Curriculum


 * Our Curriculum **

Welcome
Below is a list of the High School Content Expectations for U.S. History and Geography as defined by the Michigan Department of Education. These HSCEs drive our learning and we relate all we discuss, read, and mull-over to them. See our work by clicking on the numerical reference for each HSCE (for instance, 6.2.2). media type="custom" key="6413851"
 * ** Foundations in U.S. History and Geography: Below is a summary of the content that has been addressed in grades 5-8. We review these before beginning the high school content expectations. ** ||
 * < F1 - Political and Intellectual Transformations of America to 1877
 * //F1.1 Identify the core ideals of American society as reﬂected in the documents below and analyze the ways that American society moved toward and/or away from its core ideals//
 * //Declaration of Independence//
 * //The U.S. Constitution (including the Preamble)//
 * //The Bill of Rights//
 * //the Gettysburg Address//
 * //13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments//
 * //F1.2 Using the American Revolution, the creation and adoption of the Constitution, and the Civil War as touchstones, develop an argument/narrative about the changing character of American political society and the roles of key individuals across cultures in prompting supporting the change by discussing//
 * //the birth of republican government, including the rule of law, inalienable rights, equality, and limited government//
 * //the development of governmental roles in American life//
 * //and competing views of the responsibilities of governments (federal, state, and local)//
 * //changes in suffrage qualiﬁcations//
 * //the development of political parties//
 * //America’s political and economic role in the world// ||
 * F2 - Geographic, Economic, Social, and Demographic Trends in America to 1877
 * //F2.1 Describe the major trends and transformations in American life prior to 1877 including//
 * //changing political boundaries of the United States//
 * regional economic differences and similarities, including goods produced and the nature of the labor force
 * //changes in the size, location, and composition of the population//
 * //patterns of immigration and migration//
 * //development of cities//
 * //changes in commerce, transportation, and communication//
 * //major changes in Foreign Affairs marked by such events as the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and foreign relations during the Civil War// ||
 * ** The high school content expectations begin with United States History and Geography (USHG) in the 6th era. Below, you'll see each expectation preceded by an annotation, used for easy reference. The left number represents the era, the next number represents the HSCE, and if there is another number, it stands for a more defined aspect of the HSCE. USHG ERA 6 - THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL, URBAN, AND GLOBAL UNITED STATES (1870-1930). ** ||
 * 6.1 Growth of an Industrial and Urban America: Explain the causes and consequences – both positive and negative – of the Industrial Revolution and America’s growth from a predominantly agricultural, commercial, and rural nation to a more industrial and urban nation between 1870 and 1930. ||
 * * 6.1.1 Factors in the American Industrial Revolution – Analyze the factors that enabled the United States to become a major industrial power, including
 * gains from trade
 * organizational “revolution”
 * advantages of physical geography
 * increase in labor through immigration and migration
 * economic polices of government and industrial leaders (including Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller)
 * technological advances ||
 * * 6.1.2 Labor’s Response to Industrial Growth – Evaluate the different responses of labor to industrial change including
 * development of organized labor, including the Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor, and the United Mine Workers
 * southern and western farmers’ reactions, including the growth of populism and the populist movement (e.g., Farmers Alliance, Grange, Platform of the Populist Party, Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech) ||
 * * 6.1.3 Urbanization – Analyze the changing urban and rural landscape by examining
 * the location and expansion of major urban centers
 * the growth of cities linked by industry and trade
 * the development of cities divided by race, ethnicity, and class
 * resulting tensions among and within groups
 * different perspectives about immigrant experiences in the urban setting ||
 * * 6.1.4 Population Changes – Use census data from 1790-1940 to describe changes in the composition, distribution, and density of the American population and analyze their causes, including immigration, the Great Migration, and urbanization. ||
 * * 6.1.5 A Case Study of American Industrialism ­– Using the automobile industry as a case study, analyze the causes and consequences of this major industrial transformation by explaining
 * the impact of resource availability
 * entrepreneurial decision making by Henry Ford and others
 * domestic and international migrations
 * the development of an industrial work force
 * the impact on Michigan
 * the impact on American society ||
 * 6.2 Becoming a World Power - Describe and analyze the major changes – both positive and negative – in the role the United States played in world affairs after the Civil War, and explain the causes and consequences of this changing role. ||
 * * 6.2.1 Growth of U.S. Global Power – Locate on a map the territories (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Hawaii, Panama Canal Zone) acquired by the United States during its emergence as an imperial power between 1890 and 1914, and analyze the role the Spanish American War, the Philippine Revolution, the Panama Canal, the Open Door Policy, and the Roosevelt Corollary played in expanding America’s global inﬂuence and redeﬁ ning its foreign policy. ||
 * * 6.2.2 WWI – Explain the causes of World War I, the reasons for American neutrality and eventual entry into the war, and America’s role in shaping the course of the war. ||
 * * 6.2.3 Domestic Impact of WWI – Analyze the domestic impact of WWI on the growth of the government (e.g., War Industries Board), the expansion of the economy, the restrictions on civil liberties (e.g., Sedition Act, Red Scare, Palmer Raids), and the expansion of women’s suffrage. ||
 * * 6.2.4 Wilson and His Opponents – Explain how Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” differed from proposals by others, including French and British leaders and domestic opponents, in the debate over the Versailles Treaty, United States participation in the League of Nations, the redrawing of European political boundaries, and the resulting geopolitical tensions that continued to affect Europe. ||
 * 6.3 Progressivism and Reform - Select and evaluate major public and social issues emerging from the changes in industrial, urban, and global America during this period; analyze the solutions or resolutions developed by Americans, and their consequences (positive/negative – anticipated/unanticipated) including, but not limited to, the following: ||
 * * 6.3.1 Social Issues – Describe at least three signiﬁcant problems or issues created by America’s industrial and urban transformation between 1895 and 1930 (e.g., urban and rural poverty and blight, child labor, immigration, political corruption, public health, poor working conditions, and monopolies). ||
 * * 6.3.2 Causes and Consequences of Progressive Reform – Analyze the causes, consequences, and limitations of Progressive reform in the following areas major changes in the Constitution, including 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Amendments
 * new regulatory legislation (e.g., Pure Food and Drug Act, Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Acts)
 * the Supreme Court’s role in supporting or slowing reform
 * role of reform organizations, movements and individuals in promoting change (e.g., Women’s Christian Temperance Union, settlement house movement, conservation movement, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Jane Addams, Carrie Chapman Catt, Eugene Debs, W.E.B. DuBois, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell)
 * efforts to expand and restrict the practices of democracy as reﬂected in post-Civil War struggles of African Americans and immigrants ||
 * * 6.3.3 Women’s Suffrage – Analyze the successes and failures of efforts to expand women’s rights, including the work of important leaders (e.g., Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton) and the eventual ratiﬁ cation of the 19th Amendment. ||
 * ** Below begins a new era in U.S. History and Geography: ERA 7 - THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II (1920-1945). The United States has grown to become a leading industrialized nation and a major contributor to a more global economy. This Era demonstrates the responsibilities and pitfalls that accompany such a status. ** ||
 * 7.1 Growing Crisis of Industrial Capitalism and Responses: Evaluate the key events and decisions surrounding the causes and consequences of the global depression of the 1930s and World War II. ||
 * * 7.1.1 The Twenties – Identify and explain the signiﬁcance of the cultural changes and tensions in the “Roaring Twenties” including
 * cultural movements, such as the Harlem Renaissance and the “lost generation”
 * the struggle between “traditional” and “modern” America (e.g., Scopes Trial, immigration restrictions, Prohibition, role of women, mass consumption) ||
 * * 7.1.2 Causes and Consequences of the Great Depression – Explain and evaluate the multiple causes and consequences of the Great Depression by analyzing
 * the political, economic, environmental, and social causes of the Great Depression including ﬁscal policy, overproduction, under consumption, and speculation, the 1929 crash, and the Dust Bowl
 * the economic and social toll of the Great Depression, including unemployment and environmental conditions that affected farmers, industrial workers and families
 * Hoover’s policies and their impact (e.g., Reconstruction Finance Corporation) ||
 * * 7.1.3 The New Deal – Explain and evaluate Roosevelt’s New Deal Policies including
 * expanding the federal government’s responsibilities to protect the environment (e.g., Dust Bowl and the Tennessee Valley), meet challenges of unemployment, address the needs of workers, farmers, poor, and elderly
 * opposition to the New Deal and the impact of the Supreme Court in striking down and then accepting New Deal laws
 * consequences of New Deal policies (e.g., promoting workers’ rights, development of Social Security program, and banking and ﬁnancial regulation conservation practices, crop subsidies) ||
 * 7.2 World War II: Examine the causes and course of World War II, and the effects of the war on United States society and culture, including the consequences for United States involvement in world affairs. ||
 * * 7.2.1 Causes of WWII – Analyze the factors contributing to World War II in Europe and in the Paciﬁc region, and America’s entry into war including
 * the political and economic disputes over territory (e.g., failure of Versailles Treaty, League of Nations, Munich Agreement)
 * the differences in the civic and political values of the United States and those of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan
 * United States neutrality
 * the bombing of Pearl Harbor ||
 * * 7.2.2 U.S. and the Course of WWII – Evaluate the role of the U.S. in ﬁghting the war militarily, diplomatically and technologically across the world (e.g., Germany First strategy, Big Three Alliance and the development of atomic weapons). ||
 * * 7.2.3 Impact of WWII on American Life – Analyze the changes in American life brought about by U.S. participation in World War II including
 * mobilization of economic, military, and social resources
 * role of women and minorities in the war effort
 * role of the home front in supporting the war effort (e.g., rationing, work hours, taxes)
 * internment of Japanese-Americans ||
 * * 7.2.4 Responses to Genocide – Investigate development and enactment of Hitler’s “ﬁnal solution” policy, and the responses to genocide by the Allies, the U.S. government, international organizations, and individuals (e.g., liberation of concentration camps, Nuremberg war crimes tribunals, establishment of state of Israel). ||
 * ** Below begins a new era in U.S. History and Geography: ERA 8 – POST-WORLD WAR 11 UNITED STATES (1945 -1989). The decades following WWII were anything but peaceful. America had solidified its place in the global community and was the beacon for the superiority of democracy. However, the socialist and communist ideologies were strengthening and challenged the ideals upon which our nation was founded and created the perception of a threat to our way of life. ** ||
 * 8.1 Cold War and the United States: Identify, analyze, and explain the causes, conditions, and impact of the Cold War Era on the United States. ||
 * * 8.1.1 Origins and Beginnings of Cold War – Analyze the factors that contributed to the Cold War including
 * differences in the civic, ideological and political values, and the economic and governmental institutions of the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
 * diplomatic decisions made at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences (1945)
 * actions by both countries in the last years of and years following World War II (e.g., the use of the atomic bomb, the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, North American Treaty Alliance (NATO), and Warsaw Pact) ||
 * * 8.1.2 Foreign Policy during the Cold War – Evaluate the origins, setbacks, and successes of the American policy of “containing” the Soviet Union, including
 * the development of a U.S. national security establishment, composed of the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the intelligence community
 * the armed struggle with Communism, including the Korean conﬂict
 * direct conﬂicts within speciﬁc world regions including Germany and Cuba
 * U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and the foreign and domestic consequences of the war (e.g., relationship/conﬂicts with U.S.S.R. and China, U.S. military policy and practices, responses of citizens and mass media)
 * indirect (or proxy) confrontations within speciﬁc world regions (e.g., Chile, Angola, Iran, Guatemala)
 * the arms race ||
 * * 8.1.3 End of the Cold War – Evaluate the factors that led to the end of the cold war including détente, policies of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. and their leaders (President Reagan and Premier Gorbachev), the political breakup of the Soviet Union, and the Warsaw Pact. ||
 * 8.2 Domestic Policies: Examine, analyze, and explain demographic changes, domestic policies, conﬂicts, and tensions in Post- WWII America. ||
 * * 8.2.1 Demographic Changes – Use population data to produce and analyze maps that show the major changes in population distribution, spatial patterns and density, including the Baby Boom, new immigration, suburbanization, reverse migration of African Americans to the South, and the ﬂow of population to the “Sunbelt.” ||
 * * 8.2.2 Policy Concerning Domestic Issues – Analyze major domestic issues in the Post-World War II era and the policies designed to meet the challenges by
 * describing issues challenging Americans such as domestic anticommunism (McCarthyism), labor, poverty, health care, infrastructure, immigration, and the environment
 * evaluating policy decisions and legislative actions to meet these challenges (e.g., G.I. Bill of Rights (1944), Taft-Hartley Act (1947), Twenty-Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1951), Federal Highways Act (1956), National Defense Act (1957), E.P.A. (1970) ||
 * * 8.2.3 Comparing Domestic Policies – Focusing on causes, programs, and impacts, compare and contrast Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives, Johnson’s Great Society programs, and Reagan’s market-based domestic policies. ||
 * * 8.2.4 Domestic Conﬂicts and Tensions – Using core democratic values, analyze and evaluate the competing perspectives and controversies among Americans generated by U.S. Supreme Court decisions (e.g., Roe v Wade, Gideon, Miranda, Tinker, Hazelwood), the Vietnam War (anti-war and counter-cultural movements), environmental movement, women’s rights movement, and the constitutional crisis generated by the Watergate scandal. ||
 * 8.3 Civil Rights in the Post-WWII Era: Examine and analyze the Civil Rights Movement using key events, people, and organizations. ||
 * * 8.3.1 Civil Rights Movement – Analyze the key events, ideals, documents, and organizations in the struggle for civil rights by African Americans including
 * the impact of WWII and the Cold War (e.g., racial and gender integration of the military)
 * Supreme Court decisions and governmental actions (e.g., Brown v. Board (1954), Civil Rights Act (1957), Little Rock schools desegregation, Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965))
 * protest movements, organizations, and civil actions (e.g., integration of baseball, Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956), March on Washington (1963), freedom rides, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Nation of Islam, Black Panthers)
 * resistance to Civil Rights ||
 * * 8.3.2 Ideals of the Civil Rights Movement – Compare and contrast the ideas in Martin Luther King’s March on Washington speech to the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Seneca Falls Resolution, and the Gettysburg Address. ||
 * * 8.3.3 Women’s Rights – Analyze the causes and course of the women’s rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s (including role of population shifts, birth control, increasing number of women in the work force, National Organization for Women (NOW), and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)). ||
 * * 8.3.4 Civil Rights Expanded – Evaluate the major accomplishments and setbacks in civil rights and liberties for American minorities over the 20th century including American Indians, Latinos/Latinas, new immigrants, people with disabilities, and gays and lesbians. ||
 * * 8.3.5 Tensions and Reactions to Poverty and Civil Rights – Analyze the causes and consequences of the civil unrest that occurred in American cities by comparing the civil unrest in Detroit with at least one other American city (e.g., Los Angeles, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta, Newark). ||
 * ** Below begins a new era in U.S. History and Geography: ERA 9 – AMERICA IN A NEW GLOBAL AGE. As modern living advanced America, societal norms and values stretch and bend to fit cultural needs. Domestic events and policies have an increasing impact as technology and communication advance. ** ||
 * 9.1 The Impact of Globalization on the United States: Explain the impact of globalization on the United States’ economy, politics, society and role in the world. ||
 * * 9.1.1 Economic Changes – Using the changing nature of the American automobile industry as a case study, evaluate the changes in the American economy created by new markets, natural resources, technologies, corporate structures, international competition, new sources and methods of production, energy issues, and mass communication. ||
 * * 9.1.2 Transformation of American Politics – Analyze the transformation of American politics in the late 20th and early 21st centuries including
 * growth of the conservative movement in national politics, including the role of Ronald Reagan
 * role of evangelical religion in national politics
 * intensiﬁcation of partisanship
 * partisan conﬂict over the role of government in American life
 * role of regional differences in national politics ||
 * 9.2 Changes in America’s Role in the World: Examine the shifting role of United States on the world stage during the period from 1980 to the present. ||
 * * 9.2.1 U.S. in the Post-Cold War World – Explain the role of the United States as a super-power in the post-Cold War world, including advantages, disadvantages, and new challenges (e.g., military missions in Lebanon, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Gulf War). ||
 * * 9.2.2 9/11 and Responses to Terrorism – Analyze how the attacks on 9/11 and the response to terrorism have altered American domestic and international policies (including e.g., the Ofﬁce of Homeland Security, Patriot Act, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, role of the United States in the United Nations, NATO). ||
 * 9.3 Policy Debates ||
 * * 9.3.1 Compose a persuasive essay on a public policy issue, and justify the position with a reasoned argument based upon historical antecedents and precedents, and core democratic values or constitutional principles.
 * role of the United States in the world
 * national economic policy
 * welfare policy
 * energy policy
 * health care
 * education
 * civil rights ||

METS
In addition, the state of Michigan and the Michigan Department of Education adopted the Michigan Education Technology Standards (METS). These standards state the needs students have meet prior to exiting 8th grade (there is a set for each grade level). See how we measured up by clicking here for the [|9-12 Grade METS].