Analyzing Major U.S. Policies

How does the United States determine what policies to implement?

Essential Question 

• How does the United States determine what policies to implement?  

Guiding Questions 

• How does the United States formulate domestic or foreign policies? 
• What political, social, and economic reasons have led to different policies? 
• How is the success of domestic or foreign policies measured? 

Objectives 

• Students will be able to analyze the development, implementation, and consequences of (the educator’s choice of policy).* 

*See Facilitation Notes.

Student Resources: 

• “Analyzing Policies” Graphic Organizer Example Version or Blank Version
• Internet enabled device 

Teacher Resources: 

• Websites curated in advance or stations with necessary information  

Facilitation Notes 

• This lesson is designed to be usable for any domestic or foreign policy. Although this example features No Child Left Behind, teachers could replace the featured policy with any policy they wanted students to learn. The context section of the graphic organizer would need to be changed—this could be done by the teacher or assigned to students.  

• The teacher will decide if students will work as a class, in small groups, or individually to complete the organizer. If this is the first policy review, it is suggested the teacher leads a whole group walk through or provides the websites for students to use to complete.