Test Information Guide
Overview and Test Objectives
Field 48: Political Science/Political Philosophy
Test Overview
| Format | Computer-based test (CBT) and online proctored test; 100 multiple-choice questions, 2 open-response items |
|---|---|
| Number of Questions |
|
| Time | 4 hours (does not include 15-minute CBT tutorial) |
| Passing Score | 240 |
The Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) are designed to measure a candidate's knowledge of the subject matter contained in the test objectives for each field. The MTEL are aligned with the Massachusetts educator licensure regulations and, as applicable, with the standards in the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks.
The test objectives specify the content to be covered on the test and are organized by major content subareas. The chart below shows the approximate percentage of the total test score derived from each of the subareas.
The test assesses a candidate's proficiency and depth of understanding of the subject at the level required for a baccalaureate major according to Massachusetts standards. Candidates are typically nearing completion of or have completed their undergraduate work when they take the test.
Sub area I 15%, Sub area II 20%, Sub area III 15%, Sub area IV 20%, Sub area V 10%, and Sub area VI 20%.
Test Objectives
| Subareas | Range of Objectives | Approximate Test Weighting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple-Choice | |||
| I | Political Philosophy | 01–04 | 15% |
| II | U.S. Government and Civics | 05–09 | 20% |
| III | Comparative Government and International Relations | 10–11 | 15% |
| IV | History | 12–14 | 20% |
| V | Geography and Economics | 15–17 | 10% |
| 80% | |||
| Open-Response* | |||
| VI | Integration of Knowledge and Understanding | 18 | 20% |
*The open-response items may relate to topics covered in any of the subareas.
Subarea I–Political Philosophy
Objective 0001: Understand important political science theories, concepts, and terms.
- For example: basic concepts and theories of political science (e.g., power and authority, natural law, natural rights, limited government, privatization, delegate theory of representation, interest group theory, social contract theory, modernization theory); and basic legal, political, and governmental terms (e.g., injunction, indictment, writ of habeas corpus, probable cause, bill of attainder, original intent, conflict of interest, sovereignty, gerrymandering, filibuster, logrolling).
Objective 0002: Understand political philosophy of the classical and medieval eras.
- For example: major political thinkers, important concepts, and significant works of ancient Greece (e.g., Aristotle's Politics, Nicomachean Ethics; Plato's Apology, Crito, Republic; divine rule; natural law) and Rome (e.g., Cicero's Republic, Justinian Code); and the philosophic foundations of medieval political thought (e.g., St. Augustine's City of God, St. Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law).
Objective 0003: Understand developments in political philosophy from the Renaissance through the seventeenth century.
- For example: contributions of major political philosophers of the Renaissance and Reformation eras (e.g., Machiavelli's The Prince, Thomas More's Utopia); the development of the English constitution and parliamentary system (e.g., Magna Carta, Petition of Right, English Bill of Rights); the influence of major English political thinkers of the seventeenth century on the development of political theory (e.g., Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan; John Locke's Two Treatises on Government); and the emergence of absolutist states.
Objective 0004: Understand developments in political philosophy from 1700 to the present.
- For example: contributions of political philosophers of the French Enlightenment (e.g., Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract, Voltaire's Candide, Baron de Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws); major political statements of the Age of Revolution (e.g., Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, Simón Bolívar's Message to the Congress of Bolivia); developments in political thought associated with the emergence of liberalism, nationalism, and socialism (e.g., John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto); and notable figures in twentieth-century political thought (e.g., V. I. Lenin, Mohandas Gandhi, George Orwell, Ayn Rand, Hannah Arendt, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vaclav Havel).
Subarea II–U.S. Government and Civics
Objective 0005: Understand the founding documents and debates of the United States and Massachusetts.
- For example: concepts and purposes of the Declaration of Independence; basic provisions of state constitutions for free self-government; the Articles of Confederation; the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780; the Northwest Ordinance; basic principles contained in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights (e.g., separation of powers, checks and balances, republicanism, popular sovereignty, federalism, due process of law); the debate over the Constitution (e.g., fundamental arguments advanced in The Federalist papers, antifederalist writings, major compromises).
Objective 0006: Understand the historical development of political thought and democratic government in the United States from its origins through the twentieth century.
- For example: colonial political documents (e.g., the Mayflower Compact, James Otis's Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved); seminal documents in U.S. political thought (e.g., Common Sense, Washington's Farewell Address, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, the Seneca Falls Declaration, the Gettysburg Address); Shays's Rebellion; the evolution of the U.S. Constitution; landmark decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court (e.g., Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Miranda v. Arizona, U.S. v. Nixon); and twentieth-century developments in American politics and government (e.g., The New Deal, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, The Great Society, feminism, libertarianism, modern conservatism).
Objective 0007: Understand the structure, organization, and operation of government at the federal, state, and local levels in the United States.
- For example: structure, functions, and powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government (e.g., bicameral structure of Congress, constitutional powers of the President, role of the Cabinet and independent executive agencies); procedures for enacting laws in the United States; judicial review; the role of lobbyists, bureaucrats, and congressional staff in the legislative process; forms and functions of state and local governments; evolution of the concept of federalism; relationships among federal, state, and local governments; operation of the system of checks and balances in state government; central concepts of the Massachusetts Constitution; and institutions of state and local government in Massachusetts (e.g., town meeting, council-manager, mayoral government).
Objective 0008: Understand the election process, the origins and development of political parties, and the role of interest groups, the media, and public opinion in the U.S. political system.
- For example: major components of the U.S. electoral process and procedures for filling appointive offices (e.g., primary elections, national political conventions, electoral college); structure, operation, and significant developments in the evolution of political parties in Massachusetts and the United States; the role of third parties in the U.S. political system; factors affecting voter turnout and how people vote in elections; and the influence of interest groups, the media, public opinion, and campaign finance on the electoral process (e.g., effect of the media on public opinion, role of money in politics, campaign-reform initiatives).
Objective 0009: Understand the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens and the personal attributes necessary for successful participation in democratic self-government.
- For example: rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution (e.g., due process, equal protection under the laws) and their role in protecting individual liberties; distinguishing between legal obligations and civic responsibilities; ways in which individual citizens can influence the U.S. political process and governmental decision making (e.g., initiative petitions, political protests, economic boycotts); efforts to expand the democratic process in the United States (e.g., suffrage expansion); representative vs. plebiscitary democracy; and ways in which democratic procedures can be used to promote social change (e.g., the civil rights movement, labor reform, the feminist movement, educational reform) and to secure individual rights.
Subarea III–Comparative Government and International Relations
Objective 0010: Understand, compare, and contrast historical and contemporary forms of government.
- For example: purposes of government and forms of governmental authority (e.g., to maintain social order, to promote the general welfare, to manage conflict, to promote justice); characteristics of various forms of government (e.g., oligarchy, monarchy, theocracy, autocracy, democracy, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, communism, fascism); comparison of historical and contemporary forms of government (e.g., presidential vs. parliamentary democracies, federal vs. unitary systems); comparison of the U.S. party system with the party systems of other nations (e.g., one-party systems vs. multiple-party systems, the role of ideology in U.S. vs. European political parties); and the influence of historical, cultural, and religious traditions on various governmental systems (e.g., ways in which Confucianism influenced the development of government in China).
Objective 0011: Understand international relations, the purposes and functions of international law and organizations, and the formation and execution of U.S. foreign policy.
- For example: the structure, functions, goals, and limitations of the United Nations and other international agencies (e.g., the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Court); development and fundamental concepts of international law (e.g., sovereignty, natural rights, international agreements); major events in twentieth-century diplomacy (e.g., the Versailles Treaty, the League of Nations, the Yalta Conference, the United Nations, the Cold War, the arms race, the Sino-Soviet split, the Korean and Vietnam wars); issues in contemporary international relations (e.g., human rights, globalization, the world environment, global terrorism); role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); major components of the foreign policy decision-making process in U.S. government; cultural, economic, ideological, and other factors that have shaped U.S. foreign policy in the twentieth century; and major U.S. foreign policy initiatives in various parts of the world (e.g., containment, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, détente, the Camp David Accords, response to conflict in the Balkans).
Subarea IV–History
Objective 0012: Understand major political, economic, social, and cultural developments in U.S. history.
- For example: Native American societies; political, economic, social, and cultural characteristics of North American colonies; causes and key events of the American Revolution; the westward movement and American expansionism; causes and consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction; major events and developments related to industrialization, immigration, and urbanization; the Progressive Movement; causes and consequences of U.S. intervention in World War I; the emergence of popular culture; the Great Depression and the impact of the New Deal; causes, key events, and consequences of U.S. participation in World War II; the Cold War and its impact on U.S. society; Vietnam and the antiwar movement; civil rights struggles and the revival of the women's movement; the challenges of globalization; and the impact of science, technology, and media on American life and culture.
Objective 0013: Understand major political, economic, social, and cultural developments in the evolution of Western civilization.
- For example: historical legacies of ancient Israel and the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome (e.g., monotheism; the Ten Commandments; principles of Athenian democracy; Greek artistic and philosophical achievements; republican government; Roman law, architecture, and engineering; the emergence and expansion of Christianity); influence of the Renaissance and Reformation; the rise of constitutional governments; contributions of the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment to the development of Western civilization (e.g., scientific method, natural rights philosophy, demands for freedom of thought); the antislavery movement and the expansion of democratic government since the Age of Revolution; the development of capitalism and the growth of technology; the diffusion of Western civilization; and the role of science in the modern world.
Objective 0014: Understand major political, economic, social, and cultural developments in world history.
- For example: human origins and early civilizations; the rise, expansion, and decline of the ancient Mediterranean world; Byzantine civilization; the emergence and expansion of Islam; Medieval society in Europe; political, economic, social, and cultural developments in major civilizations of Asia (e.g., India, China), Africa (e.g., Ghana, Songhai), and the Americas (e.g., Aztec, Inca); causes, key events, and consequences of the Age of Exploration; the rise of absolute monarchies; origins and impacts of the agricultural and industrial revolutions; the Age of European Colonialism; causes, key events, and consequences of World Wars I and II; the Russian and Chinese revolutions and the emergence of Communist and Nazi totalitarianism; the creation of new nations in Asia and Africa; economic development and the creation of a global economy; and major developments in the arts, literature, philosophy, religion, science, and technology.
Subarea V–Geography and Economics
Objective 0015: Understand major physical features of the world, geographic concepts, and the effects of geographic factors on the development of human societies.
- For example: major land masses and bodies of water; application of basic geographic terms and concepts (e.g., habitat, acculturation, ecosystem); characteristics and uses of basic geographic sources (e.g., atlases, almanacs, Geographic Information Systems [GIS]); the use of maps to obtain data for solving locational problems and to answer questions, infer relationships, and analyze spatial change; and the influence of geographic factors on patterns of human settlement, major historical events, and political, economic, and cultural developments (e.g., the role of geography and natural resources in human conflict, reasons for the location of cities, distribution of economic activities).
Objective 0016: Understand fundamental economic concepts, important developments in economic theory, models of economic organization, and characteristics of major economic systems.
- For example: definition and application of basic economic concepts (e.g., scarcity, opportunity cost, choice, exchange, comparative advantage, competition, entrepreneurship, supply and demand, economies of scale, labor markets, production, distribution, consumption, cost-benefit analysis); knowledge of major economic theorists and theories (e.g., mercantilism, Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Karl Marx, Keynesian economics, monetarism, supply-side economics); characteristics of major models of economic organization (e.g., traditional, command, market, mixed), market structures (e.g., pure competition, monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition), and historical and contemporary economic systems (e.g., feudalism, capitalism, socialism, communism); and international economics (e.g., trade, financial exchange).
Objective 0017: Understand the history, principles, components, organization, and operation of the U.S. economic system.
- For example: development of the U.S. economy, including the Massachusetts and New England economies; relationships among profit, capital, and competition in the U.S. economic system; functions of and relationships among various components of the U.S. economic system (e.g., consumers, business, organized labor, banks, financial markets); the role of government in the U.S. economy (e.g., fiscal and monetary policy, regulatory activities); factors influencing the activities of American producers and consumers in the global economy (e.g., exchange rates, trade pacts, foreign investment); and issues in domestic economic policy (e.g., inflation, recession, unemployment, economic concentration, income distribution).
Subarea VI–Integration of Knowledge and Understanding
Objective 0018: Prepare an organized, developed essay on topics related to the purpose, history, and experiences of government in human societies and the development and evolution of Western political philosophy.
- For example: forms of governmental authority; the influence of Greek and Roman political concepts on the evolution of modern government; the contributions of major political philosophers of the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment eras; the characteristics of modern governments; the American Revolution and the founding ideas of American democracy; the historical development of political thought and democratic government in the United States; the structure, organization, and operation of the U.S. political system; the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens; and ways the democratic process can be used to promote social change.