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Skills available for Alabama high school social studies standards

Standards are in black and IXL social studies skills are in dark green. Hold your mouse over the name of a skill to view a sample question. Click on the name of a skill to practice that skill.

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Rise to World Power

Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression

  • 3 Evaluate how key figures, events, and trends shaped United States society and culture from the conclusion of World War I through the 1920s.

    • 3a Describe how the automobile, cinema, print media, and radio contributed to the rise in mass culture, economic growth, and expansion of the middle class during the 1920s.

    • 3b Explain how art, literature, and music, including that produced by Alabamians, influenced both the Harlem Renaissance and the broader culture of the 1920s.

    • 3c Explain why the 1920s comprised a period of significant social conflict as manifested by the Scopes trial, growth of the Ku Klux Klan, rise of nativist thinking, the Red Scare, and antisemitism.

    • 3d Summarize the debate over prohibition and describe how prohibition contributed to social and cultural changes of the 1920s.

    • 3e Trace the causes and course of Red Summer and subsequent violence into the 1920s, including the Tulsa Race Massacre.

  • 4 Analyze the causes of the Great Depression, including the effects of overproduction, stock market speculation, buying on credit, international trade policy, and restrictive monetary policies.

  • 5 Identify economic and social effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl on American society and describe how individuals addressed the challenges and sought to help others in need.

    • 5a Describe the effects of New Deal programs on Alabama, outlining the problems they sought to address.

    • 5b Analyze the impact of the Great Depression and the resulting social programs on the American family and minority groups.

World War II

  • 6 Trace the progression of events and policies leading to World War II and the United States' entry into the war.

    • 6a Summarize the United States' foreign policies of isolationism and internationalism as World War II began and explain how the bombing of Pearl Harbor affected this approach.

    • 6b Critique the evolving United States policy and public attitudes toward Nazi Germany and the growing refugee crisis as the Holocaust began.

  • 7 Analyze how United States military involvement shaped major events of World War II.

    • 7a Develop an argument supporting the thesis that major battles of World War II in which the United States was involved were turning points of the war and outline the impact of these battles on territorial occupation by the Allied and Axis powers.

    • 7b Compare and contrast the roles and leadership of United States leaders in securing victory for the Allied powers during World War II.

    • 7c Evaluate the effectiveness of United States strategies in the war, including the decision to utilize atomic weapons on Japan.

    • 7d Describe the role of the United States military in helping end the Holocaust, including the liberation of concentration camps and participation in the Nuremberg Trials.

    • 7e Explain how key consequences of World War II shaped United States foreign policy after the war.

  • 8 Analyze the domestic, economic, and civil rights impact of World War II on United States society.

    • 8a Describe Alabama's participation in World War II, including the role of the Tuskegee Airmen, housing prisoner of war (POW) camps, growth of the Port of Mobile, production of steel in Birmingham, and the establishment of military bases.

    • 8b Explain how minority groups organized to gain access to wartime jobs and how they confronted discrimination, including the Bracero Program and Double V Campaign.

    • 8c Describe the experiences of Japanese Americans in World War II, including their internment on the home front and military contributions in Europe to Allied victory.

    • 8d Describe how World War II led to advances in mass media, medicine, science, and technology.

Post-World War II America

  • 9 Outline the foreign policy changes that led the United States into the Cold War and contributed to its emergence as a superpower.

    • 9a Develop an argument regarding the effectiveness of the United States policy of containment that resulted from its growing ideological and political tensions with the Soviet Union.

    • 9b Compare the application of the United States' policy of containment to various areas of the world outside the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and 1950s.

    • 9c Identify and explain the origins of the United States' involvement in the Korean War and the consequences of Harry Truman's limited war plan for Korea.

    • 9d Analyze the domestic responses to the Cold War, including the impact of McCarthyism.

  • 10 Evaluate the influence of events, organizations, and individual actions on the expansion of the Civil Rights Movement nationally.

    • 10a Identify and explain key events from 1945 to 1955 that brought about the emergence of a large-scale movement for civil rights.

    • 10b Analyze the extent to which the actions and campaigns of civil rights activists and organizations from 1954 to 1965 prompted federal measures to advance civil and human rights.

    • 10c Compare and contrast the actions and philosophies of key civil rights leaders and organizations, including Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

    • 10d Summarize the political, economic, and physical means by which opponents of the Civil Rights Movement sought to limit its achievements.

    • 10e Describe how key Alabamians provided leadership, generated change, or demonstrated resistance to the Civil Rights Movement.

  • 11 Analyze how cultural changes, economic growth, and government action during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations shaped the daily lives of Americans.

    • 11a Evaluate the effects of the arms and space races on the growth of the military-industrial complex.

    • 11b Describe the demographic and political changes that occurred as some populations shifted from cities to suburbs.

Late Twentieth-Century America

  • 12 Compare and contrast major domestic initiatives of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and explain how Kennedy's assassination led to both change and continuity in these initiatives.

    • The presidency of John F. Kennedy (US-N.1)

    • 12a Investigate the major elements of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program and explain how it represents an attempt to expand the American social safety net, including the War on Poverty, Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start.

  • 13 Explain the evolution of America's Cold War policy to defend democracy and contain communism around the world and how this led to an escalation in armed conflict during the 1960s.

    • 13a Assess the effectiveness of John F. Kennedy's foreign policy toward Cuba, including the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

    • 13b Investigate and explain the effects of the domino theory and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on United States involvement in the Vietnam conflict.

    • 13c Describe how significant events in the Vietnam War resulted in a decline of public support for American involvement in the conflict.

    • 13d Evaluate the relationship between domestic social movements, including the New Left and counterculture movements, and America's war in Vietnam and explain how the movements and the war each influenced public perception of the other.

  • 14 Explain shifts in the scope of the Civil Rights Movement from the mid-1960s into the 1970s, including geographic regions, issues of focus, and participation.

    • 14a Explain how the Civil Rights Movement inspired other movements for civil and human rights, and describe the contributions of groups and individuals to these movements.

    • 14b Evaluate the social and political significance of the women's rights movement from the 1960s to the 1980s on the lives of women in the United States.

    • 14c Compare and contrast major Supreme Court decisions from the 1960s through the 1980s and explain how they reflect an ongoing national debate regarding the expansion and limits of civil liberties, civil rights, and constitutional protections.

  • 15 Describe how significant domestic events during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter shaped United States economics, politics, and society.

    • 15a Trace the events that fostered the emergence of the modern environmental movement and prompted government regulations as well as civic action.

    • 15b Outline the events that led to the Watergate scandal and brought about the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the presidency of Gerald Ford.

    • 15c Identify the reasons for the economic fluctuations of the 1970s and evaluate the effectiveness of government action on the problem of stagflation.

  • 16 Describe significant foreign policy events during the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter that decreased hostility in the Cold War.

    • 16a Analyze how America's foreign policy decisions in the Vietnam War shaped Cold War actions in the 1970s, including détente and increased concern for human rights.

    • 16b Evaluate how the United States' increasing involvement in the Middle East during the 1970s affected both the region and the United States itself.

  • 17 Analyze the conservative revolution in American politics and how this shaped Ronald Reagan's domestic and foreign policies.

    • 17a Describe the growth and composition of movement conservatism beginning in the 1960s, and explain how this culminated in the formation of the Reagan Coalition and led to his election in 1980.

    • 17b Analyze how Reaganomics and deregulation affected the American economy and society.

    • 17c Trace the series of events during Reagan's presidency leading to the emergence of the United States as the sole superpower, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Contemporary America

  • 18 Analyze the shifts in United States foreign policy and challenges to it after the Cold War and into the twenty-first century.

    • 18a Investigate the role and influence of the United States in peacekeeping efforts around the world from the 1990s into the early twenty-first century.

    • 18b Evaluate the effectiveness of the United States' response to the September 11 attacks, including the war in Afghanistan, creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and passage of the USA PATRIOT Act.

    • 18c Compare and contrast Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, including why they took place, the domestic political consequences of United States' involvement in these conflicts, and the international implications for these wars.

  • 19 Evaluate how political developments and technology shaped economic trends and fluctuations from the 1990s into the early twenty-first century.

    • 19a Trace the evolution of the environmental movement and political debate over climate change from the 1980s to the present, including how environmental and natural disasters have shaped the discussion.

    • 19b Assess the economic and political effects of immigration on the United States and explain how immigration policies have evolved in the post-Cold War era.

  • 20 Evaluate how federal policies and legislation have shaped American society since 1988.

    • 20a Assess how political events beginning with the Clinton presidency and into the early 2000s contributed to growing political polarization.

    • 20b Describe the significance of national elections from 1992 to the present, including the 2000 presidential recount in Florida and 2008 election of Barack Obama.