Description Of Bulleted Items In Each Rubric

• The first bullet references the use of content and vocabulary
• The second bullet references the manipulation/application of critical thinking skills.
• The third bullet references communication including organization and clarity.

These rubric bullets are used across the grade levels for all sub-domain open response models, thus providing a grading consistency K-12. The rubric was designed to reflect the proposed performance standards for the CATS open response questions in the social studies section of the state assessment. The proposed state social studies performance standards include:

• Content knowledge
• Decisions, concepts, problems (Critical Thinking Skills)
• Vocabulary
• Communication
• Connections (Critical Thinking Skills)

Government and Civics

Sample Government and Civics Open Response Question

Standard I: The study of government and civics allows students to understand the nature of government and the unique characteristics of American democracy including its fundamental principles, structure and role of citizens.

Academic Expectation 2.14: Students should understand the democratic principles of justice, equality, responsibility and freedom and apply them to real-life situations.

Academic Expectation 2.15: Students can accurately describe various forms of government and analyze issues that relate to the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.

Core Content

Demonstrators

• People form governments to establish order, provide security, accomplish common goals.
• Governments derive their power from different sources—monarchies by decree and dictatorship by conquest.
• The US Government’s response to contemporary issues and societal problems reflects the needs and wants of its citizens: education, welfare system, health insurance.
• The rights of an individual may, at times, be in conflict with the responsibility of the government to protect the common good: (e.g. freedom of Information Act; need for national security; environmental regulations.)
• The rights of the one individual (e.g. smoking in public places, free speech) may at times be in conflict (e.g. slander, libel) with the rights of another.
• The principles of limited government (e.g. rule of law, federalism, checks and balances, majority rule, protection of minority rights) protect individual rights and promote the common good.

• Evaluate the roles of conflict and consensus.
• Evaluate various processes for political change.
• Analyze the impact of ethical beliefs on political systems.
• Propose solutions to problems; predict effects of action; set priorities; act; evaluate effectiveness. (5.1)

Culture and Society

Sample Culture and Society Open Response Question

Standard II: Culture is the way of life by a group of people, including their ideas and traditions. In America’s multicultural society, students need to understand that culture influences viewpoints, social rules and social institutions.

Academic Expectation 2.16: Students observe, analyze and interpret human behaviors; social groupings and institutions to better understand people and the relationships among individuals and among groups.

Academic Expectation 2.17: Students interact effectively and work cooperatively with the many diverse ethnic and cultural groups of our nation and world.

Core Content

Demonstrators

• Various human needs are met through interaction in social institutions (e.g. government, economy, education, religion, family)
• As cultures emerge and develop, conflict and competition may occur (e.g., violence, stereotypes, prejudice, difference of opinion).

• Design strategies to resolve and effect change within a social system.
• Examine the societal implications of personal prejudices.
• Demonstrate multicultural understanding through a variety of real-life activities.
• Design strategies to solve problems arising from cultural differences.
• Analyze the assimilation and non-assimilation of groups into society.
• Justify the strategy and solutions, based on the evaluative criteria. (5.5)

Economics

Sample Economics Open Response Question

Standard III: Economics includes the study of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Students need to understand how their economic decisions affect them, others and the nation as a whole.

Academic Expectation 2.18: Students understand economic principles and are able to make economic decisions that have consequences in daily living.

Core Content

Demonstrators

• Scarcity of resources necessitates choices at both the personal and societal levels.
• Economic systems can be evaluated by their abilities to achieve broad social goals such as freedom, efficiency, equity, security, and growth.
• Economic institutions include such organizations as corporations, banks, labor unions, stock markets, cooperatives, partnerships.
• Individuals attempt to maximize their profits based on their role in the economy (e.g., producers try to maximize profit, workers try to maximize income, savers and investors try to maximize return).
• The level of competition in a market is largely determined by the number of buyers and sellers
• Numerous factors influence the supply of and demand for products (e.g., supply-technology, cost inputs, number of sellers; demand - income, price of similar product consumers’ preferences).
• Laws and government mandates (e.g. anti-trust legislation, tariff policy, regulatory policy) have been adopted to maintain competition in the United States.
• An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages a business and/or enterprise usually with considerable initiative and risk.
• Technological change and investments in capital goods and human capital increase productivity.
• Investments in capital goods and labor can increase productivity but have significant opportunity costs.
• The interdependence of personal, national, and international economic activity often results in international issues and concerns (e.g., natural resource dependencies, economic sanctions, environmental and humanitarian issues).

• Explain how economic systems reflect real-life situations.
• Analyze the process used to develop the newly generated solutions/ ideas/ products. (5.2)

Program of Studies

• Understand how economic incentives of private ownership, business opportunities, and profit motives have attracted people from many nations to the United States. *

  * Found in the Program of Studies but not contained in Core Content. This item should be integrated in the overall focus on Economics. (2.18).

Geography

Sample Geography Open Response Question

Standard IV: Geography is the study of people, places and environments. Students need geographic knowledge to understand the world and their relationship to it. A geographic perspective also enables students to better understand the past and present and to prepare for the future.

Academic Expectation 2.19: Students recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography and apply their knowledge in real-life situations.

Core Content

Demonstrators

• Physical characteristics create advantages and disadvantages for human activities in a specific place.
• The location and distribution of human features on Earth’s surface are based on reasoning and patterns (e.g. available transportation, location of resources and markets, individual preference, centralization versus dispersion).
• Human migration has major physical and cultural impact and can be the result of pressures or events that pull populations from one place or pull them to another (e.g., push factors such as famines or military conflicts; pull factors such as climate or economic opportunity).
• Natural disasters may affect decisions relative to human activities (e.g., building codes, buying flood insurance).

• Evaluate the impact of geographic factors on real-life issues.
• Analyze and evaluate geographic considerations in making decisions.
• Examine and revise existing knowledge, skills, and experiences based upon connections with new knowledge, skills, or experiences. (6.3)

History

Sample History Open Response Question

Standard V: History is the interpretation of events, people, ideas and their interaction over time. In order for students to understand the present and make plans for their future, they must understand the past.

Academic Expectation 2.20: Students understand, analyze and interpret historical events, conditions, trends and issues to develop historical perspective.

Core Content

Demonstrators

• Cause and effect relationships can be analyzed by looking at multiple causation, (e.g. individual influences, ideas and beliefs, technology, resources).
• Primary sources allow individuals to experience history from the perspectives of people who lived it
• Disagreements over how Reconstruction should be approached and its various programs led conflict, constitutional crisis, and limited success.
• The rise of big business, factories, mechanized farming, and the labor movement transformed the lives of Americans.
• After the Civil War, massive immigration and United States foreign policies created new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas about national unit amid growing cultural diversity.
• During the Progressive Movement, World War I, and the Twenties, Americans experienced significant social, political, and economic changes (e.g., imperialism to isolationism, industrial capitalism, urbanization, political corruption, initiation of reforms).
• The Great Depression, New Deal policies, and World War II transformed America socially and politically at home and reshaped its role in world affairs.
• After World War II, America experienced economic growth (e.g., suburban growth); struggles for racial and gender equality (e.g., Civil Rights Movement), the extension of civil liberties, and conflict over political issues (e.g., McCarthyism, US involvement in Vietnam).
• Social transformation reflected in the struggles for racial and gender equality, and extension of civil liberties.
• In the 20^th century, the US has assumed a role in the global community to maintain and restore world peace (e.g., League of Nations, United Nations, Cold War politics, Persian Gulf War).

• Interpret events utilizing historical investigation.
• Interpret events using historical perspectives.
• Choose and defend an option; make a decision; monitor and adjust the effectiveness of a decision over time. (5.4)

Program of Studies

• Use a variety of tools (e.g. primary and secondary sources, data, artifacts) to explore world civilizations.*
• Examine the impact of significant individuals and groups.*
• Examine the impact of advances in research, science, and technology on historical events and American society.*

  * Found in the Program of Studies but not contained in Core Content. This item should be integrated in the overall focus on History (2.20).