Ok so this SE, identify the major eras in U.S. history from 1877 to the present and describe their defining characteristics, isn’t so tough.  Assessment for this SE can get a little tricky though.  In the US History Sequential course when an assessment item aligned to US.2A is put on a unit test about the unit just studied, the answer seems rather evident. Just pick the name of the era that corresponds to the unit of study. Since review units are not included in the TEKS Resource System history curricula, it might be a good practice to utilize the assessment items aligned to SE US.2A for semester exams. This should give more realistic data, since a variety of eras would have been studied prior to the assessment.

In the US History Conceptual course it is recommended in the first unit that students get an overview of the sequential eras of US history.  A quick overview would not give students enough depth to answer all of the assessment items aligned to SE US.2A, so using the assessment items in this unit would be problematic. Instead, maybe assess students for a basic sequential understanding by having them create a timeline of what events they recall and what eras they may recall.  After all students in Texas have studied this before in 5th grade and with a little prodding should recall some information.  The SE US.2A has been added throughout the US History Conceptual course. In this instance, utilizing the assessment items on unit a test would be useful because in a conceptual unit of study students would have examined a concept across various eras.

In either course we encourage you to get students brainstorming possible names for time periods or eras in US history. While some eras, such as the Progressive Era, are commonly referenced with that title by historians  not all assessment writers for STAAR are going to use the era title Emergence as a World Power.  The 1920s are a Boom Time as well as the Roaring 20’s.  We also do not organize the curriculum into a study of decades, but on the STAAR exam the 1960s has been referenced as an era. All this is to say, spend a little time with students explaining that historians divide history into a variety of eras with various titles and get students doing the same. Here is a little resource for reviewing with SE US.2A in mind.

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