course redesign

AP® United States HistoryAn Overview of the Course and Exam

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► Responds to appeals fromteachers for clarified learningobjectives, increasedflexibility and depth

► Embraces college-levelemphasis on historicalthinking skills

► Aligns the expectations for all 3 AP history courses

► Encourages students to “think like historians”

Rationale for Course Design

A Tour of the AP® U.S. History Curriculum Framework

The AP USH Curriculum Framework

Nine historical thinking skills

Seven course themes

Key concepts for each of nine periods

Learning Objectives for the course as a whole

Major elements:

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Learning Objectives

Learning Objective

Theme

Skill

An overarching idea for the course as a whole

Ways that historians investigate and reason about this phenomenon

Specific events in U.S. History where we can study this theme in context

Key Concept

Statement about what students should know and be able to do to regarding this overarching idea to succeed on the AP Exam

Key ConceptKey

ConceptKey Concept

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Learning Objectives

Learning

Objective

Theme

Skill

Identity

Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time

e.g., Period 5, Key Concept 5.1.IEnthusiasm for U.S. territorial expansion, fueled by economic and national security interests and supported by claims of U.S. racial and cultural superiority, resulted in war, the opening of new markets, acquisition of new territory, and increased ideological conflicts.

Key Concep

t

Students are able to assess the impact of Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion, the Civil War, and industrialization on popular beliefs about progress and the national destiny of the United States in the 19th century.

Key Concep

t

Key Concep

t

Key Concep

t

Identity

Work, Exchange

and Technology

Peopling

Politics and Power

Americain the World

Environment

and Geography

Ideas, Beliefs,

andCulture

Course Themes7

Defining Course Themes

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Overarching “big ideas” that structure the course as a whole:

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Learning ObjectivesStudents are able to...

In the Concept Outline:

ID-1Analyze how competing conceptions of national identity were expressed in the development of political institutions and cultural values from the late colonial through the antebellum periods.

2.3.II, 3.1.II, 3.2.I, 4.1.III

ID-2Assess the impact of Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion, the Civil War, and industrialization on popular beliefs about progress and the national destiny of the United States in the 19th century.

4.1.III, 5.1.I, 5.3.III, 6.3.II

ID-3Analyze how U.S. involvement in international crises such as the Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, and the Cold War influenced public debates about American national identity in the 20th century.

7.1.III, 7.3.II, 7.3.III, 8.1.III

Learning Objectives 1–3 for “Identity”

Overarching Question: How and why have debates over American national identity changed over time?

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Skill Type

Historical Thinking Skills Foster Critical Analysis and Interpretation

Comparison and Contextualization

Chronological Reasoning

Crafting Historical Arguments from

Historical Evidence

Historical Interpretation and

Synthesis

Historical Causation Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time Periodization

Historical Thinking Skill

Comparison Contextualization

Historical Argumentation Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical

Evidence

Interpretation Synthesis

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Nine Periods: 1491 to the Present

Period Date RangeApproximate Percentage of…

InstructionalTime AP Exam

1 1491-1607 5% 5%

2 1607-1754 10%

45%3 1754-1800 12%

4 1800-1848 10%

5 1844-1877 13%

6 1865-1898 13%

45%7 1890-1945 17%

8 1945-1980 15%

9 1980-Present 5% 5%

Defining the Course Periods

Period Title Date Range Exam Weight

1 Early Contacts Among Groups in North America 1491-1607 5%

2 North American Societies in the Context of the Atlantic World 1607-1754

45%3 Birth of a New Nation and Struggle for Identity 1754-1800

4 Growing Pains of the New Republic 1800-1848

5 Expansion, Regional Separation, the Civil War and Its Aftermath 1844-1877

6 Industrialization, Urbanization, and Cultural Transformation 1865-1914

45%7 Domestic and Global Challenges and the Creation of Mass Culture 1890-1945

8 Increasing Prosperity and Global Responsibility After World War II 1945-1989

9 Globalization and Redefining National Identity 1980-Today 5%

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The AP® U.S. History Exam

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AP® U.S. History Exam Design

Section I

Part A: Multiple-choice questions 55 minutes (40%)(55 questions, organized in sets of 2−5)

• Each set is focused on one or more learning objectives.

• Each set is organized around primary or secondary sources.

Part B: Short-answer questions (4 questions) 45 minutes (20%)

Type, Time, and Percentage of Total AP Exam Score

Section II

Part A: Document-based question (1 question) 60 minutes (25%)

Part B: Long-essay question (1 question selected from 2) 35 minutes (15%)

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Multiple Choice Questions (55 Qs, 55 minutes, 40%)

Questions are organized in sets of 2-5

Each set relates to stimulus material (quotations, pictures, cartoons, maps, etc.)

Each set has four possible answers One Correct Answer Three Distracters

Each question has a stem that is meant to assess one or more of the historical thinking skills

Each question must Measure information that is contained in the concept outline Align directly to one learning objective

Questions cannot be answered correctly without knowing historical content

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Questions 12–15 refer to the following quotation. “Economic growth was indeed the most decisive force in the shaping of attitudes and expectations in the postwar era. The prosperity of the period broadened gradually in the late 1940s, accelerated in the 1950s, and soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. By then it was a boom that astonished observers. One economist, writing about the twenty-five years following World War II, put it simply by saying that this was a ‘quarter century of sustained growth at the highest rates in recorded history.’ Former Prime Minister Edward Heath of Great Britain agreed, observing that the United States at the time was enjoying ‘the greatest prosperity the world has ever known.’”

-James T. Patterson, historian, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974, published in 1996

Sample: Stimulus for Multiple-Choice Set

Key Concept: 8.3I. Rapid economic and social changes in American society fostered a sense of optimism in the

postwar years as well as underlying concerns about how these changes were affecting American values. A. A burgeoning private sector, continued federal spending, the baby boom, and technological

developments helped spur economic growth, middle-class suburbanization, social mobility, a rapid expansion of higher education, and the rise of the “Sun Belt” as a political and economic force.

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Sample: Multiple-Choice Question Set

12. Which of the following factors most directly contributed to the economic trend that Patterson describes?

(A) A surge in the national birthrate

(B) The expansion of voting rights for African Americans

(C) Challenges to conformity raised by intellectuals and

artists(D) The gradual immersion of détente with the Soviet Union

Historical Thinking Skills Use of Evidence Causation

13. One significant result of the economic trend described in the excerpt was the

(A) rise of the sexual revolution in the United States

(B) decrease in the number of immigrants seeking entry to the United States

(C) rise of the Sun Belt as a political and economic force

(D) Decrease in the number of women in the workforce

Learning Objective: WXT-3Explain how changes in transportation, technology, and the integration of the U.S. economy into world markets have influenced U.S. society since the Gilded Age.

Historical Thinking Skills Use of Evidence Causation

Learning Objective: PEO-3 Analyze the causes and effects of major internal migration patterns such as urbanization, suburbanization, westward movement, and the Great Migration in the 19th and 20th centuries.

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14. Many of the federal policies and initiatives passed in the 1960s address which of the following about the economic trend described in the excerpt?

Historical Thinking Skills Use of Evidence Contextualization

(A) Affluence had effectively eliminated racial discrimination

(B) Pockets of poverty persisted despite overall affluence

(C) A rising standard of living encouraged unionization of industrial workers

(D) Private industry boomed in spite of a declining rate of federal spending

Learning Objective: POL-3 Explain how activist groups and reform movements, such as antebellum reformers, civil rights activists, and social conservatives, have caused changes to state institutions and U.S. society.

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15. The increased culture of consumerism during the 1950s was most similar to developments in which of the following earlier periods?

Historical Thinking Skills Periodization

(A) The 1840s

(B) The 1860s

(C) The 1910s

(D) The 1920s

Learning Objective: CUL-7

Explain how and why “modern” cultural values and popular culture have grown since the early 20th century and how they have affected American politics and society.

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Short-Answer Questions (4 Qs, 45 minutes, 20%)

3 tasks 1 point per task 3 points total

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Sample: Short-Answer Question

Briefly explain why ONE of the following options most clearly marks the beginning of the sectional crisis that led to the outbreak of the Civil War

(4 Questions; 45 Minutes Total)

Learning Objective: ID-2

Assess the impact of Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion, the Civil War, and industrialization on popular beliefs about progress and the national destiny of the U.S. in the 19th century.(Also POL-6)

Historical Thinking Skill

Periodization

A) Choose ONE of the events listed below, and explain why your choice best represents the beginning of an American identity. Provide at least ONE piece of evidence to support your explanation. Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Acquisition of Mexican territory (1848)

B) Provide an example of an event or development to support your explanation.

C) Briefly explain why one of the other options is not as useful to mark the beginning of the sectional crisis.

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Long-Essay Question (2 choices, 35 minutes, 15%)

Thesis=0-1 point

Support for Argument=0-2 points

Application of historical thinking skills=0-2 points

Synthesis=0-1 point

*6 points total

AP US: Long Essay RubricsVery different rubric and scoring

requirements

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Sample: Long-Essay Question

1) Some historians have argued that the American Revolution was not revolutionary in nature. Support, modify, or refute this interpretation, providing specific evidence to justify your answer.

OR2) Some historians have argued that the New Deal was ultimately

conservative in nature. Support, modify or refute this specific evidence to justify your answer.

Learning Objective: ID-1Analyze how competing conceptions of national identity were expressed in the development of political institutions and cultural values from the late colonial through the antebellum periods.(Also POL-5, CUL-4)

Main Historical Thinking SkillChange and Continuity over Time

(Choice Between 2 Questions; 35 Minutes; 15%)

Learning Objective: WXT-8Explain how and why the role of the federal government in regulating economic life and the environment has changed since the end of the 19th century.(Also POL-4)

Main Historical Thinking SkillChange and Continuity over Time

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Document-Based Question (1 Q, 60 minutes, 25%)

Never more than 7 documents

15 minutes recommended for planning/reading docs

45 minutes recommended for writing

Thesis=0-1 point

Support for argument=0-4 points Evidence=0-1 Argument & skill=0-3

Contextualization=0-1 point

Synthesis=0-1 point

*7 points total

AP US: The New DBQ RubricVery different rubric and scoring

requirements

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requirements

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For 3 points:Offers plausible analysis of BOTH the content of all or all but one of the documents, explicitly using this analysis to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument;

ANDat least one of the following for all or all but one of the documents:

• intended audience• purpose• historical context• the author's point of view


requirements

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Accurately and explicitly connects historical phenomena relevant to the argument to broaderhistorical events and/or processes


requirements

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Sample: Document-Based Question

Analyze major changes and continuities in the social and economic experiences of African Americans who migrated from the rural South to urban areas in the North in the period 1910–1930.

Main Historical Thinking Skill

Continuity/Change over Time

Other Skills Targeted

Argumentation

Use of Evidence

Synthesis

Contextualization

Learning Objective: PEO-3

Analyze the causes and effects of major internal migration patterns such as urbanization, suburbanization, westward movement, and the Great Migration in the 19th and 20th centuries.

(1 Question; 60 Minutes; 25 %)

course redesign

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