Sample Assessment Items
This is not meant to be printed off and given as a test…this document is to give you ideas
of how this standard might be assessed. Please use these as an example when you are
developing your own formative assessments. Remember formative assessment is to be
given throughout the teaching of a standard to help you guide your instruction based on
students needs. A good formative assessment should have a mix of multiple choice as
well as open ended.
SS5H8 The student will describe the importance of people, events, and developments
between 1950-1975
a. Discuss the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War.
b. Explain the key events and people of the Civil Rights movement; include Brown v
Board of Education,(1954), Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington,
Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and civil rights activities of Thurgood Marshall,
Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
c. Describe the impact on American society of the assassinations of President John
F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
d. Discuss the significance of the technologies of television and space exploration.
Multiple Choice:
The Cold War was a time of tension between the United States and the former Soviet
Union. In 1962, the United States was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Which was the
importance of this event?
a. The United States attacked Cuba.
b. The United Stated placed missiles in Cuba.
c. The United States wanted the former Soviet Union to provide aid to Cuba.
d. The United States wanted the former Soviet Union to remove missiles from Cuba.
Answer: d
The Cold War was primarily a rivalry between the United States and ________________.
a. Japan
b. Germany
c. Great Britain
d. the Soviet Union
Answer: d
Why did the United States help South Vietnam?
a. to show support for Cambodia
b. to show support for the Vietcong in South Vietnam
c. to help South Vietnam win independence from France
d. to show support for South Vietnam in its fight against a Communist takeover
Answer: d
Beginning in the 1950s, the United States became involved in Vietnam, which was
divided into two countries. North Vietnam was communist and South Vietnam was noncommunist. Why was there fighting in Vietnam?
a. Communist China wanted to make South Vietnam a colony.
b. The Soviet Union wanted to make South Vietnam a colony.
c. North Vietnam wanted to change its communist government.
d. North Vietnam wanted to combine all of Vietnam under communism.
Answer: d
Which statement describes the MAIN impact television had on the Vietnam War?
a. It caused many Americans to stop supporting the war in Vietnam.
b. It allowed American soldiers to send messages back home to loved ones.
c. It discredited the anti-war protesters by showing American military successes.
d. It failed to have an impact since the news focused mainly on Civil Rights issues.
Answer: a
How did the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 come to an end?
a. The United States installed nuclear missiles in Florida.
b. The Soviet Union removed its nuclear missiles from Cuba.
c. American forces were defeated by the Cuban army at the Bay of Pigs.
d. Both the United States and Soviet Union agreed to stop making missiles.
Answer: b
Why did the United States become involved in Vietnam in the 1960s?
a. The American people demanded the government support Vietnam.
b. American businesses in Vietnam were threatened by the Communists.
c. Japan was threatened militarily by the possibility of a Communist government in
Vietnam.
d. It feared that if Vietnam became communist then surrounding countries would
quickly follow.
Answer: d
Which person’s arrest led African Americans to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
a. Rosa Parks
b. Malcolm X
c. Martin Luther King
d. Thurgood Marshall
Answer: a
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 sought to end the series of laws in the south known as
a. Habeas Corpus
b. Jim Crow laws
c. the Black Codes
d. Affirmative Action
Answer: b
Which event occurred at the "March on Washington"?
a. Congress outlawed segregation in all public places.
b. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
c. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was created.
d. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Answer: b
Which of these finally gave all citizens equal access to restaurants, hotels, libraries, and
theatres?
a. the Civil Rights Act of 1964
b. the Voting Rights Act of 1965
c. the Equal Rights Amendment
d. the Twenty-fourth Amendment
Answer: a
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks were part of what movement in the 1950s and
1960s?
a. the free silver movement
b. the civil rights movement
c. the urban renewal movement
d. the anti-immigration movement
Answer: b
During the 1950s, how did the United States Supreme Court become involved with
segregation in public schools?
a. by writing laws that made segregation in public schools illegal
b. by ruling in several cases that segregation in public schools was illegal
c. by supporting an amendment to the Constitution to make segregation in public
schools illegal
d. by allowing the president of the United States to declare segregation in public
schools illegal
Answer: b
Which of these civil rights movement events took place last?
a. Freedom Riders traveled on buses in the South.
b. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.
c. Protesters staged a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.
d. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a march in Washington, D.C.
Answer: b
What role did the Civil Rights movement play in the lives of African Americans during the
1950s?
a. It provided most African Americans with jobs.
b. It provided most African Americans with housing.
c. It encouraged African Americans to travel overseas.
d. It encouraged African Americans to work toward equal rights.
Answer: d
Which was a major aim of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning segregation?
a. to end segregation laws that caused inequality
b. to encourage African Americans to seek employment
c. to ensure that all African Americans joined the NAACP
d. to allow buses to have assigned seats for all passengers
Answer: a
In the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others led nonviolent protests, like
marches to gain civil rights for African Americans. How did protesting help African
Americans gain their civil rights?
a. Army soldiers protected civil rights protestors from violence.
b. Protesters sought to bring people together to solve differences.
c. Civil rights protestors collected money to help fight discrimination.
d. Congress passed a law forbidding civil rights protestors to use violence.
Answer: b
Why was the assassination of John F. Kennedy significant?
a. He was assassinated before he had time to choose a Vice President.
b. He was assassinated during the election, before he became President.
c. He was the only person in government supporting civil rights at the time.
d. He was a popular president who was pushing forward many social changes.
Answer: d
Monroe Elementary School, in Topeka, Kansas, played an important role in the landmark
Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education. How did the Brown vs. Board of
Education decision affect the Civil Rights movement?
a. It led to the integration of public schools.
b. It led to the continuation of segregated public schools.
c. It led to more limits on the rights of African Americans.
d. It led to the removal of African Americans from public schools.
Answer: a
The United States space exploration that began in the 1960s caused which of these
industries to grow rapidly?
a. automobile
b. chemical
c. computer
d. petroleum
Answer: c
The United States space program has benefited other things besides space travel. Some
products that benefited from the space program were _________________.
a. airplanes and ships
b. automobiles and railroads
c. tape recorders and record players
d. computers and heat-resistant materials
Answer: d
Open ended:
What did President Kennedy do to end the Cuban Missile Crisis?
What impact did the Vietnam War have on the United States?
Describe Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., two major leaders in the civil rights
movement, and what they did in the 1950s.
Who was Rosa Parks and what did she do the help end segregation?
What was the goal of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
What are some of the civil rights that people fought for in the twentieth century?
How did the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affect the lives of African Americans?
What was the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were all assassinated in
the 1960s. What impact did their assassinations have on American society?
Explain how the development of television programming affected American society.