represented a decisive transformation in human history
  • Understands why geographic, environmental, and economic conditions favored hunter-gatherer, pastoral, and small-scale agricultural ways of life rather than urban civilizations in many parts of the world
  • Knows the fundamental inventions, discoveries, techniques, and institutions that appeared from 4000 to 1000 BCE, and understands the significance of bronze technology for economic, cultural, and political life
  • Understands the concept of a patriarchal society and the ways in which the legal and customary positions of aristocratic, urban, or peasant women may have changed in early civilizations
  • Understands the concept of "civilization" (e.g., the various criteria used to define "civilization;" fundamental differences between civilizations and other forms of social organization, such as hunter-gatherer bands, Neolithic agricultural societies, and pastoral nomadic societies;  how Mohenjo-Daro meets criteria for defining civilization)


    • Standard: 7
    Understands technological and cultural innovation and change from 1000 to 600 BCE

  • Understands the role of technology in societies of Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region (the fundamentals of iron-making technology and consequences of iron tools and weapons to those societies)
  • Understands characteristics of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires (the geographic extent of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and sources of their power and wealth,  the significance of geographic features to the success of these empires, what Assyrian art indicates about Assyrian culture and society)
  • Knows the locations of significant Greek city-states and colonies in the Black Sea, Northern Africa, and the Western Mediterranean basin and reasons for their establishment
  • Understands social development and religious beliefs of Jewish civilization (the course of development of the Jewish kingdoms and the Jews' maintenance of religious and cultural traditions despite destruction of these kingdoms,  the significance of the Torah in Judaism)
  • Understands cultural elements of Kush society and their interaction with Egyptian civilization (the linguistic, architectural, and artistic achievements of Kush in the Meroitic period; how Assyrian and Kushite invasions affected Egyptian society;  the social and political consequences of economic contacts between Kush and Egypt)
  • Understands the importance of maritime trade to the kingdom of Askum ( the goods traded in this kingdom, and the situation that enabled Askum to play a role in long-distance trade)
  • Understands elements of different pastoral nomadic peoples in Central Asia (what archaeological and other evidence has revealed about Scythian and Xiongnu society and culture;  the geography of arid lands of the Eastern Hemisphere, aspects of social relations between peoples of these desert and steppe lands, and how individual communities adapted to the land)


    • Standard: 8
    Understands how Aegean civilization emerged and how interrelations developed among peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia from 600 to 200 BCE

  • Understands the political framework of Athenian society (the influence of Athenian political ideals on public life; major changes made to the Athenian political organization between the initial monarchy and the governments of Solon and Cleisthenes;  the role of women in Athenian society, their rights under the law, and possible reasons why Athenian democracy was limited solely to males)
  • Understands the role of art, literature, and mythology in Greek society (major works of Greek drama and mythology and how they reveal ancient moral values and civic culture;  how the arts and literature reflected cultural traditions in ancient Greece)
  • Understands the characteristics of Persian founding, expansion, and political organization ( the political structure of Persia under Darius the Great, and how the Persian Empire ruled diverse ethnic populations; the leadership organization of Darius I, and why his "chain of command" was so effective; the effects of the Persian Wars upon the daily lives of the people of Persia and Greece)
  • Understands elements of Alexander of Macedon's legacy (the scope and success of his imperial conquests;  his rise to power, methods used to unite the empire)
  • Understands the impact and achievements of the Hellenistic period (major lasting achievements of Hellenistic art, mathematics, science, philosophy, and political thought;  the impact of Hellenism on Indian art; how architecture in West Asia after the conquests of Alexander reflected Greek and Macedonian influence)
  • Understands the evolution, inherent advantages, and disadvantages of major governmental systems in Greek city-states in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE
  • Understands comparisons of the creation myths of Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and nationalized China and the similarities and differences in world view they suggest


    • Standard: 9
    Understands how major religious and large-scale empires arose in the Mediterranean Basin, China, and India from 500 BCE to 300 CE

  • Understands the significant individuals and achievements of Roman society (the major legal, artistic, architectural, technological, and literary achievements of the Roman Republic; the influence of Hellenistic cultural traditions;  the accomplishments of different, famous Roman citizens [Cincinnatus, the Gracchi, Cicero, Constantine, Nero, Marcus Aurelius)
  • Understands influences on the economic and political framework of Roman society (how Roman unity contributed to the growth of trade among lands of the Mediterranean basin; the importance of Roman commercial connections with Sub-Saharan Africa, India, and East Asia;  the history of the Punic Wars and the consequences of the wars for Rome; the major phases of Roman expansion, including the Roman occupation of Britain)
  • Understands fundamental social, political, and cultural characteristics of Chinese society under early imperial dynasties (the importance of the "Mandate of Heaven" to the success of the Zhou Dynasty and its development of imperial rule; the literary and artistic achievements of early imperial dynasties; the development and consequences of iron technology and the family division of labor system;  comparisons between the Shang, Zhou, Quin, and Han Empires in areas they controlled and methods of government; the composition and stratification of Chinese society, and factors that gave individuals status; imperial attitudes and actions toward nomadic peoples along the borders of the kingdom)
  • Understands the major religious beliefs and social framework in India during the Gangetic states and the Mauryan Empire (the major beliefs and practices of Brahmanism in India; how Buddhism spread in India, Ceylon, and Central Asia;  aspects of social structure of India during the Mauryan Empire; what advice the animal stories of the Panchantantra offer to people with little power, how this advice was used by Chandragupta; how the teachings of Shvetaketu from the Chandogya Upanishad compare to the Buddhist idea of nirvana)
  • Understands the status and role of women in Roman society
  • Understands the influence of Christian beliefs on political, social, and cultural aspects of society ( how Jesus' moral teachings utilized and expanded upon the prohibitions of the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew Torah, the locations of centers of the Christian church, the impact of Christianity upon the Roman Empire, the values and stories expressed in early Christian religious art)


    • Standard: 10
    Understands how early agrarian civilizations arose in Mesoamerica

  • Understands methods used to study Olmec civilization (what archaeological evidence indicates about the development of Olmec civilization in the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE,  clues about political and economic structure found in the monumental Olmec stone heads)
  • Understands characteristics of Olmec agriculture (the social and environmental impacts, and the methods of Olmec agriculture; how farming in Mesoamerica differed from that of other agrarian societies in the ancient world)


    • Standard: 11
    Understands major global trends from 1000 BCE to 300 CE

  • Understands the concept and importance of "classical civilizations" (the enduring importance of ideas, institutions, and art forms that emerged in the classical periods; the significance of Greek or Hellenistic ideas and cultural styles in the history of the Mediterranean basin, Europe, Southwest Asia, and India)
  • Understands the development of large regional empires (the significance of military power, state bureaucracy, legal codes, belief systems, written languages, and communications and trade networks; how trade networks, merchant communities, state power, tributary systems of production, and other factors contributed to the economic integration of large regions of Afro-Eurasia)


    • Standard: 12
    Understands the Imperial crises and their aftermath in various regions from 300 to 700 CE

  • Understands political events that may have contributed to the decline of the Roman and Han Empires (the consequences of nomadic military movements in China and the western part of the Roman Empire;  the nomadic invasions of the Roman Empire as described in the accounts of Orosius, Ammianus Marcellinus, Priscus, and secondary sources; significant battles, internal divisions, political changes, and invasions between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE that led to the fall of the Roman and Han Empires; the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Roman, Byzantine, and Han Empires)
  • Understands how the spread of Buddhism and Christianity influenced different regions (the spread of the two religions in the context of change and crisis in the Roman and Han empires; the importance of monasticism in the growth of Christianity and Buddhism and the participation of men and women in monastic life and missionary activity;  the importance of universal salvation to the early history of these two religions; the locations of new centers of Buddhism and Christianity and the major routes used to spread the faith beyond these centers; the efforts and successes of Ashoka and Constantine to legitimize Buddhism and Christianity and spread them throughout India and Europe respectively)
  • Understands political events that shaped the Gupta Empire (factors that contributed to the Gupta Empire's stability and economic prosperity, how Hinduism prevailed as the dominant faith in India,  possible reasons for the alliance of the Gupta Empire with Brahmanism and the fall of the Mauryan-Buddhist power, how and why Guptan kings promoted Hinduism while simultaneously fostering Buddhist culture and integrating marginal groups into the political system)
  • Understands the basis of social relationships in India during the Gupta era (the social and legal position of women and men,  restrictions upon women and their place within the caste system, different social perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of the caste system)
  • Understands how the spread of trade and religion influenced Southeast Asia and Polynesian areas (the impact of Indian civilization on state-building in mainland Southeast Asia and the Indonesian archipelago, the nature of monumental religious architecture as evidence for the spread of Buddhist and Hindu belief and practice in Southeast Asia,  the function of Hindu and Buddhist clerics in the spread of their religions and trade to Southeast Asia and Malayo- Polynesia by the end of the 1st millennium BCE, the locations and geographic challenges of potential and actual trade routes in the Southeast Asian and Polynesian areas)
  • Understands the changing status of women in early Christian and Buddhist societies
  • Understands major achievements in technology, astronomy, and medicine in the Gupta period


    • Standard: 13
    Understands the causes and consequences of the development of Islamic civilization between the 7th and 10th centuries

  • Understands how the Muslims spread Islamic beliefs and established their empire (how Muslim forces overthrew the Byzantines in Syria and Egypt and the Sassanids in Persia and Iraq; Arab Muslim success in founding an empire stretching from Western Europe to India and China; the diverse religious, cultural, and geographic factors that influenced the ability of the Muslim government to rule;  how Islam attracted new converts)
  • Understands significant aspects of Islamic civilization (the emergence of Islamic civilization in Iberia and its economic and cultural achievements,  how family life and gender relations were prescribed in Islamic society)
  • Understands significant aspects of Abbasid culture (sources of Abbasid wealth and the economic and political importance of various forms of slavery; why the Abbasid state became a center of Afro-Eurasian commercial exchange; how the Abbasids promoted and preserved Greek learning and contributed to science, mathematics, and medicine;  the contributions of specific individuals to the Abbasid advancement of scientific knowledge)
  • Understands how the Byzantine Empire defended itself against various invaders ( variations in maritime technology and ship design in the 9th century and the role of the navy in Byzantine defense against Arab Muslim attacks; weapons, fortification, and military preparedness of the Byzantine Empire and explanations for its successful defense against Bulgar and Arab invaders)
  • Understands the Byzantine role in preserving and transmitting ancient Greek learning


    • Standard: 14
    Understands major developments in East Asia and Southeast Asia in the era of the Tang Dynasty from 600 to 900 CE

  • Understands China's influence on other cultures (relations with pastoral peoples of Inner Asia in the Tang period and long-term patterns of interaction along China's grassland frontier; how Korea assimilated Chinese ideas and institutions yet preserved its political independence; China's colonization of Vietnam and the effects of Chinese rule on Vietnamese society, including resistance to Chinese domination)
  • Understands how Buddhism was introduced from Tang China to Korea and Japan ( why the Korean emperor encouraged Japan to adopt this religion)
  • Understands the culture and technological achievements of Tang China (the ideals and values of everyday life expressed in the poetry, landscape, painting, and pottery of the Tang Dynasty;  the system of roads and canals in Tang China; the extent of the Tang Empire, the trade routes used by the empire, and the products exchanged; major technologies developed under the Tang Dynasty, how these technologies influenced Tang society and spread to other regions)
  • Understands events that shaped Japanese culture (the influence of Chinese culture on Japanese society from the 7th to the 11th century;  use of Chinese as the lingua franca in East Asia in the late 1st millennium; major contributions and developments of early cultures of Japan from 10,000 B.C.E. to circa 200 CE; the influence of Buddhism on Japan between the 8th and 9th centuries, how it changed Japanese society, and reasons for its restriction by the emperor in Heian)
  • Understands basic beliefs in Japanese culture (the legends of creation of Japan and what these legends reveal about Japanese history, the basic beliefs of Shinto and how art and literature reflect Shinto's impact, courtly life and ideals in Heian)


    • Standard: 15
    Understands the political, social, and cultural redefinitions in Europe from 500 to 1000 CE

  • Understands the importance of monasteries and convents as centers of political power, economic productivity, and communal life
  • Understands the influence of the Carolingian Empire on the development of European civilization (how Charlemagne's royal court, monasteries, and convents preserved Greco-Roman and early Christian learning and contributed to the emergence of European civilization; changing political relations between the papacy and the secular rulers of Europe;  extent and causes of the Carolingian influence in Europe and reasons for its decline; how the Rules of St. Benedict shaped Medieval Europe; how secular leaders such as Charlemagne influenced political order within Europe)
  • Understands social class and gender roles in Medieval Europe (changes in the legal, social, and economic status of peasants in the 9th and 10th centuries;  how the political fragmentation of Europe after Charlemagne affected their lives; the responsibilities of women with different social status)
  • Understands the significance of Clovis (the major conquests of Clovis, how his conversion to Christianity was influenced by his wife, Clothilde; how his conversion affected the Frankish and Saxon peoples)
  • Understands the role of Norse peoples in the development of Europe (Nordic contributions to long-distance trade and exploration, the failure of Norse settlements in Newfoundland and Greenland)


    • Standard: 16
    Understands the development of agricultural societies and new states in tropical Africa and Oceania

  • Understands influences on state-building in West Africa (how the natural environments of West Africa defined agricultural production, and the importance of the Niger River in promoting agriculture, commerce, and state-building; the growth of the Ghana empire; how Islam, labor specialization, regional commerce and the trans-Saharan camel trade promoted urbanization in West Africa;  the governing system of the royal court in Ghana, and how the effectiveness of imperial efforts was aided by a belief in the king's divinity)
  • Understands the establishment of agricultural societies on the Pacific Islands and New Zealand (the plants and animals that early migrants carried with them;  how these "introductions" affected the existing island flora and fauna; possible links between the cultures of Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and New Zealand)
  • Understands the role of oral history in understanding West African history (the griot "keeper of tales" and other sources used to understand history)


    • Standard: 17
    Understands the rise of centers of civilization in Mesoamerica and Andean South America in the 1st millennium CE

  • Understands the economic and agricultural elements of Mayan society (the extent, importance, and composition of Mayan trade; the adaptability and importance of Mayan agricultural techniques and their connection to the rise of Mayan city-states)
  • Understands social features of Mayan culture (differing views concerning the causes for the decline of Mayan civilization,  ways that Mayan myths reflect social values and daily survival skills)
  • Understands what art and architecture reveal about early Mesoamerica and Andean societies (what art and architecture reflects about the character of the Zapotec state in the valley of Oaxaca; what art and artifacts indicate about the interests, occupations, and religious concerns of the Moche people;  what murals infer about Mayan and Teotihuac n societies)
  • Understands social features of Andean societies (different agriculture practices in the Moche/Andean region; kinship groups, regulated family and community life in Andean societies)


    • Standard: 18
    Understands major global trends from 300 to 1000 CE

  • Understands the factors that contributed to the weakening of empires in world history from 300 to 1000 CE (the migratory and military movements of pastoral nomadic peoples from Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula and the consequences of these movements for empires and agrarian civilizations of Eurasia and Africa)
  • Understands the growth of economic and cultural exchanges among different regions from 300 to 1000 CE (the importance of Muslim civilization in mediating long-distance commercial, cultural, intellectual, and food crop exchange across Eurasia and parts of Africa; migrations of farming peoples to new regions of Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Oceania, and Mesoamerica; connections between new settlements and the development of towns, trade, and greater cultural complexity in these regions)


    • Era 5 - Intensified Hemispheric Interactions 1000-1500 CE

    Standard: 19
    Understands the maturation of an interregional system of communication, trade, and cultural exchange during a period of Chinese economic power and Islamic expansion

  • Understands how Confucianism changed between the 10th and 13th centuries (the impact of major dynastic changes in China on Confucianism;  the synthesis of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism created by Zhu Xi to form neo-Confucianism)
  • Understands the social and economic elements of Song China (how improved agricultural production and increased trade helped the growth of cities and the merchant class in Song China;  the traditional social attitudes of China toward merchants and commercial activity; significant achievements and developments of the Song Dynasty, the rigors and class restrictions of the civil service examination in Song China)
  • Understands government and politics of the Kamakura period ( similarities and differences between feudalism in Japan and medieval Europe; significant political events in the history of the Kamakura period)
  • Understands influences on the development of Buddhist sects in Japan (how unique forms of Buddhism [sects] developed under the influence of social, political, and religious forces;  the impact of the warrior culture on the lives of common people and the development of Buddhist sects)
  • Understands the development of Southeast Asian states (how Champa, Angkor, and Dai Vet accumulated power and wealth; the influence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism on these states)
  • Understands the expansion of Islam and daily life in Islamic regions (how Turkic migration from Turkestan into Southwest Asia and India helped Islam expand and forced the retreat of Byzantium and Greek Christian civilization,  what life in Egypt was like for Jewish and Christian communities, what student life was like in Islamic regions)
  • Understands elements of trade in different regions (the importance of Cairo and other major cities as centers of international trade and culture; how the spread of Islam was connected to trade in Central Asia, East Africa, West Africa, the coasts of India, and Southeast Asia;  the importance to individual societies of goods traded between Asia, Africa, and Europe; the consequences placed on maritime trade by the seasonal monsoon winds in the Indian Ocean; features and functions of caravansaries and khans in Central Asian and Middle Eastern cities; which ships were most successfully used for trade in the Indian Ocean and why)


    • Standard: 20
    Understands the redefinition of European society and culture from 1000 to 1300 CE

  • Understands political events that shaped the development of European governments (how European monarchies expanded their power at the expense of feudal lords, and the growth and limitations of representative institutions in these monarchies; how the political relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and secular states changed from the Early Middle Ages to the High Middle Ages;  the conflict that led to the Battle of Hastings; the political changes William initiated after his victory, and the long-term cultural and social changes in England following the Norman conquest)
  • Understands the importance of inheritance laws, arranged marriages, dowries, and family alliances for dynastic and aristocratic politics
  • Understands the connection between agricultural technology and increased agricultural production and population growth in Europe between 1000 and 1300 CE
  • Understands Christian efforts for the Reconquest of Spain from Muslim powers
  • Understands the consequences of German expansion into Poland and the Baltic region
  • Understands art, architecture, and education in medieval Christian and Spanish Muslim society (how major works of art, architecture, and literature reflect values and attitudes of medieval Christian society;  poetry of Muslim Spain and Christian Europe; the origins, organization, and studies of Christian universities in Europe, and the influence of Muslim scholarship and universities; how Gothic cathedrals reflect central aspects of European society)
  • Understands the roles and motivations of squires, saints, and soldiers in Christian Europe (aspects of training, rights, and responsibilities required of young men from noble families wishing to become squires; the role played by saints in the spread of Christianity; why Muslim and Christian soldiers may have joined the Crusades)


    • Standard: 21
    Understands the rise of the Mongol Empire and its consequences for Eurasian peoples from 1200 to 1350

  • Understands political, social, and cultural features of the Mongol Empire (the chronology and consequences of the Mongol conquests of 1206 to 1279 on China, Southeast Asia, Russia, and Southwest Asia;  the relative strengths and weaknesses of the nomadic Mongol lifestyle with regard to social, political, and economic organization, and why the Mongols prevailed; what legend and fact reveal about Mongol conquest and Mongol warriors)
  • Understands the influence of the "Golden Horde" in various regions (the impact of the "Golden Horde" rule on the peoples of Eastern Europe and Russia,  the major accomplishments of Batu)


    • Standard: 22
    Understands the growth of states, towns, and trade in Sub-Saharan Africa between the 11th and 15th centuries

  • Understands the development of the empires of Mali and Songhay (the importance of Islamic expansion in the political and cultural life of Mali and Songhay;  the economic, social, and religious characteristics of the two empires; the observations of Ibn Battua and Leo Africanus in Mali and Songhay; the importance of the Monarch Mansa Musa in Mali)
  • Understands religious aspects of Ethiopian society (the expansion of the Christian Ethiopian kingdom and its search for wider connections in the Christian world,  the major achievements of the Zagwe Dynasty in Ethiopia and how this dynasty affected both Coptic Christians and Muslims)
  • Understands significant features of the major population centers of Bantu and the East African coastal region in the 2nd millennium CE (influences on the economic and cultural life of Kilwa and other East African coastal cities, the Bantu state of Great Zimbabwe and its links to the Indian Ocean trade,  consequences of the contact between Bantu farmers and Khoisan hunter-gatherers in the early 2nd millennium)
  • Understands how architecture (the churches of Lalaibela and of Kalash in Ellora, India) reveals the influence of foreign states and the end of African isolation


    • Standard: 23
    Understands patterns of crisis and recovery in Afro-Eurasia between 1300 and 1450

  • Understands how the plague influenced economic, social, and political conditions in various regions ( how the spread of disease relates to geography, social reaction to the plague in rural and urban Europe and Southwest Asia, the increase in mortality rates by the plague between the 14th and 15th centuries, the impact of the plague on young people)
  • Understands causes for changes in social, political, and religious events in Europe after the 14th century (how the population decreased after the Great Plague; the effect of the crises in the Catholic Church on its organization, prestige, and power;  increased wage levels and what governments did to discourage these increases)
  • Understands the "humanism" that emerged in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, and how new studies (Greco-Roman antiquity, critical text analysis) encouraged new forms of literature, philosophy, and education
  • Understands the Zheng He maritime expeditions of the early 15th century, and why the Ming state initiated, then terminated, these voyages
  • Understands the significance of Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) (the impact of conquests in Southwest Asia, India, and Central Asia; how Timur's rule encouraged a flourishing of cultural life in Samarkand and the role his government played in the support of arts and sciences)


    • Standard: 24
    Understands the expansion of states and civilizations in the Americas between 1000 and 1500

  • Understands social and cultural features of Aztec society ( the characteristics of Tenochtitl n that made it a unique city, gender roles in Aztec society and what these indicate about Aztec culture)
  • Understands cultural and economic elements of North American and Mesoamerican civilizations (the major characteristics of Toltecs, Anasazi, Pueblo, and North American mound-building peoples; patterns of long-distance trade centered in Mesoamerica)
  • Understands major political and social features of Incan society (the development of Incan social and political institutions,  the chronology of Incan imperial expansion from 1230 to 1525 and the difficulties posed by its geographically an climatically diverse territories, the location and major features of Machu Picchu and what this site reveals about Incan civilization)
  • Understands the similarities and differences between Incan and Aztec society (the essential differences between Aztec and Incan government, economy, religion, and social organization;  how Incan and Aztec art and architecture reveal cultural achievements in their societies)
  • Understands how the natural environment affected the organization of developing societies of the North American plains, Southwestern deserts, and the tropical forests of the Yucatan


    • Standard: 25
    Understands major global trends from 1000 to 1500 CE

  • Understands how major migratory and military movements of pastoral peoples of Asia and Africa affected agrarian states and societies of Eurasia and Africa
  • Understands economic, political, and cultural differences and similarities between Europe and Asia (causes and consequences of productive growth, commercialization, urbanization, and technological or scientific innovation in Europe and China; society, economy, and political organization of Europe and Japan, and causes of economic growth, urbanization, and cultural innovation in the two regions)
  • Understands the impact of interaction between Christians and Muslims in the Mediterranean region (how their encounters, both hostile and peaceful, affected political, economic, and cultural life in Europe, North Africa, and Southwest Asia)
  • Understands the concept of capitalism and the emergence of capitalistic institutions and productive methods in Europe and other parts of Afro-Eurasia
  • Understands differences and similarities between the Inca and Aztec empires and empires of Afro-Eurasia (political institutions, warfare, social organizations, cultural achievements)


    • Era 6 - Global Expansion and Encounter, 1450-1770

    Standard: 26
    Understands how the transoceanic interlinking of all major regions of the world between 1450 and 1600 led to global transformations

  • Understands the impact of the exploratory and commercial expeditions in the 15th and 16th centuries (the motives and short-term significance of the Portuguese and Spanish military and commercial expeditions to Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas;  technologies that advanced international, seaborne trade in the latter part of the century; the connotations of the words "conquest," "exchange," and "discovery" used to describe Columbus' travels to North America and his encounters with indigenous populations)
  • Understands how the Ottoman, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Siamese powers restricted European commercial, military, and political penetration in the 16th century
  • Understands cultural interaction between various societies in the late 15th and 16th centuries (how the Church helped administer Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas;  reasons for the fall of the Incan Empire to Pizarro; how the Portuguese dominated seaborne trade in the Indian Ocean basin in the 16th century; the relations between pilgrims and indigenous populations in North and South America, and the role different religious sects played in these relations; how the presence of Spanish conquerors affected the daily lives of Aztec, Maya, and Inca peoples)
  • Understands the impact of the exchange of flora, fauna, and pathogens on the Americas and the global population (the spread of disease throughout the world, and how new disease microorganisms in the Americas devastated indigenous populations;  population decline in parts of the Americas within the context of global population trends and growth in Europe and East Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries, origins and routes of flora and fauna exchanged across the globe)
  • Understands the significance and cultural impact of migrations of the Muslims and Jews after their expulsion from Spain
  • Knows which crops in Spanish and Portuguese regions of the Americas were domestic and which were commercial, and knows what resources commercial crops demanded


    • Standard: 27
    Understands how European society experienced political, economic, and cultural transformations in an age of global intercommunication between 1450 and 1750

  • Understands early influences on the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment (connections between the Scientific Revolution and its antecedents, such as Greek rationalism, medieval theology, Muslim science, Renaissance humanism, and new global knowledge; connections between the Enlightenment and its antecedents, such as Roman republicanism, the Renaissance, and the Scientific Revolution)
  • Understands changes in urban and rural Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries (social and economic consequences of population growth and urbanization in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries;  the growth pattern of European cities between the 17th and 18th centuries, and the major urban centers of this period; causes and effects of the "agrarian revolution" on Western and Eastern European society)
  • Understands significant social and cultural changes that took place during the Renaissance (advances in printing press technology, the connections between the Italian Renaissance and the development of Humanist ideals in Europe north of the Alps,  positive and negative changes in the status of women during the Renaissance and Reformation, the legacy of Renaissance architecture, changes in European art and architecture between the Middle Ages and the High Renaissance)
  • Understands origins of the Reformation and Catholic Reformation (why many Europeans were unhappy with the late medieval Catholic Church, and how the beliefs and ideas of leading Protestant reformers reflected this discontent; what the Catholic Reformation sought to achieve, and the effect of religious reforms and divisions on Europeans;  the patterns of religious affiliation in Europe in the early 17th century and factors that led some populations to embrace the Protestant Reformation while others rejected it)
  • Understands the emergence of strong individual leaders, monarchies, and states in Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries (the character, development, and sources of wealth of strong bureaucratic monarchies; the significance of Peter the Great's westernizing reforms; the emergence of the Dutch Republic as a powerful European state;  the reign of Elizabeth I and her efficacy as a leader and builder of a strong nation-state; the governmental policies of Catherine the Great; why St. Petersburg was called the "window on the West")
  • Understands contributions of the Scientific Revolution to European society (the importance of discoveries in mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry to 17th-and 18th-century Europe; the significance of the principles of the scientific method advanced by Francis Bacon and Ren‚ Descartes;  the trial of Galileo and arguments and evidence used to prove him "innocent" or "guilty"; the major features of the Scientific Revolution in major fields of endeavor)
  • Understands the short and long-term impact of Enlightenment ideas (how Enlightenment-era thought contributed to the reform of church and state, the reform programs of absolutist monarchs of Central Europe and Russia, the influence of Enlightenment ideas on the development of modern nationalism and democratic thought and institutions)
  • Understands the effects on world trade of the Spanish silver trade from America
  • Understands the role of gunpowder in the development of strong European leadership (how gunpowder came to Europe from China, and how it helped establish and maintain the power of state leaders in Europe)
  • Understands the long and short-term causes of the "Glorious" revolution of 1688 and how it earned this title


    • Standard: 28
    Understands how large territorial empires dominated much of Eurasia between the 16th and 18th centuries

  • Understands interactions between China and other countries during the Ming Dynasty (the Chinese view of itself as the "Middle Kingdom;" political, commercial, and cultural relations with Korea, Vietnam, and other societies of East and Southeast Asia)
  • Understands features of class structure and sources of social change in China (the effects of American crops and silver on demographic, economic, and social change in China;  the stratification of Chinese society under Ming rule)
  • Understands cultural, political, and economic factors that influenced the development of the Ottoman Empire (the development of the Ottoman Empire among diverse religious and ethnic groups,  the Christian European view of the Ottoman seizure of Constantinople in 1453, trade routes within the Ottoman Empire and how trade was affected by the development of a sea route around Africa)
  • Understands political and religious influences on the development of the Mughal Empire (relations between Muslims and Hindus in the empire, the effectiveness of Akbar's governing methods and religious ideas in comparison to other Mughal emperors)
  • Understands changes in the political structure of the Ming Dynasty (how the power of the Ming emperor changed over time, the source of political threat to the Ming Empire and the role of defense in their military strategy)
  • Understands factors that influenced the development and expansion of the Safavid Empire (key urban areas of the empire, and factors that contributed to the success of Safavid rule; how the city of Isfahan developed under the reign of Shah Abbas I)
  • Knows how the popularity of Indian textiles in Europe undermined the efforts of the East India Company to sell more British goods in India than it imported


    • Standard: 29
    Understands the economic, political, and cultural interrelations among peoples of Africa, Europe, and the Americas between 1500 and 1750

  • Understands the consequences of European interaction with indigenous populations of the Americas (the moral, political, and cultural role of Catholic and Protestant Christianity in the European colonies in America; the Seven Years War and its consequences for Britain, France, Spain, and the indigenous peoples of the American colonial territories;  the political relationships between American Indian nations and Holland, France, and England)
  • Understands features of and participants in the slave trade (ways in which entrepreneurs and colonial governments exploited American Indian labor, and the use of African slave labor for commercial agriculture; the treatment of slaves in the Western Hemisphere as opposed to those in the Islamic lands, Christian Europe, and West Africa; the organization of long-distance trade in West and Central Africa and circumstances under which African governments, elites, and merchants participated in the sale of slaves to Europeans;  treatment of slaves and forms of resistance used in the "middle passage")
  • Understands factors that contributed to the development of various African societies (the importance of trade, slavery, and an expanding world economy to the development of such African states as Ashanti, Dahomey, Benin, Lunda, and Kongo;  different forms of slave resistance and the founding of Maroon societies; how Ashanti concepts of monarchical power compare to those of Europeans)
  • Knows the causes and consequences of encounters among Khoisan groups, Bantu-speaking peoples, and European settlers in South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries
  • Understands the differences in the demands and purposes of European colonies in different areas of the Western Hemisphere (how European colonies in Peru differed from those in the Great Lakes region, Barbados, or Massachusetts)


    • Standard: 30
    Understands the transformation in Asian societies in the era of European expansion

  • Understands political, economic, and social aspects of Chinese society during the era of European expansion (how the Manchus overthrew the Ming Dynasty and the consequences of this event;  demands and consequences of increasing population growth, agricultural output, commerce, and European trading networks in the Manchu Empire; treatment and opportunities open to women in 17th-and 18th-century China)
  • Understands trade patterns and relations between Europe and China (how well the Chinese government was able to control European trade within its borders and the extent of European commercial penetration;  trade routes and major port cities used by the Europeans in their trade with China, and why Gangzhou [Canton] was central in this trade; the trade relationship between Britain and China in the 18th century)
  • Understands how the spread of different religions affected various Asian countries (how and why Islam continued to expand in India, Southeast Asia, and China)
  • Understands features in the development of Korean and Japanese culture (why Korea was called the "Hermit Kingdom" before 1800, the role and status of women in Tokugawa Japan, the roots and development of 17th-century Japanese art forms)
  • Understands the spread of Confucianism in various Asian cultures (how the rising popularity of Confucianism among the elites in Korea and Japan contributed to changes in the roles of women; how Confucianism was influenced by government and society in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam)
  • Understands the evolution, recurring themes, and foreign influence in Japanese art and artists (Nikko and Katsuru rikyu, Sotabu screens, brush painting, works of Shiba Kokan) and how they reflected society


    • Standard: 31
    Understands major global trends from 1450 to 1770

  • Knows ways in which expanding capitalistic enterprise and commercialization affected relations among states and contributed to changing class and race relations
  • Understands the influence of technological advancements on society (how innovations in military technology and tactics changed the balance of naval military power and affected empire building around the globe;  countries that benefited and suffered as a result of military innovations)
  • Knows how Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity spread between 1450 and 1750 (the location and geographical area of influence, the rate of growth of practitioners, reasons for growth)
  • Understands patterns of social and cultural continuity in various societies (ways in which peoples maintained traditions and resisted external challenges in the context of a rapidly changing world)


    • Era 7 - An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914

    Standard: 32
    Understands the causes and consequences of political revolutions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries

  • Understands the diverse factors (the Seven Years War, Enlightenment-era thought, the American Revolution, escalating internal economic crisis) that affected social and political conditions in Old Regime France
  • Understands events and ideas that influenced the course of the French Revolution (how the revolution developed from constitutional monarchy to democratic despotism to the Napoleonic empire;  the organization of the Estates-General and its merits and limitations; central ideas and origins of the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen)
  • Understands how the French Revolution changed social conditions in France (how the revolution changed political and religious institutions, social relations, education, family life, and the legal and political position of women;  how territorial changes were made in Europe between 1789 and 1815 and their consequences for diverse social groups such as clergy, nobility, peasantry, bourgeoisie, and sans-culottes)
  • Knows the consequences of Napoleon's invasions (the impact of Napoleon's invasion of Iberia and growing British power in the Atlantic basin on the independence movements in Latin America,  the events surrounding Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, the flight of the Portuguese court to Brazil)
  • Understands the political and ideological objectives of Latin American independence movements ( knows who supported Father Miguel Hidalgo, his role in the Mexican Revolution of 1810; knows the role of Agust¡n de Iturbide in the Creole-dominated revolt of 1821)
  • Knows the leading figures and issues of the Congress of Vienna
  • Understands elements of the Haitian revolution (the role of Touissant L'Overture, Haiti's social and economic conditions under French rule)


    • Standard: 33
    Understands the causes and consequences of the agricultural and industrial revolutions from 1700 to 1850

  • Understands why industrialization flourished in Britain (Britain's commercial connections with foreign markets in the early industrial revolution; Britain's unique combination of geography, location, natural resources, economy, technology, and political tendencies)
  • Understands the effect of the industrial revolution on social and political conditions in various regions (connections between industrialization, labor unions, and movements for political and social reform in England, Western Europe, and the United States;  the pace and extent of industrialization in Great Britain and the United States in the latter half of the 19th century; Robert Owen's New Lanark System and its role in dealing with societal problems caused by the industrial revolution; changes affected by the "Great Reform" bill of 1832, and how it addressed problems of the industrial revolution)
  • Understands the status of slavery and slaves throughout the 19th century (how contract labor migration and other forms of coerced labor compare with slavery as methods of organizing commercial agriculture in the Americas in the later 19th century; the degree to which emancipated slaves and their descendants achieved social equality and economic advancement in various countries of the Western Hemisphere;  locations of legal slavery around the world in 1800, 1830, and 1880, and how changes in the legal status could be linked to revolution ideology and economics)
  • Understands the importance and consequences of new technologies (seed drill, crop rotation, stock breeding, three piece iron) in the agricultural revolution
  • Understands the impact of new technology that emerged during the industrial revolution (technological innovations that propelled the textile industry to the forefront of the industrial revolution; the roles of interchangeable parts and mass production in the industrial revolution)
  • Knows new patterns in world manufacturing production that developed among the nations of Great Britain, United States, Germany, France, Russia, and Italy between 1800 and 1900
  • Understands the discourse surrounding the abolition of slavery (the debate over abolition of slavery in the context of the French Revolution, the different strategies to resist slavery employed by peoples in the Americas)
  • Understands significant individuals in the abolition movement (prominent women from the abolitionist movement in America and their major accomplishments, including Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, the Grimk‚ sisters, Lucretia Mott; the story of Olaudah Equiana [Gustavus Vasa], his experience during the "middle passage," and his efforts to bring an end to the slave trade)


    • Standard: 34
    Understands how Eurasian societies were transformed in an era of global trade and the emergence of European power from 1750 to 1870

  • Understands the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century (the defensive reform programs of Selim III and Mahmud II, and the challenges they faced in resolving the empire's political and economic crisis;  sources of weakness of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century; the military training and equipment of the Janissary Corps; how and when territory of the Ottoman Empire changed during the first half of the 19th century; causes of the Crimean War, the main events, nations involved, and forms of warfare employed)
  • Understands political conditions in Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great (the effects of the French Revolution, Napoleonic invasion, and world economy on Russian absolutism; the significance of imperial reforms and popular opposition movements in the late 19th century;  the extent of Russian expansion into Eastern Europe and Central Asia; how Poland was partitioned in 1772, 1793, and 1795, and the location and significance of Russian ports on the White and Black Seas and the Baltic)
  • Understands the impact of foreign trade and politics on Indian culture (major trade routes that linked China, India, and Europe, and the impact of this trade on Indian agriculture and industry;  the decline of the Mughal empire and the rise of British political and military influence in India between 1750 and 1858; the competitive policies of the British and the French in India, and why the British East India Company was able to prevail; the goods imported to and exported from India)
  • Understands the economic and social consequences of rapid population growth in China between the 17th and 19th centuries
  • Understands causes of political and social turmoil in China in the 18th and 19th centuries (causes of governmental breakdown, political conflict, and social disintegration in China in the late 18th and 19th centuries;  the main events surrounding the Boxer Rebellion and the Opium War)
  • Understands the origins of Japanese modernization and Japan's changing policies toward Western influences (the impact of Western ideas and the role of Confucianism and Shinto traditional values on Japan in the Meiji period,  the role of the samurai in the events leading up to the Mejii Restoration)
  • Understands the general political, social, and economic structure of Russia in the 1800s
  • Understands significant cultural and political changes in India in the 18th and 19th centuries (changing linguistic and religious diversity in India between the early 18th and late 19th centuries, the significant changes in political control and boundaries in India between 1798 and 1850)
  • Understands Dutch involvement in various regions (changes in Dutch influence and control in South Asia between 1815 and 1850, how the Dutch ruled their colonies in the East Indies and what types of goods were traded by the Dutch in this region)


    • Standard: 35
    Understands patterns of nationalism, state-building, and social reform in Europe and the Americas from 1830 to 1914

  • Understands the ideas that influenced the nationalist movements (major characteristics of 19th-century European nationalism, and connections between nationalist ideology, the French Revolution, Romanticism, and liberal reform movements;  the extent to which Garibaldi reflected 19th-century Romanticism; the purpose of Bismarck's "Blood and Iron" speech, and previous attempts at unification to which he refers; the chronology of significant events in the unifications of Italy and Germany)
  • Understands movements and ideas that contributed to social change in 19th-century North America and Europe (the leading ideas of Karl Marx and the impact of Marxist beliefs and programs on politics, industry, and labor relations in Europe; the origins of women's suffrage in North America and Europe, leading figures on both continents, and their success until World War I)
  • Understands social change and the emergence of new social class culture in 19th-century Europe (the elements of the distinctive middle-class and working class culture that developed in industrial Europe;  how the average standard of living changed in Europe in the 19th century and the factors that accounted for this change; broad-ranging benefits and disadvantages of attending school for children from peasant, middle class, craft, and urban factory-working families)
  • Understands influences on the government structure in Latin America and Mexico (the effects of foreign intervention and liberal government policies on social and economic change in Mexico;  the advent of the caudillo ruler in Latin America, his supporters, and the methods by which he maintained power)
  • Understands expansion and nation-building in the United States and Canada in the 19th century (the factors that contributed to nation-building in Canada;  the territorial expansions of the United States in the 19th century, how new territories were acquired, and from whom)
  • Understands trends in immigration within and out of Europe in the 19th century
  • Understands cultural trends in 19th-century Europe (how leisure activity and popular culture changed throughout the 19th century, activities associated with "high culture," types of entertainment that were open to the middle and working classes)


    • Standard: 36
    Understands patterns of global change in the era of Western military and economic dominance from 1800 to 1914

  • Understands major developments in science and the industrial economy (the social significance of the work of scientists, including Maxwell, Darwin, and Pasteur; how new forms of generative power contributed to Europe's "second industrial revolution;" the role of the state in different countries in directing or encouraging industrialization;  the social, economic, and cultural impact of the railroad)
  • Understands influences on European migration, immigration, and emigration patterns throughout the world between 1846 and 1932 (the geographical, political, economic, and epidemiological factors that contributed to the success of European colonial settlements in various regions;  possible connections of the rise of the Zulu Empire in South Africa to European settlements in the Cape Region; relations between migrating European and African peoples that laid the foundation for the apartheid system in the 20th century; how technology such as the steamship and the railroad facilitated emigration)
  • Understands European motives and ideology that justified extending imperial power into African and Asian countries (the motives that impelled several European powers to undertake imperial expansion against peoples of Africa, Southeast Asia, and China;  achievements of Cecil Rhodes and his motives and goals in the "scramble for Africa")
  • Knows the causes and course of the Spanish-American War, and how this related to U.S. participation in Western imperial expansion
  • Understands the extent of British rule in India, and British reaction to Indian nationalism (the economic and political impact of British rule on India in the 19th century; the social, economic, and intellectual sources of Indian nationalism; the British reaction to Indian nationalism;  the causes of the Uprising of 1857)
  • Understands political and social elements of Chinese society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Chinese efforts to reform government and society after 1895, as well as related causes for revolution in 1911;  how the Chinese reacted to the presence and activities of foreigners in their country in the late 1890s)
  • Understands the role of trade in shaping political and social conditions in various regions (how West African economies changed after the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade; how trade helped make empire-builders such as Zanzibar and Tippu Tip;  the effect trade had on resistance to European imperialism; the location of the Suez Canal, how and why it was created, and what it did for world trade and political alliances)
  • Understands the diverse factors (variations in birth and death rates, infant mortality rates) that contributed to the peaking and then leveling off of European population growth from the 17th to the 20th centuries
  • Understands the geographic location of European interests in South, Southeast, and East Asia in the late 19th century
  • Understands the accomplishments and goals of specific African resistance movements (Abd al-Qadir in Algeria, Samori Ture in West Africa, the Mahdist state in the Sudan, Memelik II in Ethiopia, the Zulus in South Africa)


    • Standard: 37
    Understands major global trends from 1750 to 1914

  • Understands industrialization and its social impact in Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia, Japan, and other countries ( conditions for rural families, the roles of women and children, the daily lives of working class men and women)
  • Understands major patterns of long-distance migration of Europeans, Africans, and Asians, as well as causes and consequences of these movements ( migrations from Asia and Africa between 1750 and 1900)
  • Understands major changes in world political boundaries during this era (why a few European states achieved extensive military, political, and economic power in the world)
  • Understands where Christianity and Islam grew in this era, and understands the causes of 19th-century reform movements or renewal in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism
  • Understands trends in world population between 1500 and 1900, where the greatest increases occurred, and possible factors for this growth


    • Era 8 - A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900-1945

    Standard: 38
    Understands reform, revolution, and social change in the world economy of the early 20th century

  • Understands the industrial power of Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States in the early 20th century ( how the nations compare statistically, the importance and potential of industrialization)
  • Understands prominent features and ideas of liberalism, social reformism, conservatism, and socialism in the early 20th century ( the "welfare state" promoted by liberal ideals; the influential ideas of leading Europeans such as Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald, Emmeline Pankhurst, Jean Jaur s, Raymond Poncar Peter Stolypin, Alfred Krupp, or Rosa Luxemborg)
  • Understands events that led to revolutions in the early 20th century (causes, events, and consequences of the Russian "Bloody Sunday" in 1905, and the ensuing revolution; the promises of China's 1911 republican revolution and the New Culture movement and why they failed to address China's political, economic, and social problems;  what the peasantry and middle class fought for and against in the Mexican Revolution)
  • Understands the consequences of changes inside Japan in the early 20th century (Japan's economic development, national integration, and political ideologies around the turn of the century; how Japanese territorial expansion affected the industrialization and economic development of Japan)


    • Standard: 39
    Understands the causes and global consequences of World War I

  • Understands events that contributed to the outbreak of World War I (diverse long-range causes of World War I, such as political and economic rivalries, ethnic and ideological conflicts, militarism, imperialism, and nationalism;  how nationalism threatened the balance of power among the Great Powers in Europe, and why it was considered one of the causes of World War I)
  • Understands ways in which popular faith in science, technology, and material progress affected attitudes toward the possibility of war among European states
  • Understands the role of the U.S. and other countries in World War I (how the Russian Revolution and the entry of the United States affected the course and outcome of the war,  motivations behind the entrance of the U.S. into the war)
  • Understands the influence of Lenin and Stalin on the government, economy, and social conditions in Russia and the Soviet Union after the Revolution of 1917 (the effects of Lenin's New Economic Policy on Soviet society, economy, and government;  why and how Stalin changed Lenin's policy and forced collectivization, and the consequences of resistance to this policy for the kulaks; how people who were persecuted survived during Stalin's purges)
  • Understands how different countries were aligned during World War I (the systems of alliances through which Europe organized itself into World War I, the role militarism played in these alliances, and the reasons for the war's expansion beyond European boundaries to become a world war; immediate causes for the entry of different nations into World War I)
  • Understands the role of Tsar Nicholas II and Rasputin prior to and during the Russian Revolution of 1917 (the biography of Tsar Nicholas III and his family, including how they died; the role the monk Rasputin played in determining Russian policy, and his influence on the royal court)


    • Standard: 40
    Understands the search for peace and stability throughout the world in the 1920s and 1930s

  • Understands the immediate and long-term political and social effects of World War I (the objectives and achievements of the women's movements in the context of World War I and its aftermath, the causes and effects of the U.S. isolationist policies on world politics and international relations in the 1920s,  the agreements on reparation payments made at the Conference of Versailles and how these agreements corresponded to Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points)
  • Understands internal shifts in the political conditions of China and Japan in the 1920s and 1930s (the factors that influenced the struggle for dominance in China between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, how militarism and fascism derailed parliamentary democracy in Japan)
  • Understands the goals and policies of European colonial rule in India, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and how these policies affected indigenous societies and economies ( the response to the Moroccan resistance movement against the Spanish led by Abd al Quadir)
  • Understands major discoveries in science and medicine in the first half of the 20th century (those made by Curie, Einstein, Freud) and how they affected the quality of life and traditional views of nature, the cosmos, and the psyche
  • Understands influences on art and culture in Europe and around the world in the early 20th century (the social and cultural dimensions of mass consumption of goods; the impact and aftermath of World War I on literature, art, and intellectual life in Europe and the U.S.; the impact of innovative movements in Western art and literature on other regions of the world; the influence of African and Asian art forms in Europe)
  • Understands how the Great Depression affected economies and systems of government globally (how the Depression contributed to the growth of communist, fascist, and socialist movements, and how it affected capitalist economic theory and practice among leading Western industrial powers;  how the depression affected countries dependent on foreign markets and foreign capital investment)
  • Understands the reflections of Depression-era hunger and poverty in the works of such artists as K„the Kollwitz, Jos‚ Clemente Orozco, and Dorothea Lange, and their impact upon society


    • Standard: 41
    Understands the causes and global consequences of World War II

  • Understands events that led to the outbreak of World War II (the importance of the legacy of World War I, the depression, ethnic and ideological conflicts, imperialism, and traditional political or economic rivalries as underlying causes of World War II; the precipitating causes of the war and the reasons for early German and Japanese victories between 1939 and 1942;  how Hitler capitalized on the despair of the German people to rise to power)
  • Understands the positions of the major powers Britain, France, the U.S., and the Soviet Union on fascist aggression, and the consequences of their failure to take forceful measures to stop this aggression
  • Understands the influence of Nazism on European society and Jewish culture ( European and Jewish resistance movements to the Nazis and their policies, discrepancies between Nazi public announcements concerning Jews and the actual experiences of Jews between 1941 and 1944)
  • Understands the impact of World War II on civilian populations and soldiers (the roles of women and children during the war and how they differed in Allied and Axis countries, the hardships of the war on soldiers from both sides)


    • Standard: 42
    Understands major global trends from 1900 to the end of World War II

  • Understands the nature and extent of Western military, political, and economic power in the world in 1945 compared with 1900
  • Understands the ideologies, policies, and governing methods of 20th century totalitarian regimes compared to those of contemporary democracies and absolutist states of earlier centuries
  • Understands influences on the emergence of movements for national self-rule or sovereignty in Africa and Asia (world war, depression, nationalist ideology, labor organizations, communism, liberal democratic ideals)
  • Understands ways in which secular ideologies (nationalism, fascism, communism, materialism) challenged or were challenged by established religions and ethical systems
  • Understands patterns of social and cultural continuity in various societies (ways in which peoples maintained traditions, sustained basic loyalties, and resisted external challenges in an era of recurrent world crises)


    • Era 9 - The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes

    Standard: 43
    Understands how post-World War II reconstruction occurred, new international power relations took shape, and colonial empires broke up

  • Understands factors that brought about the political and economic transformation of Western and Eastern Europe after World War II (how Western European countries and Japan achieved rapid economic recovery after the war; the impact of the Marshall Plan, the European Economic Community, government planning, and the growth of welfare states upon the political stabilization of Western Europe; the formations of the Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after the war, and which countries have participated in each of these pacts; why Germany and Berlin were divided after the 1948 crisis, and the resulting problems)
  • Understands post-war relations between the Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States (differences in the political ideologies and values of the Western democracies and the Soviet bloc; the impact of Soviet domination in Eastern Europe; interconnections between superpower rivalries and the development of new military, nuclear, and space technology)
  • Understands the rise of the Communist Party in China between 1936 and 1949, the factors leading to Mao's programs (the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution) and their results ( effects on economic development, human suffering)
  • Understands nationalist movements and other attempts by colonial countries to achieve independence after World War II (the impact of Indian nationalism on other movements in Africa and Asia, and reasons for the division of the subcontinent; how World War II and postwar global politics affected the mass nationalist movements in colonial Africa and Southeast Asia; factors that enabled some African and Asian countries to achieve independence through constitutional devolution of power, while others used armed revolution;  the methods used by Indians to achieve independence from British rule and the effects of Mohandas Ghandi's call for nonviolent action)
  • Understands political conditions in Africa after World War II (the moral, social, political, and economic implications of apartheid; the diverse leadership and governing styles of African regimes through the second half of the 20th century)
  • Understands important events in the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians since 1948 and the argument on each side for rights to the disputed land


    • Standard: 44
    Understands the search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world

  • Understands the causes and effects of population growth and urbanization (why population growth rate is accelerating around the world, and connections between population growth and economic and social development in many countries; the global proliferation of cities and the rise of the megalopolis, as well as the impact of urbanization on family life, standards of living, class relations, and ethnic identity; why scientific, technological, and medical advances have improved living standards but have failed to eradicate hunger, poverty, and epidemic disease)
  • Understands influences on economic development around the world (why economic disparities between industrialized and developing nations have persisted or increased, how neo-colonialism and authoritarian political leadership have affected development in African and Asian countries, the continuing growth of mass consumption of commodities and resources since World War II)
  • Understands events that led to an easing of Cold War tensions from the 1970s to the early 1990s (why the Cold War eased in the 1970s and how the Helsinki Accords, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Reagan-Gorbachev "summit diplomacy" affected progress toward detente; the collapse of the government of the Soviet Union and other communist governments around the world in the late 1980s and 1990s;  the internal and external forces that led to changes within the USSR and in its relations with Eastern European countries)
  • Understands instances of political conflict and terrorism in modern society (the changes continuing urban protest and reformist economic policies have caused in post-Mao China under authoritarian rule; the causes, consequences, and moral implications of mass killings or famine in different parts of the world;  possible factors in modern society that facilitate politically motivated terrorism and random forms of violence; world events that gave rise to the 1989 movement in China and led to the Tiannamen Square protest, the government response to this movement, and the international reaction)
  • Understands the definition of "fundamentalism," and the political objectives of militant religious movements in various countries of the world, as well as the social and economic factors that contribute to the growth of these movements
  • Understands the emergence of a global culture (connections between electronic communications, international marketing, and the rise of a popular "global culture" in the late 20th century;  how modern arts have expressed and reflected social transformations, political changes, and how they have been internationalized)
  • Understands the importance or meaning of the natural environment for societies around the world
  • Understands the role and difficulties of the present day migrant worker (the Southeast Asian domestic in the Persian Gulf, the American oil executive in Saudi Arabia, the Moroccan factory worker in France)
  • Understands the motivations, moral imperatives, and goals of specific separatist movements around the globe and the potential impact on the affected populations
  • Understands the effects of modern communication on consumer tastes and demands in different parts of the world


    • Standard: 45
    Understands major global trends since World War II

  • Understands the changing configuration of political boundaries in the world since 1900 and connections between nationalist ideology and the proliferation of sovereign states
  • Understands the origins and decline of the Cold War and its significance as a 20th-century event
  • Understands the causes and consequences of the world's shift from bipolar to multipolar centers of economic, political, and military power
  • World History Across the Eras
  • Standard: 46
  • Understands long-term changes and recurring patterns in world history
  • Understands major changes in world population from paleolithic times to the present (why these changes occurred, the effects of major disease pandemics)
  • Understands the emergence of capitalism (the origins, development, and characteristics of capitalism; capitalist systems compared with other systems for organizing production, labor, and trade)
  • Understands the development of the nation-state and how nation-states differ from empires or other forms of political organization
  • Understands political revolutionary movements of the past three centuries and their ideologies, organization, and successes or failures


    • United States History

    Era 1 - Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)

    Standard: 1
    Understands the characteristics of societies in the Americas, Western Europe, and Western Africa that increasingly interacted after 1450

  • Understands the rise and decline of the Mississippian mound-building society
  • Understands the role of religion in Western Europe during the age of exploration (the causes and consequences of European Crusades in Iberia, connections between the Christian crusading tradition and European overseas exploration, dissent within the Catholic Church and beliefs and ideas of leading religious reformers)
  • Understands the influence of Islam in Western Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries (e.g. interactions between Islam and local religious beliefs)
  • Understands the geographic, technological, and scientific factors that contributed to the European age of exploration and settlement in the Americas
  • Understands European perspectives of different cultures during the period of exploration and early settlement (European attitudes toward property and the environment)


    • Standard: 2

  • Understands cultural and ecological interactions among previously unconnected people resulting from early European exploration and colonization
  • Understands the immediate and long-term impact of Columbus' voyages on Native populations and on colonization in the Americas (Columbus' interactions with indigenous peoples, the Columbian Exchange,  religious influences)
  • Understands characteristics of the Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquest of the Americas (the social composition of early settlers of America and their motives for exploration and colonization, connections between silver mined in Peru and Mexico and the rise of global trade and the price revolution in 16th century Europe,  methods the Spanish used to conquer the Aztec and Incan empires, societies the Spanish explorers encountered in the Aztec and Incan settlements)
  • Understands how motives differed among English colonizers and between the English and the Spanish, French, and Dutch colonizers


    • Era 2 - Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)

    Standard: 3

  • Understands why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to their colonies and how Europeans struggled for control of North America and the Caribbean
  • Understands the cultural and environmental impacts of European settlement in North America (friendly and conflictory relations between English, French, Spanish, and Dutch settlers and Native Americans; how various Native American societies changed as a result of the expanding European settlements and how they influenced European societies;  the impact of the fur trade on the environment)
  • Understands the events that culminated in the English victory over the French in the Seven Years War, and why the war and its outcomes were significant


    • Standard: 4

  • Understands how political, religious, and social institutions emerged in the English colonies
  • Understands ideas that influenced religious and political aspects of colonial America (how the growth of individualism contributed to participatory government, challenged inherited ideas of hierarchy, and affected the ideal of community;  whether political rights in colonial society reflected democratic ideas; how Benjamin Franklin's thirteen virtues in his Autobiography compare to Puritan ideas and values )
  • Understands the concepts that contributed to the "rights of Englishmen" ( as found in the Magna Carta, English Common law, the English Bill of Rights [1689])
  • Understands the impact of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution on the colonies
  • Understands how political, social, and economic tensions led to violent conflicts between the colonists and their governments (e.g.  Bacon's rebellion, the Paxton Boys Massacre)
  • Understands the role of religion in the English colonies (the evolution of religious freedom,  treatment of religious dissenters such as Anne Hutchison, the concept of the separation of church and state)
  • Understands how family and gender roles of different regions of colonial America changed across time (1600-1700)


    • Standard: 5
    Understands how the values and institutions of European economic life took root in the colonies and how slavery reshaped European and African life in the Americas

  • Understands mercantilism and how it influenced patterns of economic activity ( the advantages and disadvantages of mercantilism for the mother country and its colonies; the value of the regions that produced sugar, rice, tobacco, timber, coffee, grains, fish and minerals to the mother country)
  • Understands the environmental and legislative impacts on economic growth in different regions of the English colonies (the connection between the Navigation Acts and mercantilism;  the influence of climate, land fertility, water resources, access to markets)
  • Understands patterns of indentured servitude and influences on slavery (e.g.  why indentured servitude was prevalent in the mid-Atlantic, Chesapeake, and southern colonies; the Virginia and Massachusetts' laws that institutionalized slavery)
  • Understands the social, cultural, and political events that shaped African slavery in colonial America (how slavery in African societies differed from chattel racial slavery in English colonies, influence of African heritage on efforts to develop a new African American culture, incidents of resistance to slavery,  the introduction of crops by African slaves)


    • Era 3 - Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)

    Standard: 6
    Understands the causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests involved in shaping the revolutionary movement, and reasons for the American victory

  • Understands how political, ideological, and religious ideas joined economic interests to bring about the "shot heard round the world" ( leaders of resistance to imperial policy; the English tax on the colonists to help pay for the Seven Years War; the interests and positions of different economic groups, such as northern merchants, southern rice and tobacco planters, yeoman farmers, and urban artisans)
  • Understands contradictions between the Declaration of Independence and the institution of chattel slavery
  • Understands the strategic elements of the Revolutionary War (how the Americans won the war against superior British resources,  American and British military leaders, major military campaigns)
  • Understands the impact of European countries and individual Europeans on the American victory ( interest, goals, and actions of France, Holland, and Spain; contributions of European individuals)
  • Understands the terms of the Treaty of Paris and implications for U.S. relationships with Native Americans and European powers who still held interests and territory in North America
  • Understands the creation of the Declaration of Independence (historical antecedents that contributed to the document, individuals who struggled for independence)


    • Standard: 7
    Understands the impact of the American Revolution on politics, economy, and society

  • Understands political and economic issues addressed by the Continental Congress (the accomplishments and failures of the Continental Congress, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, revolutionary war debt, the dispute over the sale of western lands)
  • Understands how the ideals of the American Revolution influenced the goals of various groups of people during and after the war (African Americans, Native Americans, Loyalists, women,  young people)


    • Standard: 8
    Understands the institutions and practices of government created during the Revolution and how these elements were revised between 1787 and 1815 to create the foundation of the American political system based on the U.S. Consitution and the Bill of Rights

  • Understands events that led to and shaped the Constitutional Convention (alternative plans and major compromises considered by delegates,  the grievances of the debtor class and the fears of wealthy creditors involved in Shay's Rebellion, the accomplishments and failures of the Articles of Confederation)
  • Understands arguments over the necessity of a Bill of Rights ( Anti-Federalist arguments for its inclusion in the Constitution) and Madison's role in securing its adoption by the First Congress
  • Understands the establishment of power and significant events in the development of the U.S. Supreme Court (the role of Chief Justice Marshall in the growth of the court,  Article III of the Constitution, Judiciary Act of 1789, Marbury v. Madison )
  • Understands the development and impact of the American party system (social, economic, and foreign policy issues of the 1790s; influence of the French Revolution on American politics;  the rise of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties; the election of 1800; the appointment of the "midnight judges")
  • Understands the role of ordinary people in the Whiskey Rebellion and in demonstrations against Jay's Treaty (the causes of the rebellion, similarities and differences between rebellion against the whiskey tax and British taxation during the revolutionary period, why western farmers objected to Jay's Treaty)


    • Era 4 - Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)

    Standard: 9
    Understands the United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans

  • Understands the short-term political and long-term cultural impacts of the Louisiana Purchase (those who opposed and supported the acquisition,  the impact on Native Americans between 1801 and 1861)
  • Understands how early state and federal policy influenced various Native American tribes (survival strategies of Native Americans,  environmental differences between Native American homelands and resettlement areas, the Black Hawk War and removal policies in the Old Northwest)
  • Understands the social and political impact of the idea of Manifest Destiny ( how it fueled the controversy over the Oregon territory, how it was reflected in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, its appeal to 19th century American industrial workers and small farmers)
  • Understands the diplomatic and political developments that led to the resolution of conflicts with Britain and Russia in the period 1815 to 1850
  • Understands the significance of the Lewis and Clark expedition (its role as a scientific expedition, its contributions to friendly relations with Native Americans)
  • Understands the major events of U.S. foreign policy during the early 19th century (differences between the Monroe Doctrine and earlier foreign policy; renewed English-French hostilities; whether the War of 1812 was a war of independence, expansion, or maritime rights)


    • Standard: 10
    Understands how the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed American lives and led to regional tensions

  • Understands how immigration affected American society in the antebellum period (the connection between industrialization and immigration, how immigration intensified ethnic and cultural conflict and complicated the forging of a national identity)
  • Understands the role of government in various areas of public service in the early 1800s (national and state policies regarding protective tariffs and a national bank, the controversy over federally funded internal improvements)
  • Understands the social and economic impacts of the factory system (its role in developing a labor movement in the antebellum period, perspectives of owners and workers,  child labor in New England mills)
  • Understands influences on urban life in the early and late 19th century (how rapid urbanization, immigration, and industrialization affected the social fabric of cities; individuals who contributed to the development of free black communities in the cities; the rise of racial hostility)
  • Understands different economic, cultural, and social characteristics of slavery after 1800 (the influence of the Haitian Revolution and the ending of the Atlantic slave trade, how slaves forged their own culture in the face of oppression,  the role of the plantation system in shaping slaveholders and the enslaved, the experiences of escaped slaves)
  • Understands characteristics of life on the western frontier in the 19th century (cultural interactions between diverse groups in the trans-Mississippi region,  how the Mormons established the Church of Latter Day Saints and their communities)
  • Understands how major technological and economic developments influenced various groups (business owners, farmers, workers in different regions)


    • Standard: 11
    Understands the extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800

  • Understands political influences and views after 1800 (the impact of changes in electoral qualifications for white males on local, state, and national politics; how President Jackson's position on the bank recharter and nullification issues contributed to the rise of the Whig party)
  • Understands the major events and issues that promoted sectional conflicts and strained national cohesiveness in the antebellum period (support and opposition of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the debate over slavery from the late 1830s to the Compromise of 1850)
  • Understands how tariff policy and issues of state's rights influenced party development and promoted sectional differences ( the political positions of Whigs and Democrats on important issues in 1832, how platform issues had special appeal to different sections of the country)


    • Standard: 12
    Understands the sources and character of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period

  • Understands perspectives that influenced slavery in the antebellum period (changing ideas about race, the reception of proslavery and antislavery ideologies in the North and South,  arguments used to defend slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries)
  • Understands the significant religious, philosophical, and social movements of the 19th century and their impacts on American society and social reform (the impact of the Second Great Awakening on issues such as public education, temperance, women's suffrage, and abolitionism; Transcendentalism and the literary works of its central leaders; Transcendentalist ideas about the individual, society, and nature)
  • Understands how women influenced reform movements and American society during the antebellum period (the Seneca Falls "Declaration of Sentiments" of 1848,  the leadership role women played in major reform movements, how the public at large viewed these women)


    • Era 5 - Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

    Standard: 13
    Understands the causes of the Civil War

  • Understands the economic, social, and cultural differences between the North and South (how the free labor system of the North differed from that of the South)
  • Understands the development of sectional polarization and secession prior to the Civil War (how events after the Compromise of 1850 and the Dred Scott decision impacted sectional differences, southern justification for secession,  the presidential leadership of Buchanan and Lincoln during the secession crisis)
  • Understands issues other than slavery that led to the Civil War (the appeal of the Northern "free labor" ideology in preventing the further extension of slavery in the new territories; cultural differences, conflicting economic issues,  opposing constitutional perspectives)


    • Standard: 14
    Understands the course and character of the Civil War and its effects on the American people

  • Understands the circumstances that shaped the Civil War and its outcome (differences between the economic, technological, and human resources of both sides;  the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation on the outcome of the war)
    • Understands how different groups of people shaped the Civil War (the motives and experiences of Confederate and white and African American Union soldiers,  different perspectives on conscription, the effects of divided loyalties)


    Standard: 15
    Understands how various reconstruction plans succeeded or failed

  • Understands the effect of differing Reconstruction policies and how they were perceived (plans advocated by President Lincoln, Congressional leaders, and President Johnson; the Compromise of 1877;  different perspectives on the effectiveness of the Reconstruction amendments)
  • Understands the reasons for and consequences of President Johnson's impeachment and trial (the escalating conflict between Johnson and Congress,  Johnson's resistance to Congressional authority, the Tenure of Office Act )
  • Understands the economic and social problems facing the South and their impact on different groups of people at the close of the Civil War
  • Understands attempts to improve African American lives during Reconstruction (African American attempts to improve their economic position, their quest for land ownership;  how the Freedmen's Bureau proposed to deal with abandoned lands in the South)
  • Understands changes in the political and social structure in different regions during Reconstruction (changes in political and economic positions of African Americans in the North; changes in gender roles and status in the North, South and West;  contributions of African Americans who served in state and national offices; personal challenges to Freedmen)


    • Era 6 - The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

    Standard: 16
    Understands how the rise of corporations, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed American society

  • Understands influences on business and industry in the 19th century (how business leaders attempted to limit competition and maximize profits,  the role of the government in promoting business, the concept of the "American Dream")
  • Understands responses to the challenges of rapid urbanization in the late 19th century (how urban political machines gained power; the response of urban leaders, such as architects and philanthropists)
  • Understands influences on the development of the American West (cross-cultural encounters and conflicts among different racial and ethnic groups; the daily life of women on the western frontier;  disputes between farmers, ranchers, and miners over water rights and open ranges)
  • Understands differences in commercial farming in various regions of the United States (crop production, farm labor, financing, and transportation in the Northeast, South, Great Plains, West; the significance of farm organizations)
  • Understands various influences on the scenic and urban environment (how rapid industrialization, extractive mining techniques, and the "gridiron pattern" of urban growth influenced the city and countryside; environmentalism and the conservation movement in the late 19th century)


    • Standard: 17
    Understands massive immigration after 1870 and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing cultural diversity

  • Understands the background and experiences of immigrants of the late 19th century (how the immigrants differed from those of the early 19th century in numbers, motives, origins, ethnicity, religion and language; how Catholic and Jewish immigrants responded to discrimination;  attitudes toward immigrants)
  • Understands the scientific theories of race and their application to society and politics
  • Understands changes in American life in the late 19th century (how regional artists and writers portrayed American life, attitudes, and values;  reasons for the appeal of new sports, entertainment, and recreational activities; changes in lifestyles)
  • Understands opposition to discrimination in the late 19th century (how Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans responded to discriminatory practices, leadership roles of those who spoke out against discrimination)


    • Standard: 18
    Understands the rise of the American labor movement and how political issues reflected social and economic changes

  • Understands the conditions affecting employment and labor in the late 19th century (the change from workshop to factory in different regions; how working conditions changed and how workers responded to new industrial conditions)
  • Understands reactions to developments in labor in late 19th century America (how management and industry responded to efforts to organize workers, the response of management and government to labor strife in different regions of the country)
  • Understands the goals of political parties and individuals in the late 19th century (how Democrats and Republicans responded to civil service reform, monetary policy, tariffs, and business regulations; political, social, and economic roots of Populism; successes and failures of Populism;  goals of the Socialist and Populist parties and their leaders; importance of individuals in promoting political reform)


    • Standard: 19
    Understands federal Indian policy and United States foreign policy after the Civil War

  • Understands interaction between Native Americans and white society (the attitudes and policies of government officials, the U.S. Army, missionaries, and settlers toward Native Americans; the provisions and effects of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 on tribal identity, land ownership and assimilation; the legacy of the 19th century federal Indian policy;  Native American responses to increased white settlement, mining activities, and railroad construction)
  • Understands the causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War ( economic and geographic factors, U.S. justifications, impact of the press on the public opinion, the role of the U.S. in Cuba after the war, the war's effects on U.S. involvement in international relations, constitutional issues raised by the acquisition of new territories)
  • Understands factors that influenced U.S. expansionism in the late 19th century (consequences of the Philippine annexation and Filipino insurrection;  geographic, economic, and social factors; arguments used to justify expansion; arguments of opponents to expansion)


    • Era 7 - The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

    Standard: 20
    Understands how Progressives and others addressed problems of industrial capitalism, urbanization, and political corruption

  • Understands the spread of Progressive ideas and the successes of the Progressive movement (how intellectuals, religious leaders, and writers alerted the public to the problems of urban industrial society; Progressive social reforms in education, conservation, and the "Americanization" of immigrants;  contributions of governors such as Hiram Johnson, Robert La Follette, and Charles Evans Hughes)
  • Understands the influence of events and individuals on the Progressive Movement (results of the election of 1912;  movements that led to the 16th, 17th, and 18th amendments; how Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson were popularly portrayed as leaders of reform)
  • Understands the New Nationalism, New Freedom, and Socialist agendas for change
  • Understands the issues of those groups who supported and rejected the goals of Progressivism ( how African Americans used Progressive tactics to attempt change, how the goals of the Industrial Workers of the World differed from Progressive programs)


    • Standard: 21
    Understands the changing role of the United States in world affairs through World War I

  • Understands different types of U.S. diplomacy in the early 20th century and how they were applied (Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policies, U.S. relations with Japan and the "Gentleman's Agreement," American diplomatic initiatives in East Asia, differences between Taft's dollar diplomacy and Roosevelt's big stick diplomacy)
  • Understands the development of World War I (the influence of industrial research in aviation and chemical warfare on military strategy and the war's outcome,  how technological developments contributed to the war's brutality, the system of alliances through which European nations sought to protect their interests, how nationalism and militarism contributed to the outbreak, how the war expanded to become a world war)
  • Understands the United States' intervention in World War I (the impact of U.S. public opinion on the Wilson administration's evolving foreign policy during the period 1914 to 1917, Wilson's leadership during the period of neutrality and his reasons for U.S. intervention)
  • Understands the impact of the United States involvement in World War I (U.S. military and economic mobilizations for war and the role of labor, women, and African Americans in the war effort;  World War I military engagements and the campaigns in which the American Expeditionary Force participated; the impact of the war on American troops; Wilson's goals in recommending the establishment of a League of Nations)
  • Understands the significance of the Russian Revolution, its impact on the war and on the foreign policies of the U.S. and Allied powers


    • Standard: 22
    Understands how the United States changed between the post-World War I years and the eve of the Great Depression

  • Understands the various social conflicts that took place in the early 1920s (state and federal government reactions to the growth of radical political movements, rising racial tensions and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, the Garvey Movement, the clash between traditional moral values and changing ideas as expemplified in the Scopes trial and Prohibition,  how the restriction of European immigration affected Mexican American immigration)
  • Understands elements that contributed to the rise of modern capitalist economy (changes in the modern corporation of the 1920s, including labor policies and the advent of mass advertising and sales techniques; the role of new technology and scientific research in the rise of agribusiness and agricultural productivity;  the impact of advertisement on the desire for new products)
  • Understands changes in the social and cultural life of American society in the 1920s (art and literature from the social realists to the "Lost Generation,"  how cultural trends were introduced into mainstream society, reasons for increased leisure time in the 1920s)
  • Understands events that shaped the political structure of America in the 1920s (changes in Progressivism during the Harding and Coolidge administrations; foreign policy of the Republican administrations of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover;  U.S. territories and spheres of influence in the 1920s; the extent of support for an Equal Rights Amendment)
  • Understands changing attitudes toward women in the post-World War I era (changing values and new ideas regarding employment opportunities, appearance standards, leisure activities, and political participation)


    • Era 8 - The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)

    Standard: 23
    Understands the causes of the Great Depression and how it affected American society

  • Understands various poltical influences on the Great Depression (the effectiveness of measures the Hoover administration took to stem the tide of the Great Depression, the central political and economic causes of the Great Depression)
  • Understands the social and economic impact of the Great Depression (the impact of the depression on industry and workers; the response of local and state officials in combating the resulting economic and social crises; the effects of the depression on American families and on ethnic and racial minorities;  the effect on gender roles; the victimization of African Americans and white sharecroppers)


    • Standard: 24
    Understands how the New Deal addressed the Great Depression, transformed American federalism, and initiated the welfare state

  • Understands renewed efforts to protect the environment during the Great Depression and their success in places such as the Dust Bowl and the Tennessee Valley
  • Understands the link between Progressivism and the early New Deal
  • Understands the factors contributing to the forging of the Roosevelt coalition in 1936 and its electoral significance in subsequent years
  • Understands the labor movement during the New Deal era (the re-emergence of labor militancy and the struggle between craft and industrial unions; the commitment of labor unions to organize diverse groups and secure equitable conditions and pay for minorities;  the objectives of labor leaders and advocates; how art, photographs, and song lyrics contributed to the emotional appeal to support unions; WPA projects and their impact on local areas)
  • Understands various challenges to the New Deal (arguments of leading opponents,  the roots of opposition to Roosevelt's policies, the ideas of the Townsend Plan and the "Share the Wealth" program of Dr. Francis Townsend and Senator Huey Long)
  • Understands the personal and political reasons for Herbert Hoover's and Franklin D. Roosevelt's responses to the depression
  • Understands the contributions of Eleanor Roosevelt to the New Deal (specific efforts the First Lady made in response to the crisis)
  • Understands how the New Deal influenced public opinion (the public's belief in the responsibility of government to deliver public services)


    • Standard: 25
    Understands the causes and course of World War II, the character of the war at home and abroad, and its reshaping of the U.S. role in world affairs

  • Understands the development of new political thinking and forms of government in Europe between World War I and World War II (the rise of fascism, national socialism, and communism)
  • Understands how the outcome of World War I contributed to the outbreak of World War II (lack of support for the League of Nations, the breakdown of the Versailles settlement in the 1930s)
  • Understands U.S. international relations prior to its entrance into World War II (the events that caused growing tensions between the U.S. and Japan, the bombing of Pearl Harbor)
  • Understands military strategies used during World War II ( the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR in 1939; the "Battle for Britain"; Japanese strategy in East Asia and the Pacific; Roosevelt's strategy for an aggressive war against the Axis powers and a defensive war in Asia; the North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy invasions)
  • Understands the dimensions of Hitler's "final solution" and the Allies' response to the Holocaust and war crimes ( human costs of Nazi genocide, Roosevelt's immigration policy toward Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany)
  • Understands the legacy of World War II (the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan during World War II, how military experiences fostered American identity and cross-cultural interaction, the purpose and organization of the United Nations)
  • Understands how World War II influenced American society (how the war fostered cultural exchange and promoted nationalism and American identity, the effects on gender roles and the American family)
  • Understands how minority groups were affected by World War II (how minority groups organized to gain access to wartime jobs and discrimination they faced,  factors that led to the internment of Japanese Americans)


    • Era 9 - Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

    Standard: 26
    Understands the economic boom and social transformation of post-World War II United States

  • Understands agricultural innovation and consolidation in the postwar period and their impact on the world economy
  • Understands the immediate social, political, and economic impacts on America after World War II (the economic and political effects of demobilization and reconversion; the growth and impact of opportunities in the service, white collar, and professional sectors in government and business; the growth of the middle class)
  • Understands how American society changed after World War II (reasons for the "return to domesticity" and the effect on family life and women's careers)
  • Standard: 27
  • Understands how the Cold War and conflicts in Korean and Vietnam influenced domestic and international politics
  • Understands major events in U.S.foreign policy during the early Cold War period (the origins of the Cold War and the advent of nuclear politics, U.S. response to the Chinese Revolution, causes of the Korean War and resulting international tensions, the implementation of the U.S. containment policy,  the circumstances that led to the Marshall Plan and its accomplishments)
  • Understands the differences between the foreign policies of Kennedy and Johnson (changes in U.S. foreign policy toward the Soviet Union and the reasons for these changes, changing foreign policy toward Latin America,  the Kennedy administration's Cuban policy)
  • Understands political and social characteristics of the Vietnam War (the Vietnam policy of the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations and shifts of public opinion about the war; the role of the Nixon administration in the Paris Peace Accord of 1973;  early U.S. involvement in Vietnam following World War II and policies of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations)
  • Understands the Truman and Eisenhower doctrines of foreign policy in terms of the international tensions that prompted each


    • Standard: 28
    Understands domestic policies in the post-World War II period

  • Understands the domestic policies of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower (Eisenhower's "Modern Republicanism,"  Truman's Fair Deal program for securing fair employment practices, desegregation, civil rights, and race relations)
  • Understands the role of McCarthyism in the early Cold War period (the rise of McCarthysim, the effect of McCarthyism on civil liberties, and McCarthy's fall from power; the connection between post-war Soviet espionage and internal security and loyalty programs under Truman and Eisenhower)
  • Understands the legacy of the New Frontier and Great Society domestic programs (the effectiveness of the Great Society programs, the second environmental movement,  how the two programs differed, the impact of the Kennedy assassination on the passage of reform legislation during the Johnson administration, how Kennedy's and Johnson's leadership styles differed, factors that contributed to greater public support for Great Society)
  • Understands the major issues of the 1960 presidential campaign and Kennedy's stance on each (the central domestic and foreign issues that divided Kennedy and Nixon, the extent to which religion was an issue in the campaign, how Kennedy responded to the Cold War issues)


    • Standard: 29
    Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties

  • Understands individual and institutional influences on the civil rights movement (the origins of the postwar civil rights movement; the role of the NAACP in the legal assualt on segregation; the leadership and ideologies of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X; the effects of the constitutional steps taken in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government; the shift from de jure to de facto segregation;  important milestones in the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1965; Eisenhower's reasons for dispatching federal troops to Little Rock in 1957)
  • Understands factors that shaped the women's rights movement after World War II (the factors that contributed to the development of modern feminism; the ideas, agendas, and strategies of feminist and counter-feminist organizations;  conflicts originating from within and outside of the women's movement)
  • Understands conflicts raised by the Warren Court decisions (why the Engel v. Vitale decision provoked widespread opposition)


    • Era 10 - Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)

    Standard: 30
    Understands developments in foreign policy and domestic politics between the Nixon and Clinton presidencies

  • Understands the domestic problems facing Presidents Bush and Reagan and the programs their administrations presented to deal with these issues (supply-side economic strategies,  Reagan's environmental program and the views of its supporters and opponents, how the Bush administration dealt with the recession, the effectiveness of the Republican administration in dealing with the Democratic congress)
  • Understands major foreign policy events and how they influenced public opinion of the administrations from Nixon to Clinton (U.S. policies toward arms limitations; Nixon's policy of detente with the U.S.S.R. and the People's Republic of China; reasons for the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R;  President Carter's role in the Camp David Accords; the Iranian hostage crisis; the foreign policy of the Reagan administration and domestic and foreign reactions to it; foreign policy goals of the Bush and Clinton administrations and their effectiveness)
  • Understands the impact of the Nixon administration's ideas and policies on American society (factors that caused so many Americans to support Nixon and his "law and order" stance, Nixon's advocacy of family assistance and employment opportunity programs, the events of Watergate)
  • Understands key domestic issues of the post-Nixon years (President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon; the successes and failures of the Carter administration)
  • Understands the principal issues and legislation affecting organized labor in the post-World War II era (terms such as "open shop," "closed shop," "featherbedding," "right to work" laws; how the general public has perceived labor unions; the relationship between the Reagan-Bush administrations and organized labor)


    • Standard: 31
    Understands economic, social, and cultural developments in the contemporary United States

  • Understands changes in the workplace and the economy in contemporary America (the effects of a sharp increase in labor force participation of women and new immigrants; the shift of the labor force from manufacturing to service industries)
  • Understands demographic shifts and the influences on recent immigration patterns (the flow from cities to suburbs, reasons for internal migrations from the "Rustbelt" to the "Sunbelt" and its impact on politics, implications of the shifting age structure of the population)
  • Understands the growth of religious issues in contemporary society (the growth of the Christian evangelical movement and its use of modern telecommunications,  issues regarding the guarantee of no establishment of religion and the free exercise clauses of the First Amendment, the significance of religious groups in local communities and their approaches to social issues)
  • Understands various influences on American culture (the desegregation of education and its role in the creation of private white academies; the influence of the media on contemporary American culture;  how ethnic art, food, music, and clothing are incorporated into mainstream culture and society)
  • Understands how different groups attempted to achieve their goals (the grievances of racial and ethnic minorities and their reference to the nation's charter documents to rectify past injustices,  local community efforts to adapt facilities for the disabled)


    • Alaska History
    Understands the people, events, problems, and ideas that were significant in creating the history of their state

  • Understands through legends, myths, and archaeological evidence the origins and culture of early Native Americans who lived in the state or region
  • Knows ways in which early explorers and settlers adapted to, used, and changed the environment of the state or region
  • Understands the reasons different groups came to the state or region
  • Understands the different lives, plans, and dreams of the various racial and ethnic groups who lived in the state 100-200 years ago
  • Understands how symbols, slogans, and mottoes represent the state
  • Knows important buildings, statues, and monuments in the state's history
  • Understands differences between the lives of Native Americans today and their lives 100 years ago
  • Understands geographic, economic, and religious reasons that brought the first explorers and settlers to the state or region, who they were, and where they settled
  • Understands the interactions that occurred between the Native Americans and the first European, African, and Asian-Pacific explorers and settlers in the state or region
  • Knows about the first inhabitants who lived in the state or region, each successive group of arrivals and their countries (or origin), and significant changes that developed as a result of each group's arrival
  • Understands the reasons recent immigrants came to the state or region, what their lives were like, and their experiences of adjustment (problems and opportunities experienced in housing, the workplace, and the community)
  • Understands patterns and changes in population over a period of time in a city or town in the state or region
  • Knows the chronological order of major historical events that are part of the states's history, their significance and the impact on people then and now, and their relationship to the history of the nation
  • Understands major historical events and developments in the state or region that involved interaction among various groups
  • Understands the influence of geography on the history of the state or region, and issues and approaches to problems (land use, environmental problems)
  • Understands how the ideas of significant people affected the history of the state
  • Understands the unique historical conditions that influenced the formation of the state and how statehood was granted
  • Knows the origin of the names of places, rivers, cities, and counties, and knows the various cultural influences within a particular region

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