(K) explains how the U.S Constitution can be changed through amendments.[ 2]
(A) analyzes the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution to identify essential ideas of American constitutional government.[ 2]
8th Grade – Testable Items
Civics-Government
The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of governmental systems of Kansas and the United States and other nations with an emphasis on the United States Constitution, the necessity for the rule of law, the civic values of the American people, and the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of becoming active participants in our representative democracy.
Benchmark 3: The student understands how the United States Constitution allocates power and responsibility in the government.
(K) explains how the U.S Constitution can be changed through amendments.(A) analyzes the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution to identify essential ideas of American constitutional government.Economics
The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of major economic concepts, issues, and systems applying decision-making skills as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen of Kansas and the United States living in an interdependent world.
Benchmark 1: The student understands how limited resources require choices.
(A) analyzes the effect of scarcity on the price, production, consumption and distribution of goods and services (e.g., price goes up and production goes down, consumption goes down and distribution is limited).Benchmark 2: The student understands how the market economy works in the United States.
(K) explains how relative price, people's economic decisions, and innovations influence the market system (e.g., cotton gin led to increased productivity, more cotton produced, higher profits, and lower prices; steamboat led to increased distribution of goods, which brought down prices of goods and allowed goods to be more affordable to people across the United States; development of railroad led to transportation of cattle to eastern markets, price was decreased and profit was increased, timely access to beef).
(K) - ($) describes the positive and negative incentives to which employees respond (e.g., wage levels, benefits, work hours, working conditions).Geography
The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of the spatial organization of Earth’s surface and relationships between peoples and places and physical and human environments in order to explain the interactions that occur in Kansas, the United States, and in our world.
Benchmark 4: Human Systems: The student understands how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation, and conflict.
(A) evaluates demographic data to analyze population characteristics in the United States over time (e.g., birth/death rates, population growth rates, migration patterns: rural, urban). 
(A) analyzes push and pull factors including economic, political, and social factors that contribute to human migration and settlement in United States (e.g., economic: availability of natural resources, job opportunities created by technology; political: Jim Crow laws, free-staters; social factors: religious, ethnic discrimination).
(A) compares contrasting descriptions of the same event in United States history to understand how people differ in their interpretations of historical events.
Kansas,United States,&World History
The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras, and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and the world, utilizing essential analytical and research skills.
Benchmark 1: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, group, ideas, developments, and turning points in the early years of the United States.
(A) explains the impact of constitutional interpretation during the era (e.g., Alien and Sedition Act, Louisiana Purchase, Marshall Court -Marbury v. Madison, McCullough v. Maryland (1819)). 
(A) analyzes how territorial expansion of the United States affected relations with external powers and American Indians (e.g., Louisiana Purchase, concept of Manifest Destiny, previous land policies-Northwest Ordinance, Mexican-American War, Gold Rush). 
(A) explains how the Industrial Revolution and technological developments impacted different parts of American society (e.g., interchangeable parts, cotton gin, railroads, steamboats, canals).Benchmark 2: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, groups, ideas, developments, and the causes and effects of the Civil War.
(K) retraces events that led to sectionalism and secession prior to the Civil War (e.g., Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act-Popular Sovereignty, Uncle Tom's Cabin).
(K) describes the turning points of the Civil War (e.g., Antietam, Gettysburg, Emancipation Proclamation, and Sherman's March to the Sea).
(A) analyzes the impact of the end of slavery on African Americans (e.g., Black Codes; sharecropping; Jim Crow; Amendments 13, 14, and 15; Frederick Douglass; Ku Klux Klan; Exodusters).Benchmark 3: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras, and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and turning points in the era of the Industrial era.
(K) explains the impact of the railroad on the settlement and development of the West (e.g., transcontinental railroad, cattle towns, Fred Harvey, town speculation, railroad land, immigrant agents).Benchmark 4: The student engages in historical thinking skills.
(A) compares contrasting descriptions of the same event in United States history to understand how people differ in their interpretations of historical events.