Study Guide

Middle School Education: Social Science
Test Design and Framework

The test design below describes general assessment information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.

Test Design

Format	Computer-based test (CBT) and online-proctored test
Number of Questions	80 multiple-choice questions
Time*	2 hours, 15 minutes
Passing Score	220

*Does not include 15-minute tutorial

Test Framework

 

Content Domain		Range of Competencies	Approximate Percentage of Test Score
I.	History	0001–0006	40%
II.	Geography	0007–0009	20%
III.	Government	0010–0012	20%
IV.	Economics	0013–0015	20%

Domain I–History

Competency 0001–Understand major developments in world history from the beginnings of human society to 1350 CE.

For example:

• Examine the Neolithic Revolution and the birth of human civilization, including the growth of agriculture, the domestication of animals, the organization of government, and the emergence of towns.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of civilizations and empires in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas during the period.
• Analyze major events, developments, and contributions of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
• Examine the principal beliefs, sacred texts, and historical development of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
• Examine major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of the Islamic and Byzantine civilizations.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the growth, principal features, and decline of medieval civilization in Europe.
• Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas from 4000 BCE to 1350 CE and analyze major social, economic, and cultural trends of the period.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, and demonstrate historical literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in historical texts related to the period.

Competency 0002–Understand major developments in world history from 1350 to 1850.

For example:

• Examine the origins, major developments, significant individuals, and lasting consequences of the European Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation.
• Analyze European expansion between 1450 and 1650, including the effects of colonization on Europeans and the indigenous societies they encountered.
• Examine the central ideas of major thinkers of the Scientific Revolution and European Enlightenment and the influence of these ideas on events and developments in Europe and the Americas.
• Analyze similarities, differences, and consequences of the English, American, and French revolutions, and the wars of independence in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
• Evaluate social, political, and economic factors related to the emergence and spread of industrialization and the growth of urban centers in Europe.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, and scientific developments of the period in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
• Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas from 1350 to 1850 and analyze major social, economic, and cultural trends of the period.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, and demonstrate historical literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in historical texts related to the period.

Competency 0003–Understand major developments in world history from 1850 to the present.

For example:

• Analyze the causes and consequences of European imperialism, including interactions between imperialist powers and the people of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
• Analyze the causes, major events, and consequences of World War I, including events and developments related to the Russian Revolution and the rise of totalitarian and authoritarian governments in Europe and Asia.
• Analyze the origins, major events, and consequences of World War II.
• Evaluate major developments and issues related to the movement from colonization to independence in postwar Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the causes, major developments, and consequences of the Cold War, including U.S.-Soviet differences over Eastern Europe, economic and military alliances, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• Examine major challenges of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, including environmental degradation, terrorism, limited natural resource supplies, and economic imbalances among the world's peoples.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, and scientific developments of the period in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
• Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas from 1850 to the present and analyze major social, economic, and cultural trends of the period.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, and demonstrate historical literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in historical texts related to the period.

Competency 0004–Understand major developments in Missouri and U.S. history from the precontact period to 1789.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of important social, political, and economic features of major Native American cultures at the time of their first contact with Europeans.
• Examine major events and developments related to European exploration of North America.
• Analyze coexistence and conflict between Europeans and Native Americans, including similarities and differences in beliefs, values, and attitudes.
• Analyze social, political, economic, and cultural developments in Great Britain's North American colonies, including the growth of slavery and similarities and differences between the New England, mid-Atlantic, and southern colonies.
• Examine the French and Indian War and the major causes, events, and consequences of the American Revolution.
• Analyze the evolution of national and state governments during and after the Revolution, including problems under the Articles of Confederation and major debates and compromises in the creation of the U.S. Constitution.
• Recognize the contributions of significant individuals and chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during the period.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, and demonstrate historical literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in historical texts related to the period.

Competency 0005–Understand major developments in Missouri and U.S. history from 1789 to 1918.

For example:

• Examine major political and constitutional developments from the early national period through the Progressive Era, including the activities and achievements of major reform movements and key reformers.
• Analyze events and developments related to westward expansion, including the impact of western settlement on Native American peoples.
• Analyze the causes and consequences of economic growth, industrialization, and the development of a national market economy during the nineteenth century, including the impact of immigration and urbanization on U.S. society.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major events and developments in U.S. foreign relations from the War of 1812 through World War I.
• Analyze events and developments related to slavery in the United States.
• Analyze the principal causes, significant events, and major developments of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
• Analyze the responses of African Americans to segregation, disenfranchisement, and violence after the Civil War; how African American cultural experiences changed over time; and the impact of these changes on the development of U.S. society.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major developments in literature, the arts, popular culture, science, and technology in the United States from 1789 to 1877.
• Recognize the contributions of significant individuals and chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during the period.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, and demonstrate historical literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in historical texts related to the period.

Competency 0006–Understand major developments in Missouri and U.S. history from 1918 to the present.

For example:

• Analyze major social, political, economic, and cultural events and developments of the 1920s; the causes of the Great Depression; and the government's response to economic collapse and social dislocation during the 1930s.
• Examine major events and developments related to U.S. participation in World War II, including war mobilization and the impact of the war on the U.S. economy and society.
• Analyze major events and developments in U.S. foreign policy from the beginnings of the Cold War to the Iraq War.
• Analyze major social and economic developments in the United States since 1945, including the postwar economic boom, changing patterns of immigration, and economic globalization.
• Analyze major political and constitutional developments in the United States since 1945.
• Examine the goals, strategies, and achievements of the struggle for African American equality.
• Examine the goals, strategies, and achievements of major social and political movements of the post–World War II period in the United States.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major developments in literature, the arts, popular culture, science, and technology in the United States from 1918 to the present.
• Recognize the contributions of significant individuals and chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during the period.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, and demonstrate historical literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in historical texts related to the period.

Domain II–Geography

Competency 0007–Understand basic geographic concepts and physical systems.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of the five fundamental geographic themes (i.e., location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region) and the six essential elements of geography (i.e., the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, and the uses of geography).
• Apply basic geographic terms and concepts, such as habitat, ecology, interdependence, assimilation, demographic cycle, and cultural diffusion.
• Recognize basic characteristics of maps and globes and the advantages and disadvantages of standard map projections.
• Recognize major landmasses; significant landforms; important bodies of water; and various types of physical features such as gulfs, deltas, capes, isthmuses, peninsulas, and archipelagoes.
• Examine the principal elements of climate and major global and regional climatic patterns.
• Analyze ways in which physical processes shape the physical features of the earth.
• Apply skills and procedures used in geographic research related to physical systems, and demonstrate geographic literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in geographic texts related to physical systems.

Competency 0008–Understand human systems.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the linguistic, social, religious, economic, and political features of contemporary groups in major world regions and recognize how the physical characteristics of places and regions are connected to human identities and cultures.
• Analyze the spatial diffusion of ideas, technologies, and cultural practices from one culture to another.
• Examine historical and contemporary patterns of human settlement, how human settlements have changed over time, and how changes in the environmental characteristics of a place or region have influenced spatial patterns over time.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the distribution of the world's human population, the reasons for population growth and decline, the causes and consequences of human migrations, and contemporary trends in world population.
• Demonstrate knowledge of how social institutions function within societies, including their role in promoting socialization and maintaining social control.
• Analyze factors that contribute to conflict and cooperation within and among countries, including economic globalization, the expanding use of scarce resources, political and cultural divisions within and between nations, and the initiatives of major international organizations.
• Apply skills and procedures used in geographic research related to human systems, and demonstrate geographic literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in geographic texts related to human systems.

Competency 0009–Understand the interaction between the environment and human societies.

For example:

• Recognize the location, distribution, and uses of natural resources in the United States and throughout the world, and the influence of natural resources and ecosystems on human populations.
• Analyze ways in which human societies modify the physical environment and adapt to environmental change, including the influence of political and economic decisions on the environmental characteristics of places and the economic and political consequences of environmental change.
• Analyze the effects of physical factors such as climate and topography on the development and characteristics of human societies.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the causes and effects of current environmental problems such as global warming and tropical deforestation.
• Analyze the role of technology in the creation and solution of environmental problems.
• Examine how geographic factors have influenced historical events and developments.
• Apply skills and procedures used in geographic research related to the interaction between the environment and human societies, and demonstrate geographic literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in geographic texts related to the interaction between the environment and human societies.

Domain III–Government

Competency 0010–Understand basic political science concepts and the foundations of government.

For example:

• Apply basic political science terms and concepts, such as gerrymandering, enumerated and implied powers, sovereignty, judicial review, balance of power, and social contract theory.
• Analyze and apply principles and ideas contained in key documents of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, and the Gettysburg Address.
• Analyze major events and developments related to the emergence and spread of democratic government and examine ways in which different societies enact civic virtues, promote the common good, and protect the rights of citizens.
• Recognize major characteristics of different systems of government, including monarchy, oligarchy, representative democracy, direct democracy, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism.
• Apply skills and procedures used in political science research, and demonstrate political science literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in political science texts related to the foundations of government.

Competency 0011–Understand U.S. government, the political process, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental principles, key articles, and significant amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
• Analyze similarities and differences between the political systems of the United States and other contemporary and historical nations.
• Analyze the significance of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education, United States v. Nixon, and Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District 393.
• Examine major features of the U.S. electoral system, the ways in which citizens participate in the political process, and the skills needed for effective participation in public affairs.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.
• Analyze events and developments in U.S. history that have increased or diminished individual rights and popular participation in the political process.
• Apply skills and procedures used in political science research, and demonstrate political science literacy including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats; and recognizing assumptions in political science texts related to U.S. government, the political process, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Competency 0012–Understand the functions, structure, and operation of government in the United States and Missouri.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the organization and responsibilities of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.
• Analyze ways in which the constitutional principles of separation of powers and checks and balances influence the operation of the federal government.
• Examine how laws are enacted at the federal and state levels of government in the United States, including the role of lobbyists and special interest groups in the legislative process.
• Demonstrate knowledge of fundamental features of the U.S. legal and criminal justice systems.
• Examine how U.S. foreign policy is made, the roles of the president and Congress in the foreign policy process, and factors influencing the formulation of U.S. foreign policy.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and functions of state and local governments in the United States and the ways in which federal, state, and local governments divide and share power and responsibility.
• Apply skills and procedures used in political science research, and demonstrate political science literacy including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats; and recognizing assumptions in political science texts related to the functions, structure, and operation of government in the United States and Missouri.

Domain IV–Economics

Competency 0013–Understand basic economic concepts and microeconomics.

For example:

• Apply basic economic terms and concepts, such as scarcity, the laws of supply and demand, opportunity cost, economic incentives, inflation, and recession.
• Compare fundamental features of traditional, market, command, and mixed economic systems.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the factors of production (i.e., land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship) and how they are combined to produce goods and services.
• Analyze the organization and operation of market economies, including the roles of entrepreneurs, competition, prices, and the laws of supply and demand.
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic forms of business organization and examine factors affecting business operations and decisions.
• Apply skills and procedures used in economic research, and demonstrate economic literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in economic texts related to microeconomics.

Competency 0014–Understand macroeconomics and international economics.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the major components of the U.S. economic system, including banks, financial markets, labor unions, corporations, and consumers.
• Analyze the causes and effects of unemployment, inflation, and deflation, and factors influencing the business cycle.
• Demonstrate knowledge of how fiscal and monetary policy influences economic activity, including the likely response of policymakers to given economic developments.
• Analyze how government regulation influences financial and business operations, protects workers, and affects consumers.
• Analyze the reaction of the federal government to economic crises in U.S. history.
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles of international economics and examine factors influencing the operation of the international economic system.
• Apply skills and procedures used in economic research, and demonstrate economic literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in economic texts related to macroeconomics and international economics.

Competency 0015–Understand consumer economics and personal finance.

For example:

• Recognize basic principles of consumer economics, including purchasing options for goods and services, types of consumer advertising, and how to assess marketing appeals.
• Demonstrate knowledge of consumer rights and responsibilities, sources of consumer information, and consumer protection laws and agencies.
• Apply principles and steps involved in creating and maintaining a personal budget.
• Demonstrate knowledge of types of credit, procedures for obtaining credit, factors that affect credit eligibility, and appropriate uses of credit.
• Recognize major characteristics and functions of institutions, businesses, and agencies that provide financial services (e.g., credit unions, commercial banks, savings and loan associations).
• Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of various insurance, savings, investment, and retirement options, and assess the risks and benefits associated with each.
• Apply skills and procedures used in economic research, and demonstrate economic literacy including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape the author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in economic texts related to consumer economics and personal finance.

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