Wisconsin standards alignment

• SS.PS1.a.h

  Covered

  Analyze how constitutionalism attempts to preserve fundamental societal values, protects individual freedoms and rights, promotes the general welfare, and responds to changing circumstances and beliefs by defining and limiting the powers of government. Analyze sources of governmental authority.

  Covered by

  • US Constitution 101: The Document That Builds the Government

  • · US Constitution 101, Lessons 2-9 · the Constitution analyzed article by article
  • · US Constitution 101, Lesson 6 · Separation of powers and checks & balances
  • · US Constitution 101, Lesson 7 · Federalism: state and federal power
  • · US Constitution 101, Lesson 2 · The Preamble: who, and why

  Note: Constitutionalism as limited government — separation of powers and checks and balances, the Preamble's purposes (including promoting the general welfare), and popular sovereignty as the source of authority — is taught article by article.

• SS.Inq2.b.h

  Covered

  Analyze and weigh relevance of a source through a disciplinary lens to determine how the author, context, audience, and purpose affect the reliability, limitations, and usefulness of a source.

  Covered by

  • BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
  • BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
  • BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
  • BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
  • BVC: Tea — The Way of Tea
  • Spotting Misleading Marketing

  • · Ep 19 · Peer Review Versus Press Release
  • · Every course's Sources bibliography, with per-claim verification
  • · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story, Beckford (1790) against Equiano (1789) and Mary Prince (1831) on the same plantation world
  • · Ep 3 · Two Ways of Seeing a Bean
  • · Ep 5 · Two Ways of Knowing
  • · Ep 18 · Whose Voice
  • · Ep 1 · Reading a Coffee Ad
  • · Ep 2 · Reading a Tea Ad
  • · Ep 3 · Reading a Chocolate Ad
  • · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story (reading a text for what it leaves out)
  • · Ep 11 · Tiki and the Tropical Paradise
  • · Ep 15 · The Language of Doubt
  • · Ep 15 · Doubt Is Our Product
  • · Ep 20 · The Ban Against the Evidence (the UK banning khat against its own scientific advice)
  • · Spotting Misleading Marketing, Lesson 8 · Misleading statistics and charts
  • · Spotting Misleading Marketing, Lesson 4 · Fake urgency, fake scarcity, and fake discounts

  Note: Weighing a source by its author, context, audience, and purpose — the standard's exact skill — is the source-literacy method run across the catalog: each source and message read for reliability, bias, and omission.

• SS.Inq4.b.h

  Covered

  Examine a claim’s strengths and weaknesses, including an evaluation of supporting evidence, taking into consideration cultural, social, economic, political, geographic, and historic influences that inform these perspectives.

  Covered by

  • BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
  • BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
  • BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom

  • · Ep 15 · Doubt Is Our Product
  • · Ep 19 · Peer Review Versus Press Release
  • · Ep 20 · The Ban Against the Evidence (the UK banning khat against its own scientific advice)
  • · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story, Beckford (1790) against Equiano (1789) and Mary Prince (1831) on the same plantation world
  • · Ep 3 · Two Ways of Seeing a Bean
  • · Ep 5 · Two Ways of Knowing
  • · Ep 18 · Whose Voice

  Note: Examining a claim's strengths and weaknesses and evaluating its evidence — including the perspectives that inform it — is taught directly, putting differing accounts of the same events side by side and testing each for its reasoning and evidence.

• SS.Hist4.d.h

  Covered

  Analyze how the POV of the author can influence the content and intent of a primary or secondary source and identify whose voices may be left out.

  Covered by

  • BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
  • BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
  • BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom

  • · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story, Beckford (1790) against Equiano (1789) and Mary Prince (1831) on the same plantation world
  • · Ep 3 · Two Ways of Seeing a Bean
  • · Ep 5 · Two Ways of Knowing
  • · Ep 18 · Whose Voice
  • · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story
  • · Ep 4 · Blood-Sweetened Luxury (the abolitionist sugar boycott)
  • · Ep 8 · Selling Prohibition
  • · Ep 15 · Torches of Freedom
  • · Ep 17 · Lin Zexu's Letter (using Britain's own values against its opium policy)

  Note: Near-1:1 with the catalog's method: how an author's point of view shapes a source — a planter's euphemism against first-person accounts of formerly enslaved writers — and, explicitly, whose voices are left out of the record.

• SS.Inq5.a.h

  Covered

  Explore opportunities, informed by the knowledge and methods of the social sciences, for personal or collaborative civic engagement with community, school, state, tribal, national, and/or global implications.

  Covered by

  • US, State & Local Government: Who Does What
  • How a Bill Becomes Law (Federal): From Idea to Public Law
  • Wisconsin Civics: How Your State Government Works

  • · US, State & Local Government, Lesson 8 · Where to show up and be heard, at every level
  • · How a Bill Becomes Law, Lesson 8 · Tracking a bill and making your voice heard
  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 5 · Local government and how to take part

  Note: Civic engagement is taught as practice — showing up where an issue is decided, tracking a live bill, and Wisconsin's own levers (recall, local boards, contacting Madison legislators, running for office).

• SS.PS3.c.h

  Partially covered

  Evaluate the structure and functions of governments at the local, state, tribal, national, and global levels. Evaluate the purpose of political institutions at the local, state, tribal, national, global, and supranational or non-government organization (NGO) levels distinguishing their roles, powers, and limitations.

  Covered by

  • Wisconsin Civics: How Your State Government Works
  • US Civics 101: How American Government Works
  • State vs Federal Power: How American Government Is Divided

  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 2 · The executive and Wisconsin's uniquely powerful partial veto
  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 3 · The Legislature and Wisconsin's high-profile Supreme Court elections
  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 4 · How a bill becomes law, the strong recall, and no initiative
  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 5 · Local government and how to take part
  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 1 · The 'Wisconsin Idea': a laboratory of democracy
  • · US Civics 101, Lesson 1 · Purpose of government and the three branches
  • · State vs Federal Power, Lesson 1 · What is federalism, and why split power at all?

  What we do and don't cover: This is the flagship's primary home: Wisconsin's own structure — the 1848 Constitution, the plural executive and its famous partial veto, the Legislature, the nonpartisan-ballot spring-elected judiciary, the recall, and 72-county/town-village-city local government — is taught in depth, alongside the federal three branches and federalism. The standard also reaches tribal, global, and supranational/NGO levels, which the course does not cover — hence partial.

• SS.PS3.a.h

  Partially covered

  Create and evaluate solutions to increase voter participation. Evaluate their role in government at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels.

  Covered by

  • Wisconsin Civics: How Your State Government Works
  • US, State & Local Government: Who Does What
  • Voting & Elections 101

  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 5 · Local government and how to take part
  • · US, State & Local Government, Lesson 8 · Where to show up and be heard, at every level
  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lesson 1 · Registering to vote

  What we do and don't cover: Evaluating one's own role in government at each level, and Wisconsin's own participation levers, are taught as practice; the standard's designed task of creating and evaluating solutions to increase voter participation is not run as a graded assignment, so this is partial.

• SS.PS3.b.h

  Partially covered

  Evaluate the role of various types of media in elections and functions of government. Analyze how the United States political system is shaped by political parties, elections and the election process, including the caucus and primary systems and procedures involved in voting. Evaluate civic institutions and explain how competing interests impact societal change (e.g., lobbying, citizens groups, special interest groups).

  Covered by

  • Voting & Elections 101
  • Wisconsin Civics: How Your State Government Works

  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lessons 1-3 · registration, primaries and caucuses, how you vote
  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lesson 7 · Counting, canvassing, and certifying the vote
  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lesson 8 · Verify your own registration and rules
  • · Wisconsin Civics, Lesson 5 · Local government and how to take part

  What we do and don't cover: The election process — registration, primaries and caucuses, voting methods, counting — and Wisconsin's own election rules are taught in full; the standard's political-party, lobbying/interest-group, and media-in-government analysis is not, so this is partial.

• SS.PS3.d.h

  Partially covered

  Evaluate the effectiveness of public policy actions and processes.

  Covered by

  • How a Bill Becomes Law (Federal): From Idea to Public Law

  • · How a Bill Becomes Law, Lesson 8 · Tracking a bill and making your voice heard
  • · Ep 18 · Bolivia's Bet (Bolivia's legal coca model against U.S.-funded eradication)
  • · Ep 18 · The Balloon Effect
  • · Ep 17 · Where the Poppy Grows (Afghanistan and the Golden Crescent)
  • · Ep 16 · The Justice Gap

  What we do and don't cover: A public policy's effectiveness is evaluated where the catalog carries one — the War on Drugs and its foreign-policy arm, and tracking a live bill — but not as a dedicated graded public-policy evaluation, so this is partial.

• SS.PS1.b.h

  Partially covered

  Evaluate the work and actions of historically significant people and their contributions to the founding principles of the United States. Analyze the foundational ideas of United States government that are embedded in founding era documents. Analyze landmark Supreme Court decisions regarding how the Constitution and the Bill of Rights limit the government, protect individual rights, support the principle of majority rule while protecting the rights of the minority, and promotes the general welfare. Analyze the meaning and importance of rights in the Wisconsin Constitution, and compare or contrast to the United States Constitution.

  Covered by

  • US Constitution 101: The Document That Builds the Government
  • The Bill of Rights: Know Your Rights
  • The Supreme Court & the Judicial Branch

  • · US Constitution 101, Lessons 2-9 · the Constitution analyzed article by article
  • · US Constitution 101, Lesson 8 · The Bill of Rights (Amendments I to X)
  • · Know Your Rights, Lessons 2-5 · speech, religion, press, assembly, including at school and online
  • · Know Your Rights, Lessons 6-8 · the 4th Amendment: searches, stops, and your digital life
  • · The Supreme Court & the Judicial Branch, Lesson 5 · Writing the opinion: majority, concurrence, dissent, and precedent

  What we do and don't cover: The foundational ideas in the founding-era documents and the landmark Supreme Court decisions on how the Bill of Rights limits government and protects rights are taught by name; the biographies of 'historically significant people' and the rights in the Wisconsin Constitution (versus the U.S. Constitution) are not, so this is partial.

• SS.PS2.a.h

  Partially covered

  Critique the struggle for suffrage and citizenship since the founding period. Analyze the constitutional tension between protecting individual rights and promoting the general welfare and security of the country, as well as between majority rule and minority rights. Assess the impact of individuals, groups, and movements on the development of civil rights for different groups.

  Covered by

  • The Bill of Rights: Know Your Rights
  • The History of Unions: America and the World

  • · Know Your Rights, Lesson 2 · Freedom of speech: what's protected, and what isn't
  • · Know Your Rights, Lesson 5 · Speech and religion at school, and online
  • · Know Your Rights, Lesson 7 · Police stops, reasonable suspicion, and your privacy
  • · Know Your Rights, Lessons 2-5 · speech, religion, press, assembly, including at school and online
  • · Know Your Rights, Lessons 6-8 · the 4th Amendment: searches, stops, and your digital life
  • · The History of Unions, Lesson 16 · The colour bar: unions' own history of exclusion
  • · The History of Unions, Lesson 17 · Randolph to Memphis: the labor half of the civil-rights movement

  What we do and don't cover: The constitutional tension between individual rights and the general welfare is taught directly (when government may limit rights), and the history catalog carries the impact of movements on civil rights; a systematic critique of the suffrage-and-citizenship struggle since the founding is not a dedicated unit, so this is partial.

• SS.PS2.b.h

  Partially covered

  Assess the difference in constitutional and legal protections for citizens vs. noncitizens. Demonstrate the skills necessary to participate in the election process (i.e., registering to vote, identifying and evaluating candidates and issues, and casting a ballot).

  Covered by

  • Voting & Elections 101
  • Citizenship & Naturalization Basics

  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lesson 1 · Registering to vote
  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lessons 1-3 · registration, primaries and caucuses, how you vote
  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lesson 7 · Counting, canvassing, and certifying the vote
  • · Voting & Elections 101, Lesson 8 · Verify your own registration and rules
  • · Citizenship & Naturalization Basics, Lesson 1 · Who is a U.S. citizen? Birthright and the 14th Amendment
  • · Citizenship & Naturalization Basics, Lesson 3 · Becoming a citizen: naturalization eligibility

  What we do and don't cover: The election-participation skills the standard lists — registering, evaluating candidates and issues, and casting a ballot — are taught in full, and the legal meaning of citizenship is taught; a systematic assessment of the constitutional protections for citizens versus noncitizens is not, so this is partial.

• SS.PS4.a.h

  Partially covered

  Create arguments by researching and interpreting claims and counterclaims.

  Covered by

  • BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection

  • · Ep 1 · Assignment, Option D, a 1,200-1,500 word research paper with a required counterargument section
  • · Ep 1 · Assignment, Option B, climate-vulnerability report, 3+ peer-reviewed sources, APA bibliography
  • · Ep 1 · Assignment, Option D, primary-source research paper with an APA bibliography
  • · Ep 15 · Doubt Is Our Product
  • · Ep 19 · Peer Review Versus Press Release
  • · Ep 20 · The Ban Against the Evidence (the UK banning khat against its own scientific advice)

  What we do and don't cover: Building an argument by researching and weighing claims and counterclaims is taught, but ships as a graded argument product only in the Coffee episode, so this is partial.

What we don't claim

A standards page is only worth reading if the omissions are honest too. We looked at these and left them out:

• Mathematics — Wisconsin's own standards: nothing claimed. Wisconsin adopted the Common Core for mathematics in 2010 but has since written its own Wisconsin Standards for Mathematics. Either way, this catalog does no mathematics instruction, so it meets no Wisconsin mathematics standard.
• English/Language Arts — Common Core adopted in 2010, since REPLACED by Wisconsin's own standards: deferred. Wisconsin adopted the Common Core State Standards for English language arts in 2010 but has since replaced them with its own Wisconsin Standards for English Language Arts. Because the CURRENT Wisconsin ELA standards are no longer a verbatim republication of the Common Core, we do NOT alias the shared Common Core ELA framework here — that would cite superseded standards. The catalog's ELA-literacy strengths (evaluating an author's point of view and evidence, analyzing rhetoric, sustained research with citation) would map to Wisconsin's own ELA literacy standards, but transcribing and verifying those verbatim is deferred this pass. Note: the media/source-evaluation skill is already claimed, as a full alignment, through the social studies Inquiry and History strands (SS.Inq2.b.h, SS.Inq4.b.h, SS.Hist4.d.h).
• Science — NGSS-BASED but Wisconsin's OWN reorganization, not verbatim NGSS: deferred. Wisconsin's 2017 Wisconsin Standards for Science are based on the NGSS and the Framework for K-12 Science Education, but Wisconsin reorganized and re-coded them into its own standards rather than reproducing the NGSS performance expectations verbatim. Unlike Michigan (which adopted the NGSS verbatim and therefore reuses the shared NGSS mapping), Wisconsin's are not a byte-for-byte NGSS republication, so we do NOT alias the shared NGSS framework. The catalog's climate/resource content (resources, hazards, and climate shaping human activity) would map to Wisconsin's own Earth and Space Science standards, but this pass mapped only the social studies strands; Wisconsin's science standards are deferred (verbatim-or-nothing), not claimed unverified.
• Wisconsin's partial veto, recall, spring court elections, and 'Wisconsin Idea' have no discrete benchmark. The flagship teaches Wisconsin's uniquely powerful partial veto, its strong recall (and absence of a statewide initiative), its nationally watched nonpartisan spring Supreme Court elections, and 'the Wisconsin Idea' as headline features. The Political Science strand has no benchmark that names any of them individually, so they are claimed only through SS.PS3.c.h (the structure and functions of Wisconsin government) rather than as standards of their own.
• Tribal, global, and supranational/NGO government (SS.PS3.c.h and across the PS strand). Wisconsin's Political Science strand threads tribal, global, and supranational/non-government-organization levels through SS.PS3.c.h and other benchmarks. Wisconsin Civics teaches Wisconsin's state and local structure and the federal level but not tribal, global, or NGO governance, so SS.PS3.c.h is claimed as partial and the tribal/global/NGO-specific reaches are not claimed. The gap is in the course, not the standards.
• The advocacy-group, party, economics, and civic-skill benchmarks we checked and rejected. SS.PS2.c.h (the goals and methods of advocacy groups, the U.S. Supreme Court's restriction/expansion of group rights, and the UDHR and NGOs), SS.PS4.b.h (the effects of a specific historic political compromise), the political-party and lobbying/interest-group halves of SS.PS3.a.h and SS.PS3.b.h (claimed only partially), the SS.PS1 lower-grade-band and the SS.PS2 elementary/middle cells, and the entire Behavioral Sciences (BH), Economics (Econ), and Geography (Geog) strands and the rest of the History (Hist) strand — the courses do not genuinely teach these, or teach them too thinly to claim, so we do not claim them. (The commodity/labor/civil-rights history and commodity economics WOULD map to the Hist and Econ strands, as they do in other states, but those strands are deferred this pass.)