This state of Missouri guide to content specifications for social studies assessment is designed to give teachers direction for assessment at the benchmark levels of grades 4, 8, and 11 for each standard that is appropriate for a statewide assessment. The guide includes specifications of what students are expected to know at the benchmark levels of grades 4, 8, and 11 for each of the seven "Show-Me" Social Studies Knowledge Standards. Recommendations for how the "Show-Me" Performance Standards may be addressed in social studies classrooms are given. A glossary of terms, primarily related to technical social studies terms used in the second part of this guide, is included. The seven standards cited in the guide are knowledge of: (1) the principles expressed in documents shaping constitutional democracy in the United States; (2) continuity and change in the history of Missouri, the United States, and the world; (3) principles and processes of governance systems; (4) economic concepts (including productivity and the market system) and principles (including the laws of supply and demand); (5) major elements of geographical study and analysis (such as location, place, movement, regions) and their relationship to changes in society and the environment; (6) relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural traditions; and (7) the use of tools of social science inquiry (such as surveys, statistics, maps, documents). (BT)