part 3 civic literacy essay examples

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General Education

Taking US History in preparation for the Regents test? The next US History Regents exam dates are Wednesday, January 22nd and Thursday, June 18th, both at 9:15am. Will you be prepared?

You may have heard the test is undergoing some significant changes. In this guide, we explain everything you need to know about the newly-revised US History Regents exam, from what the format will look like to which topics it'll cover. We also include official sample questions of every question type you'll see on this test and break down exactly what your answers to each of them should include.

What Is the Format of the US History Regents Exam?

Beginning in 2020, the US History Regents exam will have a new format. Previously, the test consisted of 50 multiple-choice questions with long essays, but now it will have a mix of multiple choice, short answer, short essay, and long essay questions (schools can choose to use the old version of the exam through June 2021). Here's the format of the new test, along with how it's scored:

In Part 2, there will be two sets of paired documents (always primary sources). For each pair of documents, students will answer with a short essay (about two to three paragraphs, no introduction or conclusion).

For the first pair of documents, students will need to describe the historical context of the documents and explain how the two documents relate to each other. For the second pair, students will again describe the historical context of the documents then explain how audience, bias, purpose, or point of view affect the reliability of each document.

Part A: Students will be given a set of documents focused on a civil or constitutional issue, and they'll need to respond to a set of six short-answer questions about them.

Part B: Using the same set of documents as Part A, students will write a full-length essay (the Civic Literacy essay) that answers the following prompt:

• Describe the historical circumstances surrounding a constitutional or civic issue.
• Explain efforts by individuals, groups, and/or governments to address this constitutional or civic issue.
• Discuss the extent to which these efforts were successful OR discuss the impact of the efforts on the United States and/or American society.

What Topics Does the US History Regents Exam Cover?

Even though the format of the US History Regents test is changing, the topics the exam focuses on are pretty much staying the same. New Visions for Public Schools recommends teachers base their US History class around the following ten units:

As you can see, the US History Regents exam can cover pretty much any major topic/era/conflict in US History from the colonial period to present day, so make sure you have a good grasp of each topic during your US History Regents review.

What Will Questions Look Like on the US History Regents Exam?

Because the US History Regents exam is being revamped for 2020, all the old released exams (with answer explanations) are out-of-date. They can still be useful study tools, but you'll need to remember that they won't be the same as the test you'll be taking.

Fortunately, the New York State Education Department has released a partial sample exam so you can see what the new version of the US History Regents exam will be like. In this section, we go over a sample question for each of the four question types you'll see on the test and explain how to answer it.

Multiple-Choice Sample Question

Base your answers to questions 1 through 3 on the letter below and on your knowledge of social studies.

• Upton Sinclair wrote this letter to President Theodore Roosevelt to inform the president about

1. excessive federal regulation of meatpacking plants 2. unhealthy practices in the meatpacking plants 3. raising wages for meatpacking workers 4. state laws regulating the meatpacking industry

There will be 28 multiple-choice questions on the exam, and they'll all reference "stimuli" such as this example's excerpt of a letter from Upton Sinclair to Theodore Roosevelt. This means you'll never need to pull an answer out of thin air (you'll always have information from the stimulus to refer to), but you will still need a solid knowledge of US history to do well.

To answer these questions, first read the stimulus carefully but still efficiently. In this example, Sinclair is describing a place called "Packingtown," and it seems to be pretty gross. He mentions rotting meat, dead rats, infected animals, etc.

Once you have a solid idea of what the stimulus is about, read the answer choices (some students may prefer to read through the answer choices before reading the stimulus; try both to see which you prefer).

Option 1 doesn't seem correct because there definitely doesn't seem to be much regulation occurring in the meatpacking plant. Option 2 seems possible because things do seem very unhealthy there. Option 3 is incorrect because Sinclair mentions nothing about wages, and similarly for option 4, there is nothing about state laws in the letter.

Option 2 is the correct answer. Because of the stimulus (the letter), you don't need to know everything about the history of industrialization in the US and how its rampant growth had the tendency to cause serious health/social/moral etc. problems, but having an overview of it at least can help you answer questions like these faster and with more confidence.

Short Essay

This Short Essay Question is based on the accompanying documents and is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. Each Short Essay Question set will consist of two documents. Some of these documents have been edited for the purposes of this question. Keep in mind that the language and images used in a document may reflect the historical context of the time in which it was created.

Task: Read and analyze the following documents, applying your social studies knowledge and skills to write a short essay of two or three paragraphs in which you:

In developing your short essay answer of two or three paragraphs, be sure to keep these explanations in mind:

Describe means "to illustrate something in words or tell about it"

Historical Context refers to "the relevant historical circumstances surrounding or connecting the events, ideas, or developments in these documents"

Identify means "to put a name to or to name"

Explain means "to make plain or understandable; to give reasons for or causes of; to show the logical development or relationship of"

Types of Relationships :

Cause refers to "something that contributes to the occurrence of an event, the rise of an idea, or the bringing about of a development"

Effect refers to "what happens as a consequence (result, impact, outcome) of an event, an idea, or a development"

Similarity tells how "something is alike or the same as something else"

Difference tells how "something is not alike or not the same as something else"

Turning Point is "a major event, idea, or historical development that brings about significant change. It can be local, regional, national, or global"

It's important to read the instructions accompanying the documents so you know exactly how to answer the short essays. This example is from the first short essay question, so along with explaining the historical context of the documents, you'll also need to explain the relationship between the documents (for the second short essay question, you'll need to explain biases). Your options for the types of relationships are:

• cause and effect,
• similarity/difference
• turning point

You'll only choose one of these relationships. Key words are explained in the instructions, which we recommend you read through carefully now so you don't waste time doing it on test day. The instructions above are the exact instructions you'll see on your own exam.

Next, read through the two documents, jotting down some brief notes if you like. Document 1 is an excerpt from a press conference where President Eisenhower discusses the importance of Indochina, namely the goods it produces, the danger of a dictatorship to the free world, and the potential of Indochina causing other countries in the region to become communist as well.

Document 2 is an excerpt from the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. It mentions an attack on the US Navy by the communist regime in Vietnam, and it states that while the US desires that there be peace in the region and is reluctant to get involved, Congress approves the President of the United States to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."

Your response should be no more than three paragraphs. For the first paragraph, we recommend discussing the historical context of the two documents. This is where your history knowledge comes in. If you have a strong grasp of the history of this time period, you can discuss how France's colonial reign in Indochina (present-day Vietnam) ended in 1954, which led to a communist regime in the north and a pro-Western democracy in the south. Eisenhower didn't want to get directly involved in Vietnam, but he subscribed to the "domino theory" (Document 1) and believed that if Vietnam became fully communist, other countries in Southeast Asia would as well. Therefore, he supplied the south with money and weapons, which helped cause the outbreak of the Vietnam War.

After Eisenhower, the US had limited involvement in the Vietnam War, but the Gulf of Tonkin incident, where US and North Vietnam ships confronted each other and exchanged fire, led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (Document 2) and gave President Lyndon B. Johnson powers to send US military forces to Vietnam without an official declaration of war. This led to a large escalation of the US's involvement in Vietnam.

You don't need to know every detail mentioned above, but having a solid knowledge of key US events (like its involvement in the Vietnam War) will help you place documents in their correct historical context.

For the next one to two paragraphs of your response, discuss the relationship of the documents. It's not really a cause and effect relationship, since it wasn't Eisenhower's domino theory that led directly to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, but you could discuss the similarities and differences between the two documents (they're similar because they both show a fear of the entire region becoming communist and a US desire for peace in the area, but they're different because the first is a much more hands-off approach while the second shows significant involvement). You could also argue it's a turning point relationship because the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was the turning point in the US's involvement in the Vietnam War. Up to that point, the US was primarily hands-off (as shown in Document 1). Typically, the relationship you choose is less important than your ability to support your argument with facts and analysis.

Short Answers and Civic Literacy Essay

This Civic Literacy essay is based on the accompanying documents. The question is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. Some of these documents have been edited for the purpose of this question. As you analyze the documents, take into account the source of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document. Keep in mind that the language and images used in a document may reflect the historical context of the time in which it was created.

Historical Context: African American Civil Rights

Throughout United States history, many constitutional and civic issues have been debated by Americans. These debates have resulted in efforts by individuals, groups, and governments to address these issues. These efforts have achieved varying degrees of success. One of these constitutional and civic issues is African American civil rights.

Task: Read and analyze the documents. Using information from the documents and your knowledge of United States history, write an essay in which you

Discuss means "to make observations about something using facts, reasoning, and argument; to present in some detail"

Document 1a

Document 1b

• Based on these documents, state one way the end of Reconstruction affected African Americans.
• According to this document, what is one way Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois disagreed about how African Americans should achieve equality?
• According to this document, what is one reason Thurgood Marshall argued that the "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson should be overturned?

Document 4a

Document 4b

• Based on these documents, state one result of the sit-in at the Greensboro Woolworth.
• According to Henry Louis Gates Jr., what was one result of the 1960s civil rights protests?
• Based on this document, state one impact of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Start by reading the instructions, then the documents themselves. There are eight of them, all focused on African American civil rights. The short answers and the civic literacy essay use the same documents. We recommend answering the short answer questions first, then completing your essay.

A short answer question follows each document or set of documents. These are straightforward questions than can be answered in 1-2 sentences. Question 1 asks, "Based on these documents, state one way the end of Reconstruction affected African Americans."

Reading through documents 1a and 1b, there are many potential answers. Choose one (don't try to choose more than one to get more points; it won't help and you'll just lose time you could be spending on other questions) for your response. Using information from document 1a, a potential answer could be, "After Reconstruction, African Americans were able to hold many elected positions. This made it possible for them to influence politics and public life more than they had ever been able to before."

Your Civic Literacy essay will be a standard five-paragraph essay, with an introduction, thesis statement, and a conclusion. You'll need to use many of the documents to answer the three bullet points laid out in the instructions. We recommend one paragraph per bullet point. For each paragraph, you'll need to use your knowledge of US history AND information directly from the documents to make your case.

As with the short essay, we recommended devoting a paragraph to each of the bullet points. In the first paragraph, you should discuss how the documents fit into the larger narrative of African American civil rights. You could discuss the effects of Reconstruction, how the industrialization of the North affected blacks, segregation and its impacts, key events in the Civil Rights movement such as the bus boycott in Montgomery and the March on Washington, etc. The key is to use your own knowledge of US history while also discussing the documents and how they tie in.

For the second paragraph, you'll discuss efforts to address African American civil rights. Here you can talk about groups, such as the NAACP (Document 3), specific people such as W.E.B. Du Bois (Document 2), and/or major events, such as the passing of the Civil Rights Act (Document 5).

In the third paragraph, you'll discuss how successful the effort to increase African American civil rights was. Again, use both the documents and your own knowledge to discuss setbacks faced and victories achieved. Your overall opinion will reflect your thesis statement you included at the end of your introductory paragraph. As with the other essays, it matters less what you conclude than how well you are able to support your argument.

3 Tips for Your US History Regents Review

In order to earn a Regents Diploma, you'll need to pass at least one of the social science regents. Here are some tips for passing the US Regents exam.

#1: Focus on Broad Themes, Not Tiny Details

With the revamp of the US History exam, there is much less focus on memorization and basic fact recall. Every question on the exam, including multiple choice, will have a document or excerpt referred to in the questions, so you'll never need to pull an answer out of thin air.

Because you'll never see a question like, "What year did Alabama become a state?" don't waste your time trying to memorize a lot of dates. It's good to have a general idea of when key events occurred, like WWII or the Gilded Age, but i t's much more important that you understand, say, the causes and consequences of WWII rather than the dates of specific battles. The exam tests your knowledge of major themes and changes in US history, so focus on that during your US History Regents review over rote memorization.

#2: Don't Write More Than You Need To

You only need to write one full-length essay for the US History Regents exam, and it's for the final question of the test (the Civic Literacy essay). All other questions (besides multiple choice) only require a few sentences or a few paragraphs.

Don't be tempted to go beyond these guidelines in an attempt to get more points. If a question asks for one example, only give one example; giving more won't get you any additional points, and it'll cause you to lose valuable time. For the two short essay questions, only write three paragraphs each, maximum. The short response questions only require a sentence or two. The questions are carefully designed so that they can be fully answered by responses of this length, so don't feel pressured to write more in an attempt to get a higher score. Quality is much more important than quantity here.

#3: Search the Documents for Clues

As mentioned above, all questions on this test are document-based, and those documents will hold lots of key information in them. Even ones that at first glance don't seem to show a lot, like a poster or photograph, can contain many key details if you have a general idea of what was going on at that point in history. The caption or explanation beneath each document is also often critical to fully understanding it. In your essays and short answers, remember to always refer back to the information you get from these documents to help support your answers.

What's Next?

Taking other Regents exams ? We have guides to the Chemistry , Earth Science , and Living Environment Regents , as well as the Algebra 1 , Algebra 2 , and Geometry Regents .

Need more information on Colonial America? Become an expert by reading our guide to the 13 colonies.

The Platt Amendment was written during another key time in American history. Learn all about this important document, and how it is still influencing Guantanamo Bay, by reading our complete guide to the Platt Amendment.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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How to Prepare Students for the New U.S. History Regents

Prepping students for the New York State U.S. and Government Regents Exam can be stressful. Your effectiveness as a teacher is often tied to students’ results.

Experience helps; every year you become more familiar with the exam and can better support your students. Now there’s a new test in town. Those years of experience with the old U.S. Regents can go in the drawer with your DVD movies and fidget spinner. Here is a guide to prepare your kiddos for the exam.

What’s on the New U.S. History Regents?

Like the old regents, the new test is comprised of three parts:

What skills do students need for the new exam?

First and foremost they need reading and writing stamina. Every step of the test requires one or the other. The number of multiple choice questions has been cut by almost half, but EVERY SINGLE QUESTION is based on a document.

Each document is followed by 2 or 3 questions. That translates to about 13 documents that must be digested, just for Part 1! Yes, some are political cartoons and maps, but many are paragraphs of text.

The Civic Literacy Essay is comprised of 6 documents. The Short Essay Sets (aka SEQs) include a total of 4 documents. If you add it all up, the documents that students must read, understand and analyze it’s about 35 documents in a 3-hour time frame! For struggling learners and those that just hate to read (I have many!) this is huge barrier to success.

In theory, the amount of writing is identical to the previous version. There used to be 2 essays, average 4 paragraphs each. Now there are 2 mini essays, 2 paragraphs each, and one traditional 4 paragraph. But it feels like more because it’s 3 essays instead of 2.

Please don’t tell my students, but I personally would rather have root canal than have to sit for this test.

How to build necessary skills for the New U.S. Regents throughout the year

Are you ready — this is what you’ve got to teach the kids:

Reading Stamina

This really is the biggest hurdle for many, both students with disabilities and many gen ed kids who just don’t like to read. When I have proctored and graded past regents I see it over and over again, students get tired and break down. Here are some ways to prepare them.

Train everyone to read the question first. Many times it’s not necessary to read the whole document; if you know what you’re looking for, find the answer and move to the next document.

Another pointer for students: after they read the question try reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph when given a long document. Oftentimes that will be enough.

When you assign a reading that is a page or more chunk it down by putting a few lines and a question between paragraphs. This allows for mental pacing: read a paragraph, take a breath, move on.

If you teach students with disabilities create more than one version of the reading. This is something that I pushed back against for a long time for many reasons (a story for another post). Long story short, it REALLY helps. If you have students reading at a 5th or 6th grade level they cannot even begin to engage with some primary and secondary source documents.

A common technique we use at my school is to pre-annotate the text, double space it and make the font larger. This addresses several barriers and only takes 2 minutes.

If you have a document that can’t be edited for any reason simply annotating the main points will help guide struggling learners to the main ideas. There are many ways to differentiate is you want to know more.

Use a timer to challenge everyone to stay on point.

=> Need info on the New Global History and Geography Regents? Check it out here.

Writing stamina

The best answer in one (hyphened) word: quick-writes. Several times a week as a do-now or exit put up a document with a question and have students write a five-sentence paragraph. Do the same for homework. This trains them to jump in and start writing.

Scaffold this process by giving  sentence starters in the beginning to help facilitate their ability to put pen to paper without too much hesitation. You can take this away after awhile, or keep it just for the students with disabilities.

Start by giving them 8 minutes. Then 7. Then 6. Work your way down to 5 minutes, 5 sentences.

Quick story. A few weeks ago one of my classes was out of control all week, despite using every classroom management trick in the book. I stood on a chair to get their attention and took the work for the day and ripped it up. “Your assignment today is to write a 5-paragraph argumentative essay and it will be graded as a test.”

I know, I lost it:(

Grumbling, disbelief (I never did this before) and complaints, “I can’t write an essay in 1 period” ensued. One student, however called out to the class, “After Morgan’s quick-writes every day, this is easy.” And she proceeded to write an essay in 30 minutes.

Historical content

I assume history teachers are reading this article, and therefore don’t need me:)

The only caveat I have on this topic is that sometimes students are given “review handouts” to study that are too long and intimidating; they just don’t know what to do with it. As you know, many students rarely study and don’t know how.

I have created different packets over the years for kids. The one thing they have in common is concrete action steps. For example, I will assign them one unit for homework and answer the questions at the end of the unit. Sometimes, rather than writing out the answer they must annotate the answer in the reading and number the annotation to reflect which question it answers. This encourages close reading and checks for comprehension.

My newest U.S. Regents review breaks down core content into 3-page unit summaries, followed by 10 stimulus-based multiple choice questions on the topic. Shameless plug: I have uploaded each U.S. History unit on TpT if you want to save time and grab 1 or 2 there. You can just look at the preview and make your own version using the same model. Check it out here.

Document Analysis

The new U.S. regents exam includes TONS of documents! There are lots of acronyms for teaching this topic. English language teachers have theirs, history have theirs — I bet math has one, too!

I like HIPPO, simply because it gives me a chance to include a cute hippo on my PowerPoints and handouts:) Students need a full lesson dedicated to this topic. After that sprinkle it in do-nows, exits, homeworks, exactly the same as quick-writes.

If you’re wondering, H is is historical context, I is intended audience, P is point of view, P is purpose and O is outside information or evidence. For quick practice focus on any one of these, or ask students to choose 2 and identify for the document.

To read more on HIPPO this guide from Tomasso History is clear and concise.

Elimination skills

If students successfully eliminate 2 of the 4 possible answers suddenly they have a 50-50 shot at being correct, even if they use the old eeny-meany-miny-moe method (scientifically proven to work – never!)

In groups of 4 assign 12 multiple-choice questions. Each group member is in charge of 3 questions. They must read the question and choose 2 that can be eliminated giving justification. “The question is about World War 1 and the answer involves Hitler; he’s World War 2.” Next, as a group, they assess each group member’s work and make changes as the group deems necessary. Offer an answer sheet at the end of the period for students to self-check their results.

Throughout the year insist that students eliminate as a natural part of any multiple choice work. Train their minds to do this until it’s as natural as breathing. Take a point off during quizzes and tests if elimination is not done.

Create a chant for the class to recite.

Teacher: What do we want?

Students: To graduate!

Teacher: How do we do it?

Students: Eliminate! ( My students are used to me being VERY corny! )

Timing skills

There are a significant number of kids who don’t get to finish the test. You know the type: those methodical workers who carefully read and work their way through an assignment, often write slowly and can’t seem to rush even if their life depended on it. There are a couple of things you can do.

Break it down for them, how long each portion should take them. They have 3 hours, roughly an hour for each section. Repeat this at least ten times throughout your test prep; that’s how often the average person needs to internalize new information.

Have them self-assess: am I faster at reading or writing? If a student is self-aware they can set their personal timing schedule to fit their needs. A slow reader needs more time on the multiple choice questions, a slow writer the essays.

Practice, practice, practice. If you read the tips on writing stamina above, quick-writes are magical for the slow writer. If you can get a child to write 5 sentences in 5 minutes they can write a 5 paragraph essay in under half an hour!

Do the same with the stimulus-based multiple choice questions. They have about 2 minutes per question averaged out over the hour. The reality is that they need time to read each document and should take a minute or less actually answering each questions.

Suggested 15-Day Lesson Plan Guide for the New U.S. Regents

15 Day Test Prep – Download PDF

Test-taking Hacks

First a simple one: tell students to chew gum. If you can swing it, provide it for students. Studies have shown that chewing gum increases focus and release stress. Soldiers are routinely issued gum for these reasons.

Mindset is huge. Give students pep talks often. Let them know that their self-speak influences their grades. Every day of prep leading up to the test should be infused with optimistic sentiments. Students who go into a test believing they will not do well get lower results than equal level students who believe they can do well . Changing a student’s outlook can be tough, especially if they have experienced failure in the past.

Basic habits should be reinforced. Ask student’s to share: What time are they going to go to sleep the night before the exam? How are they going to ensure that they get up on time? What are they going to eat for breakfast? These fundamentals can derail a teen as much as lack of content knowledge.

Once at the testing site if there are tips or tricks a student wants to remember suggest they jot it down somewhere on the test ASAP. Then they have it in front of them and it’s not taking up brain bandwidth.

New U.S. Regents Conclusion

The New  U.S. Regents is intended to test common core skills. There will be many portions that are more of a reading test than a measure of content knowledge. This will benefit some and hurt others.

Spending a few weeks prepping prior to test date is critical. Bombard them with practice that looks just like the regents. Their eyes and brains will be familiar with the layout and format. Then on test day when confronted with the booklet, it will be like seeing an old friend. Okay maybe not exactly, but you get my drift.

However you feel about this exam — love it, hate it, neutral — is irrelevant. If you have been teaching for any period of time you know that things are always changing. And nobody cares what teachers think. Facts.

Warmest wishes, Joan

Teach and Thrive

A Bronx, NY veteran high school social studies teacher who has learned most of what she has learned through trial and error and error and error.... and wants to save others that pain.

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Reconstruction

11.4 civic literacy document based essay task, aligned to content from units 11.1 - 11.4.

U.S. History

Framework Aligned Unit Assessment Bank developed in partnership with CUNY Debating US History: 11.4 Civic Literacy Document Based Essay Task

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Office of State Assessment

• Foreign Languages
• Mathematics
• Social Studies
• Elementary and Intermediate

Regents Examination in United States History and Government

The chart for determining students’ final examination scores for the June 2023 Regents Examination in United States History and Government will be posted no later than June 23, 2023. Conversion charts provided for the previous administrations of the United States History and Government examination must NOT be used to determine students’ final scores for this administration.

• Translated Editions

University of the State of New York - New York State Education Department