Alabama Social Studies SS24.US2.20
Standard Cluster
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.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Cluster contents
Standards in This Cluster
SS24.US2.20 is a cluster heading. These are the individual standards under it.
- SS24.US2.20a
Assess how political events beginning with the Clinton presidency and into the early 2000s contributed to growing political polarization.
- SS24.US2.20b
Describe the significance of national elections from 1992 to the present, including the 2000 presidential recount in Florida and 2008 election of Barack Obama.
Teacher's field guide
What This Cluster Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how federal laws since 1988 changed people's lives. They use political events to explain growing party divisions and describe why major elections mattered, including the 2000 Florida recount and Barack Obama's 2008 win.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name a law, identify whom it affected, and support a judgment about its impact. They can explain how the Florida recount shaped the 2000 result and why Obama's election was historic.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think the national popular vote decides the presidency, so the Florida recount seems unimportant. They may also treat political division as the result of one election rather than a pattern that grew across several events.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Explain one effect of the PATRIOT Act, then explain why the 2000 Florida recount mattered to the presidential election. Give one supporting fact for each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs policy cards on 1996 welfare reform and the Affordable Care Act; have them sort changes by who was affected.
Ask students to compare headlines about the Clinton impeachment and the 2000 recount, then write how each event may have deepened party divisions.
Sort election cards for 1992, 2000, 2008, 2016, 2020, and 2024; match each result to a fact that made it significant.
Compare your county's 2024 presidential results with national results, then discuss why the Electoral College result may differ from the popular vote.
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Related Standards
- SS24.US2.17b
Analyze how Reaganomics and deregulation affected the American economy and society.
- SS24.US2.19
Evaluate how political developments and technology shaped economic trends and fluctuations from the 1990s into the early twenty-first century.
- SS24.US2.3
Evaluate how key figures, events, and trends shaped United States society and culture from the conclusion of World War I through the 1920s.
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