Aligning Standards, Instruction
and Assessment

Around Vermont,educators are being asked to align their curriculum, instruction, and assessment with Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. The following table provides examples of this alignment process using the standards that are the focus of Vermont Public Television’s Electronic Field Trip. Additional Standards may be addressed depending on the instructional and assessment activities selected. The identified assessment criteria can be used to judge student performance and may need to be adjusted to meet the assessment needs of your students.

STANDARDS	ASSESSMENT CRITERIA	ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES
1.13 Listening	Asks clarifying questions Restates information/ ideas Responds through discussion, writing, or drawing	Provide opportunities for discussion and questioning. At a break point, ask students to summarize what they have learned. Ask students to use a graphic organizer (e.g., flow chart, diagram, concept web) to explain a concept or idea they have seen or heard. At a breakpoint, have students do a quick write reflecting on what they have seen or heard. Ask students to illustrate a book about their electronic field trip.
1.18 Information Technology	Use television & computers to gather information & ideas	Use online tools to gather additional information about the ideas/concepts introduced (e.g., visit a government website, research a topic)
2.1 Types of Questions	Asks different types of questions	Use a KWL strategy to gather information about what students already know before the field trip, what questions they have about the topics covered, and what they have learned after the viewing the field trip. Provide opportunities for discussion and questioning. Allow students to email their legislator to ask any questions they might have about the democratic process and the laws/policies involved.
3.7 Informed Decisions	Seeks information Bases decisions on reliable sources & prior experience Evaluates the consequences of decisions Describes & explains their decisions based on evidence Considers other points of view Assesses their decisions through others’ perspectives Considers alternative decisions Describes/explains their decisions with logical arguments	Allow students time to research a recent legislative decision (e.g. Act 250, Act 60, Civil Union Law). Provide students with the opportunity to work in groups to investigate the decision(s) made and then draw their own conclusions. Ask students to present their findings and conclusions in written and/or oral form. Allow students to simulate the legislative decision making process (e.g., identify issue, research, committee work, creation of bill, public hearings, etc.).
3.10 Teamwork	Sharing information & ideas Working cooperatively Listening to others’ ideas Flexibility Productivity	(See Activity for 3.7) Provide opportunities for whole and small group discussion and work
3.13 Roles & Responsibilities	Understanding of their role/responsibility in state government	Provide opportunities for discussion of the roles/responsibilities of citizens in Vermont Ask students to reflect in written or oral form about their roles/responsibilities as citizens now and in the future.
4.2 Democratic Processes	Understanding of the democratic process Participation in the democratic process	Provide opportunities for students to participate in the democratic process (e.g. establishment of classroom rules, election of class officers) Ask students to reflect on what democracy means to them and its importance in their lives. (See 3.7)
5.14 Responding to Media	Analyze &interpret what is seen and heard Make connections to prior experience & knowledge Support judgements with previous experience, additional research, & multiple sources Understanding the effects of point of view/bias	Provide opportunities for students to analyze and interpret what they have seen or heard. Use a 3-2-1 strategy to help students interpret and make connections. For example: Name 3 ideas/concepts you saw or heard about (e.g. establishment of laws, part-time citizen legislature, balance of power) Identify 2 ways these ideas/concepts connect to or impact on your life Explain 1 way that someone might look at these ideas/concepts differently Provide opportunities for students to discuss bias and the media’s role and responsibilities. Review other types of media (e.g., news websites, newspapers, radio, etc.) and identify examples of point of view and bias.
6.4 Historical Connections	Understanding of the concepts of past, present, and future Examine local government/history and make connections	Using a Venn Diagram, ask students to compare and contrast the legislature in the past (e.g., 50 years ago) and the current legislature. Ask students to reflect on what they feel Vermont government will be like 100 years from now. Using historical documents, artifacts, and other resources, allow students to investigate their local town’s government/history and establish its connection/place within the bigger state system.
6.6 Being an Historian	Use of primary resources Use of oral history methods & data	Provide students with a range of primary resources that relate to the topics covered in the electronic field trip (e.g., visiting the state house, voting for the first time). Allow students to interview community members about their memory of such related topics as statehouse visits, the effects of legislative decisions, history of Vermont and its government.
6.9 Meaning of Citizenship	Understanding of citizenship (rights, principles, and responsibilities)	Ask students to debate the problems of majority rule and the protection of minority rights. Ask students to reflect on what they feel it means to be a citizen.
6.10 Types of Government	Types of Leadership Understanding how laws are created Understanding the principles of democracy Features of a political system (e.g., political parties, key positions, terms of office)	Using a graphic organizer (e.g., flow chart, concept web, diagram), ask students to explain one of the following: How a Bill becomes Law Organization of the Government Types of Leadership Principles of Democracy In small groups ask students to create and act out a skit about how a bill becomes a law.
6.17 Governments & Resources	Understanding of how government affects their lives Understanding of how government affects a variety of issues (e.g., schools, highways, taxes, etc.)	Ask students to write a personal essay about how government affects their lives and the lives of the people around them.

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